The house we purchased in Kansas has a pool - that has been good for my back. It needs to stop raining and the cicadas need to die so I can use it more.
The biggest change has been finding a new pain management routine since I can no longer use the pain clinic in Iowa. I found a new pain clinic in a nearby major metro area with a satellite facility closer to home. That meant starting over. The new doc did not want to do the same injections as the prior doc so I got to be a guinea pig for a while and also had to manage a lot of pain since it took three tries to figure things out. The good news is that he found injecting the left facet joints at L4/L5 provides more relief than injecting more on the mid-line of the spine. The bad news it took a long time to figure things out. He also works with a compound pharmacy that makes what I'm calling "magic cream." It is a topical pain killer and I prefer that to popping a pill. It's helped improve my sleep.
I'm listing the formula here in case it helps someone:
- Ketamine 15% - anesthetic
- Diclofenac 3% - NSAID like Ibuprofen
- Cyclobenzaprine 2% - muscle relaxant
- Baclofen 2% - muscle relaxant more for spasms
- Gabapentin 6% - nerve pain (I tried this orally and it's awful for me, but topically it's fine for me)
- Tetracaine 2% - topical local anesthetic, often used in the eyes. Also known as amethocaine.
- Lipoderm base
Dosage is 2 pumps / 3-4 times per day. I use about 1.5 pumps at night when I go to bed and maybe another half pump in the middle of the night if the pain wakes me up. I don't use it daily, only when needed.
In general the symptoms of hyperparathyroidism are progressively worsening. So far it's a slow progression, but this coming appointment at Mayo I need to meet with an Endocrine Surgeon per my Endocrinologist. We need to put together a game plan if my Calcium rises and/or symptoms worsen. So with the Mayo visit coming closer, my stress level is rising. I do an amazingly good job of keeping the thyroid cancer and hyperparathyroidism in the back of my brain but as these appointments approach - I start to worry. We'll do the usual blood work and this time a neck ultrasound. I expect this visit to be "routine" with thyroid cancer and perhaps a bit more time spent on the benign tumor on one of my parathyroids that is causing the hyperparathyroidism. Read my prior post to see what that's all about.
Shortly after my visit to Mayo, I'll update the blog with news...hopefully good news!
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