Since the first time I was referred to Iowa City, quite honestly, I was given hell by everyone about, “Why do you have to go so far? You need to go somewhere closer.”
Really? Um because if I had a choice yeah, I’d totally pick the god awful long drive to get injections and the drive back attempting to relax.
While I only have gone to Iowa City twice, both times, it was tough. My cousin saved me last time and went along with. My next appointment, being a week away-I was ready to cancel. I finally told my primary care doctor (he is not the original dr. that referred me) that we needed to find somewhere closer for my pain management or else, I’d be back at square one with no relief from the constant pain.
The easiest way to describe the process of attempting to be seen at a pain management clinic is close to feeling like you are going through a Criminal Background Check at times. You have to disclose any and all meds. that have been taken for pain relief. While I only have two that would actually classify as a “pain med.”, it still sucks to be at the hands of literally, someone else’s mercy. We all know about my Mary Greeley Pain Medicine Clinic Fiasco.
I had to have Iowa City fax my records to a place in Des Moines. I then had to fill out a form regarding all of my pain issues. I was worried I would be forced to sit and worry.
Today, I was called. I was given an appointment time for the same day I was supposed to be going to Iowa City. I can not say how much relief I found in hearing these words. While I still need to find someone to go with me for the appointments, it’s going to make things much easier for me to get that done.
4 Comments
I really hope you start seeing relief soon. I know how frustrating it is for you. 🙁 (I’m performing random acts of comments today. You were on the forum when I decided to leave some comments. Have a happy day!)
Did you know that Story Medical now has a Pain Clinic here in Nevada? You seem pretty knowledgable about the services in the area, but I just thought I’d check. I don’t know much about your history, etc. since I don’t ever look at patient charts (HIPAA and all), but I thought I’d throw it out there…
http://storymedical.org/MedicalServices/Surgery-Pain-Clinic.aspx
Let me know if there’s anything we can do to help!
Samantha in the Communications Dept.
Hey Samantha
I saw it was now here which would be very awesome as you are literally down the road from me but my doctor referred me to a place in Des Moines, kind of weird since he’s connected to Mercy.
Since the pain clinic here is pretty new, your doctor may not know it’s an option. You could always ask your doctor about it since it’s so close to you. Would be worth a shot… Dr. Simon is with the Mercy Center for Pain Medicine, so I would think your doctor (if connected to Mercy) would know of him. He was just featured in the DM Reg last week as an expert in the field. Let me know if you need anything else. I’m happy to help. Driving for appointments all of the time is hard, especially in this weather!