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"Metal plate" sensation post-lumbar fusion. Felt like this?
Spine Health | Last Active: 9 hours ago | Replies (13)Comment receiving replies
Is it that the doctors are dismissing your complaint or is it that the doctors don’t have the answer and do not offer and cannot offer you one? Your expectations of getting an answer for your complaint most likely will not be met. We as patients need to believe that doctors are not gods and they don’t have all the answers. We can all hope they can answer our questions but I think you’ve hit a wall and need to accept an answer for the moment. It might become something down the road or you may assimilate your fusion and new body positioning eventually. Considering how long it took your spine to breakdown anything new will need time for adjustment.
Replies to "Is it that the doctors are dismissing your complaint or is it that the doctors don’t..."
@jenatsky I agree with your message regarding how you view your doctor(s). My spine surgeon is literally one of the top surgeons not only in the US, but he teaches and lectures world-wide. He develops minimally invasive procedures that other doctors will use on their patients.
However, he does not have much of a bedside manner. I scheduled a visit after my lumbar fusion surgery due to pain I still have in my right side (oblique and flank muscles). He asked me to describe my situation, then he kept interrupting me, asking me specific questions to lead my responses to what he had decided already. He didn't let me speak much, and I guess it looked worse than I realized, because my wife was sitting next to me this entire time, and she later told me she thought we were going to come to blows.
Needless to say, I have another spine surgeon I just saw about a month ago who is very professional, and listens when I speak. I would rather have a doctor tell me they do not know and then either contact someone, or refer me to someone that they feel can help. I have been at this for three years this past July, and the last two months are the first times doctors have done this for me. Even though I am still searching for medical answers, at least I am finally being helped to navigate what the US calls a healthcare system.
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@jenatsky
I fully understand the time for healing is a long and arduous process. However, when we make a direct concern to a doctor who has performed the procedure, then that specific concern needs to be addressed. As a very well educated adult, with a huge amount of emotional intelligence, I can accept the answer of “I don’t know but hear that you have pain. I can’t find the exact cause”. Instead, he assigned cause to the pain and proceeded to fuse my SI joints, which did nothing.
Doctors are not gods, however, my experience has been that my particular one cannot admit anything less than the words he has spoken to me of “it’s nothing I have done. My work looks great”. Yet, the pain persists. I’ve had back pain for years, so I know how to continue with pain. But, it’s very disheartening.
That all being said, I have found a new neuro who is amazing and not only hears but listens! We, as patients, need to remember that we are paying the doctors’ car payments and mortgages and deserve real answers, not bait and switch or lip service.