Ken loses a day......and gets some pain relief

I went and got groceries last Sunday and when I returned I knew Ken was having trouble.  Over the 40 years we've been married I've cultivated a couple of little tests to know if his brain is truly working.  It wasn't so I pawed through his medicine and found some pills from 2008 (!!) and had him take one.  Then found a current one (won't say where but THANKS) and poked it down him 7 hours later.  He stayed in his chair most of the day sleeping and other things.  No Grand Mal though - Thank you Lord!!

Monday I called his Neurologist for an appointment.  This doc is the BEST seizure disorder doc we have ever found.  He always wants to know what I see and notice. No other doc has ever cared.  And he knows his chemicals.  So they had no cancellations throughout the week but we saw him on Thursday.  He was appalled about the lack of movement Ken had in his neck and shoulders.  He worked to get an EEG, MRI (head/shoulders) and blood work done that day.  

Whitney went to the EEG with him.  She was the one with him in 2006 during the Tramadol fiasco.  She said this EEG was like you stirred up some speghetti and threw it at the machine every few seconds.  He told the technician he thought he was in an aura; but he didn't have any seuzures then.

We all went in at the end of the day to visit with the doctor.  The MRI looked good but the EEG "Man! your're EEG is a mess!  You are having more seizures than you realize."  I asked if this was a different looking mess than usual and he just sat there nodding his head.    Although he didn't have the results back he told Ken to begin to wean slowly off Neurotin and to begin taking an appropriate pain med for his type of pain.  Then he would see him in Gillette next Friday and would begin TPI - Trigger Point Injections - whatever that is I thought.

http://www.webmd.com/pain-management/guide/trigger-point-injection - Awesome!

After he took his first "real" pain pill he could not believe the change.  He said he could feel the muscles release and pop.  He has been telling docs for years this is what he wanted to feel but it never happened.  It has now.  He has been getting better and better every day.  A miracle.

Today he saw the doc and was given a few TPI's.  Another miracle.  He could feel his neck loosen.  They also told him he could take the med 3 times a day.  In two weeks he'll get a second set and 2 weeks later the final set.  They want to get him loosened up enough that he can begin physical therapy in EB when we get there. And ultimately wean down on the pain meds.  

Does he still have pain?  Yes, he does but now it's a 4 when he's been living in a 9+ for a few years.

He does tighten up but can sit and relax and it eases.  He is now talking about doing a few projects that have been put off due to his stiffness.

Time will tell - time will tell.