Cause of Leg Pain

[Diane BCSW]

First, thank all of you who responded to my previous thread. Last Thursday, I had all of the pain I could take and I called my surgeon's office to find out what to do. His office called me back and said for me to go to the E.R. of Baylor/Downtown Dallas. By the time I got there, it was about 1pm in the afternoon. It's a very nice ER, nothing like the shows I watch on Discovery Health. Wasn't very long until a tech came to get me to take Xrays. I swear I think that both of us were crying by the time he finished the films. I had to roll onto each one of my sides, something I hadn't been able to do since this whole thing started in first week of Sep. In about 15 minutes, someone stuck their head in the door and asked when did I fall. I told them to the best of my knowledge, I never fell, but had my right leg collapse on Sep 5th at work and had to come home. He then said that I had a fractured pelvic bone, both on top and on bottom (he used the technical words "superior and inferior") and I'm laying there flabbergasted. The E.R. was ready to send me home but at my insistence, they called my surgeon who told them to get me a room and he would see me in a while. I didn't get the room until 7 something, but saw Dr. Viere the next morning.

So if you ever experience unexplainable leg pain especially in the inner part of the thigh, either on the right leg or left leg, you or your doctors should at least consider a broken pelvis no matter whether you fell or not. According to the medical people, I'll continue having the pain for perhaps another three weeks, and it takes 3 months to completely get over it. Being a straightline fracture, there's nothing they will do for it, except prescribe the pain pills, and show me how to protect my leg from causing more pain. I have to balance staying in bed against some walking around and some light exercises. I have to use a walker, both kinds, and a cane, and all of those tools we learned to use following our scoli operations. I haven't decided how or if I'm going to be able to transport my rolling walker (Rollator) in my car as it's 16 or 17 lbs. and my *new* weight limit is 5#. They are suggesting I use my other pickup and step walker along with the rolling walker, carrying the lighter weight one in the car. I won't try any of that until probably next week after working on getting some strength back.

I'm not happy to have had this happen, but I am so glad to find out what was causing my horrific leg pain that no one could explain or diagnose.

[discombobulated]

Oh Diane, I've been thinking of you & wondering how you've been getting on.

It's sure a blow to have a fracture that they can't do much to help, I'm SO happy that you've found the source of your pain! And to know that the pain will subside in the near future must be such a relief. I hope they've been able to prescribe you something to help out until then.

I'm flabbergasted that this wasn't picked up on your previous scans....

Please take care of yourself. And I hope you can find a way to get out & about in your car.

All the best for a smooth recovery in the next couple of weeks

[JenniferG]

What a terrible time you've had, but thank goodness you've found the reason and know it's coming to an end. Thanks for letting us know what the problem was, Diane.
Jen

[Susie*Bee]

Diane-- I am so sorry about the broken hip! But so glad you know longer have that fear of the unknown... and it sounds like your body will heal the fracture in not that long of a time (at least not scoli-recovery wise...)

Thanks for posting the warning to the rest of us. You have definitely been through the war with all your scoli surgeries and now this. I think it's past time for things to go right, don't you? So here's to a quick healing and NO MORE PROBLEMS! Keep us posted. Hugs, Susie

[Qikdraw]

Diane

I'm sorry this happened to you, but at least you know what is going on and it can be fixed. Just remember to take it easy and make sure you get all healed properly.

Brad

[sccrm08]

Diane,

I hope you are feeling better again soon, I don't think I could handle everything you have been through...you must be a very strong person.

Best of Luck,

[Diane BCSW]

Thank you so much

Thank you Patty, Brad, SusieB, JenniferG & Discombobulated for your responses. Dis - what in the world is "the Biomodel" and how are we going to get to see it???

Updating.. I've got to print out some calendars and post down significant events (like the ER, Xray, etc.) Actually, I can come on here and probably find out when things happened. What a research tool we have!!! I cannot rely on my memory. I feel an extremely tiny bit of improvement, but that comes and goes. Starting last week, I have a P.T. who comes to my house and he is puzzled as to why I have such severe pain in my right leg. Join the crowd, huh? I feel confident that he knows I'm not faking, which of course I'm not. If I've been sitting or laying down, when I first get up, it feel like large butcher knives are sticking in my upper thigh, and I just have to stand there, holding onto a walker, until the pain subsides. It continues to hurt a lot to get my right leg turned in the right position to raise up from a bed. I usually hold it with my hands and they showed me in the hospital how to loop a gatebelt around my foot and swing it over that way. I didn't ask my P.T. but I'm wondering if he might be wondering if something else is broken. That would be my luck, wouldn't it. I did get a stronger prescription of pain medication and a muscle relaxer last week. The hydocodone was increased to 10/500. The MR is Carisoprodol 350mg. Don't know why I'm being so specific. Just me I guess. There you have it. Don't break your pelvis. I feel sure the recovery went faster than this with each of the surgeries.

