Hello Jules,
We have messaged before. Today I just passed my pre-op exam for surgery on my cervical spine replacing hardware from C3 -6, with laminectomy and fusion down toT1, continuing down to and correcting the herniation at T10-11. I refused to go back on opioids, specifically the Buprenorphine. PCP prescribed Celebrex which chewed up my GI tract from Nov. 1 and is still going strong. Then she prescribed acetaminophen which elevated my liver enzymes so I stopped taking it fearing that it might prevent my being able to have the surgery. I have been in severe pain since Oct. 16 when I weaned myself off the Norco. The only thing that has helped me get through the pain is putting one foot in front of the other moving forward with plans to have the surgery on Jan.30. I changed my PCP to one in the health system that the neurosurgeon belongs to so I no longer have to deal with the patient rights violations of the former PCP. I just hope that nothing else can interfere with the surgery since 3 1/2 years of P.T., epidurals and RFAs failed to relieve anything. Thank heaven's high blood pressure is one thing I don't have to deal with since most of the time I'm on the hypotensive side. You have had a lot to figure out with your health and fortunately are good at it.