The problem with that was the 6-ish hour drive home. At the moment, I am physically incapable of being comfortable. It doesn't matter how I prop or wedge myself up or how many pillows I use, every position I try to sit / lie down / relax in hurts some part of me. Add into that mix a long car ride and a Worf that doesn't like to stay still in the car, and it equals extreme pain. Luckily, we stopped in Charlottesville to see a friend for lunch, so we broke the trip up, but by the time we made it home, I was in so much pain that I could barely stand up to get out of the car and walk inside. Needless to say, I immediately went upstairs and fell face-first into bed. Even the thirty minute drive to the doctor's office was excruciating. And no pain pills means that it's simply going to hurt and I can't do anything about it at all. Really, it's super funtime.
Anyway, after the typical wait-forever-for-the-doctor-to-see-you routine, Dr. Ducic finally came in. I don't know what I was expecting - nothing, really, I guess - but he is so humble and soft-spoken and kind. It would be quite easy for someone of his skill and renown to become egotistical or arrogant, but he's the farthest from. He asked a few questions and poked around my head for a minute to check where I flinched in pain, then stepped back across the room.
Then, in a blur that took me a good few seconds to process, I heard what I'd been longing to hear but couldn't bring myself to hope for or be excited from. He looked me straight in the eye and said something along the lines of "Okay. Let's get this underway. Let me show you what I'm going to do for you." I know my memory is shit right now, but I was too stunned to even process what he said.
He's going to do my surgery. I won't be in pain anymore. What's going to happen is that he'll put me under with a general anesthetic to make two small, 2" long incision right at the base of my skull (and without having to shave any of my hair). Then he'll cut away some of the muscle tissue around the greater occipital nerve so that it has more room to swell without being constricted. He'll also completely remove the lesser occipital nerve, so there will be some areas of numbness / no feeling behind my ears. Frankly, I'm totally okay with no feeling at all over pain!
This procedure works for between 80-90% of his patients. For those who don't have complete or significant relief - all of maybe 15% of his patients - he will go back in and remove all of the greater occipital nerve, leaving virtually no feeling at all in the back of the head. However, that's a slightly more invasive procedure, and since so many people have such marked improvement, he doesn't like to do that removal without first trying the less severe version; I think that's perfectly fair.
But right now, we have a number of obstacles still standing in our way.
1. He's booked into January. Because of my bipolar and anxiety diagnoses, he actually triaged me further up; I guess this is the only time I'm glad to be bipolar.
2. He's moving offices as of Jan 1. It'll be nice not to have to go into DC to MedStar G'town for the procedure, but moving is time-consuming and takes away from other things that need to be done - like his surgeries.
3. Insurance. It's kind of sketch to begin with, as many insurance companies consider the procedure an "experimental" one and don't like to cover it. I don't understand it at all, as the success rates are high and one procedure can easily 'cure' a patient so they won't require treatment again for this problem, so one would think it was a long-term cost-saving option. Unfortunately, my insurance company is one of those that tends to fight paying the procedure, although it does depend on which state the insurance runs through. It's entirely possible that they may decline to pay at all. That'll leave the only options as a) self-pay, or b) don't have the surgery. Best estimates run around $15,000 out of pocket, though that might go down a bit with a surgical center instead of a hospital. I know Patrick and I couldn't pay that under any circumstances; our parents are willing to help out, but I don't think I can ask or expect that of them. Luckily, Dr. Ducic's staff takes care of the pre-authorization nonsense for their patients, as they have better luck than the patients themselves.
4. Scheduling. They don't schedule you in until the insurance bullshit is worked out.
So anyway. This is the first positive news I've had in many, many months. I'm more relieved than words that Dr. Ducic has agreed to perform this surgery on me. But I have so much else to worry about in the meanwhile. And I don't wait well. The end is in sight, but it's going to be a long, trying three months.
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