Thanks again. You're such dear friends.

[discombobulated]

Diane...

I got so excited when I saw you'd posted, hoping that you were going to say how much better you're feeling. I'm so sorry you're not there yet & still in so much pain....but it is good to hear you've got a tiny bit of improvement happening (ok, on & off - but still!). All my fingers (& eyes..& ears!) are crossed that this only the beginning & with care and rest, you will really be feeling an improvement soon.

Re. "the biomodel"...admittedly it's not a film & won't be appearing at a cinema near you It's actually just a resin (plastic) model of my lumbar spine + current lumbar/pelvic metalwork that my surgeon had made from my scans so he can better see what he'll be working with. If you click the word "biomodel" in my sig., you'll be able to see 2 pics of it (front & back). I'm just such a geek that I was/am astounded by the technology & accuracy of it, lol.

Take good care...and thanks for the update, even if it wasn't the spectacularly positive one I was hoping for. I'm sure it soon will be. Best to you.

[Diane BCSW]

I feel really bad for saying this Dis/Michelle, but that looks a little alien to me.
(just joking) I hope it helps your doctor. If I were to accidentally put it upside down, I doubt I would know the difference.

Bless you.

[discombobulated]

LOL, Diane - I know

But I'm a complete geek, so I'm more amazed by all the technical/scientific stuff that went into making it. My surgeon reckons it helps him a lot, so that's the main thing. It'd be the most awesome "souvenir", but since the hospital paid for it ($2,000+!!), I'm not counting on being allowed to keep it. My surgeon was very gracious (& has a sense of humour), & helped me take some piccies, lol. If I remember, I'm going to ask him to keep me the gear he takes out (plenty of surgeons do this) - so hopefully I'll be able to post piccies of that some day Ahh, yes, I know I'm a weird geek!

Take care, Diane.

[Diane BCSW]

Hi Everyone. Update. There was a doctor who became my case doctor during that last hospitalization. He came in to see me each of the 5 days and all I knew of him was he had a strange name and that he was an orthopedic surgeon. Little did I know at the time. Pretty soon after my last posting, my pain got so incredibly bad, I thought I was going mad. (In the event I've already posted this in another thread, I apologize.) So I weighed the decision of which doctor to call, the old one that I didn't see during the hospital stay or the new guy. So I called the answering service of the new doctor and my call was returned very quickly by Dr. Freudigman's (that's the strange name) Medical Assistant. She was very concerned, quite friendly, and said she would call in a higher dose of painkiller (10/500). In the conversation, she asked if I'd been in to see Dr. Viere or made an appointment with either doctor. (This is how stupid I am these days... it's the meds, you know.) I asked, "was I supposed to"? She also told me if I couldn't make it through the weekend, to go back to ER. I don't remember the sequence of how it was done but I had an appointment with Dr. Freudigman the next week (Tues of last week).

My daughter drove me in as I'm now totally dependent on the walker(s) and cannot use the cane whatsoever. Besides that, she is so much better at *getting* whatever it is that is being said. Arriving, there was a waiting room with people in all sorts of conditions, like amputated parts, and huge bandages. I'm so sorry, but I couldn't look at them. I felt so inadequate being before them with what they must be going through and I'm merely sitting in a wheelchair. It wasn't long before we were called, then I was taken to Xray. And it wasn't long until Dr. F came into the room. He looked like a different person than the man I saw from the hospital bed. My attitude had changed. It was later that I found out, as his card says, he is a Acute and Reconstructive Orthopaedic Trauma Surgeon. Seeing nicely framed photos on his hall walls of patients in various stages of reconstruction, but smiling, gave me so much respect for that man.

