A bittersweet tale of patient error (massive error) and a semi-recovery. When I was being discharged, I was told that they would give me pain pills to take home. Saucily I informed them that Dr. Cutter (surgeon who did the posterior lumbar decompression) had assured me several times that my back pain would vanish! End of pain! Which is the reason I elected to go with this surgery.
Very big mistake. When I woke up at home the day after getting home, I was in agony. I had to get something.
Now, knowing that the doctor had ordered the pills from the hospital pharmacy, I called them and explained. They said they couldn't help me so I called the doctor. "Oh, doctors can't just phone in opioid prescriptions." I argued that the pharmacy had the Rx just fill the damn thing. No go.
On "Raffish"'s suggestion I called the hospital and asked to speak to the on-call orthopedic doctor. They don't have one. They aren't a teaching hospital.
Decided to throw myself on the mercy of the Urgent Care on Sepulveda in Manhattan Beach. There we were told to go to the ER of that hospital because they can't treat another doctor's patient.
I don't like bothering ER but all of them insisted that this was the solution. So we went there. That doctor finally appeared - young, brisk, no nonsense - and wrote an Rx for generic Norco (I think 95 % aspirin' 5% codeine.) Any road it is by no means effective at all. As I promised the ER doctor; I will take one per night and I don't care if it's one of Jack in the Beanstalk's Magic Beans!
So am back on Advil which the ER doctor told me is recommended by ERs. Who knew?
And none of this would have happened if I hadn't believed the surgeon. Trust No One is my new motto.
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