Monday, January 3

TB's shot cancelled :(

TB's been having terrible pain in his hip for months now. An x-ray showed some kind of floating body but no one could tell if it was in the hip joint or not. He had a shot of cortisone in his hip and the doctor used ultrasound to place it but it didn't help. He was sent for a cat scan and that test wasn't conclusive either. A surgeon who looked at it thought there might be a torn cartilage. Now, I don't get why fixing it wasn't the answer. The doctors wanted TB to have another cortisone shot, this time using a fluroscope machine.

His first appointment was scheduled for December 27 ... and we got 2 feet of snow dumped on us the day before. The appointment was rescheduled for today.

Just as we were getting ready to leave for Pennsylvania, though, the phone rang and my heart sank. We have to go to PA because apparently Medicare won't pay for the procedure at the surgery center in NJ. Thanks, Medicare! :P Anyway, the call was to tell us that the appointment had to be cancelled because "something came up". They'll call to reschedule it. That means TB has to wait longer and suffer some more before hopefully getting any relief at all.

I don't understand why pain isn't managed better for people. The doctors are reluctant and act like it's such a big deal ... like TB is just supposed to suck it up and deal with it. It's really hard to watch TB struggle with so much pain. Sometimes he breaks down and cries. Why can't the doctors be more compassionate? Don't they understand what a big deal it is to be put off and told to wait for help a little longer? Maybe if they were the ones suffering things would be different!

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