He began talking and after I heard the words that there had not been any improvement at all, I pretty much blanked out. The next time I sat up and took any notice was his saying my osteoporosis was moderately severe. Huh? I told him that I was just diagnosed with it in September. He asked if it was by a family doctor, and yeah. He then had a lot to say about other doctors and I tuned out again, just hearing bits and pieces. On the way home, bless my daughter's heart, as she drove, she relayed back to me just about everything he had said. He said the reason my pelvis broke was due to the repeated scoliosis operations, the kyphosis that I had this last time in January, and the osteoporosis. Because of the nature of scoli fusions, the hardware goes way down into my pelvis and spreads out. The added weight of that, plus the unnatural position of my body over time, all led to the pelvis giving away and breaking in two places. If anyone has told me why my right leg hurts worse than anything else, I've forgotten it. He wants me to see a (danged, there it goes again) specialist, the one who mostly treats diabetics but who could possibly help with my metabolism. (I don't get it either.) He wants me to start consuming more protein. I'm to see him again on the 29th. I'm taking my daughter again and maybe a tape recorder. I definitely think this memory thing is the painkillers (hydocodone) as he told me to start setting an alarm to take them throughout the night, to prevent my waking up in the severe pain as I was doing, so this feeble little brain has figured out that's 12 pills a day. It keeps going around in my head about the news reports concerning Cindy McCain becoming addicted to pk following back surgery. There's no way I could do without them though, because the pain breaks through the 4 hour schedule. I can't remember any more which was worse, the recoveries from the surgeries or this. One more thing Dr. F said that I do remember - surgery will be a last option.

During that second hospital stay, my boss agreed to my working from home three days a week, and coming in two days. Other than the day I went in to get the supplies that were loaded up for me, and a laser printer, I've not been able to return. However, every day, I try to do work related things. When I get certain things done, I've been able to put them in a FedEx package and send them out. If I give up on my job, then I might as well give up totally. I want to be as caught up as possible in the event of that "last resort". Do I hear the word "pins"?

[discombobulated]

Diane,....

Thanks for the update, but I'm So Sorry it's not yet good news! But, I'm glad to hear that finally you have a doc who seems to know what's happening. I really hope he can help you get a handle on things, preferrably without surgery, too. I do understand your worry about becoming dependent on pain meds, because I've had the same fear when I've used some heavy duty stuff for prolonged periods. But the thing to concentrate on right now is, You Need These! IF you find yourself physically dependent on them after all this pain is over, THAT's the time to tackle that - & there are ways to settle that. But right now, your body can't focus on healing with the stress of such intense pain, and pain sure doesn't do much for helping you feel optimistic! Take this thing one day at a time.... We're all here cheering you on, and you are strong enough to make it through.

Re. the referral, you might be talking about an endocrinologist. These guys deal with the role of hormones in the body - diabetics see them because of their issues with the hormone insulin (often under-produced in diabetics); people with osteoporosis see them because a whole heap of hormones (most notably oestrogen) are involved in building and maintaining bone; and they also see patients with many other metabolic issues, which involve various hormones. Endocrinology is a very technical speciality - you will be in the best hands possible for dealing with the osteoporosis, and working to prevent something nuts like this happening again!

That's great that you've been able to keep yourself a bit distracted with your work, & I'm really glad your boss/workplace has been accommodating. You sound committed, they'd be silly to give that up

I'll be thinking much of you, & I just know that something HUGE and POSITIVE has to be due to you very soon! Hang in there, Diane, & take care.

[JenniferG]

Good luck for a smooth and rapid recovery, Diane. Goodness knows, you deserve it!

My GP described an Endocrinologist as a gland and hormone doctor and I think Michelle has nailed it with her information about why you're being sent to one.

Please let us know how you get on.

Jen

[loves to skate]

Hi Diane,
I don't know how I missed this thread, but I did. I'm so sorry you have had a broken pelvis to deal with, but at least you know what is causing you so much pain. I hope and pray that the Endocrinologist will find an answer for you. My heart goes out to you and I will keep you in my prayers.
Sally

[Diane BCSW]

Just a tiny little update, I'm holding off on the endocrinologist for a while. The one I called gave me the run around and they never called me back, so one day, I called and left a voice mail letting them know how discompicable (yeah, misspelled, but you get the idea) they were for not at least calling me back. I'm seeing Dr. Freudigman (the new guy) on Tues (11/25), I had another cat scan last Tues, and will go from there. His office said they could recommend a endocrinologist. I also have a Dec 4th appt with a pain management doctor recommended by Dr. F's office. Get this name: Tabir Racz. Thanks for the very good explanation of what an endoc. doc does. What would we do without all of the rest of you in this forum? You know things and you explain things in layman's language. Wow, and free too!