Pain clinic and power chair

Today we visited the pain clinic. *argh!* It took us a few weeks to get an appointment and then we found out there was nothing they could do for mom. The clinic just gives a shot in the spine to deaden the pain. No therapy or pain management. Because of mom's heart medications and blood thinners, Dr. Colon will not give the shot. Too risky.

clinic

1. A medical facility, such as a hospital, especially one for the treatment and diagnosis of outpatients.
2. A group practice of several physicians.
3. A meeting for the diagnosis of problems, or training, on a particular subject.

Pain Clinic... definition 2 doesn't apply here as the clinic only has one doctor. But based on the definition of clinic I expected more than just a place to get a shot. Maybe therapy and pain management techniques? Nope.

Dr. Colon recommended mom to visit Tri-Life, a pain management clinic here in Minot. "How long now will it take to get an appointment here?"

I called Tri-life and got mom an appointment for an evaluation next Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning. At least it is not weeks in advance. The downside is that the Wednesday morning meeting is at 8 am and mornings are rough and slow on mom. And Tuesdays are mom's bath aide days which means we will have to change that day next week.

If mom is a candidate for the pain management program then she will be enrolled in a three week intensive program to manage her pain.

The other "good" () news is that Kelly called from Keycare Medical about the power chair and the physical therapy evaluation. Ann, the physical therapist who had seen mom under the Home Health program, had submitted her evaluation to Kelly, but it was so vague as to be useless. Ann has been dragging her feet on this evaluation all along.

Rather than "pulling teeth" (as Kelly called it), Kelly arranged for mom to visit another therapist Kelly has worked with in the past and has confidence in. The problem is that mom now has to go to a clinic to see this therapist and traveling is a hassle. Medicare pays the cost of the new therapist's evaluation. So much for Medicare's effort to save money. The appointment is next week. Another busy week.

The last annoying thing this afternoon was the Commission on Aging bus driver, Don, who brought us home. He was an old man who was used to doing stuff his way and he wouldn't listen to me. Road construction on Broadway has started this week. The traffic is currently not being delayed but Don refused to drive on Broadway. He drove over to 3rd St NE. Then we met a coal train passing through town and blocking the road.

Rather than wait a few minutes for the train to pass Don drove further east adding a few miles to the journey and over very bumpy roads and around multiple corners. He refused my suggestion of an alternate route. Mom and I had been fine waiting for the train rather than bouncing over bad roads. Making it worse this bus is one of the worse riding buses and Don was in a hurry.

When I told Don to slow down as the bumps and bouncing were painful on mom, he told me "try riding in this bus all day". I would have called the Commission on Aging to complain about him but he mentioned when we got home that he was retiring soon. Good riddance!

By the time we got around the train and back to 3rd St, the train had finished passing and we ended up right where we would have been if we would have waited for the train to pass.

What an annoying afternoon!