[jchebert1979]

Had the VATS fusion at T3-4 and T6-7 with Dr. John Regan yesterday. The post op pain is unreal. I am having an extremely hard time breathing due to the surgical pain and pain from the chest tube. I can't speak or expand my chest in any way. One mg. of dilaudid every two hours was doing nothing, so they just upped it to 2-3mg every 3 hours.

Even though the post op pain is this severe, the searing electrical pain that was in my chest and abdomen 24/7 for two years causing every breath and heartbeat to feel like I was being electrocuted is gone. The pain from C7-T1 and T1-T2 is still there, but my gamble paid off in that the worst pain was coming from T3-4 and T6-7. If it didn't hurt so bad to expand my chest right now, I would be crying from joy. I really don't know how I held on for so long. I was so close to dying from the pain.

So anyway, because of all of the different doctors I have seen and had surgery with, no doctor in my area will even see me anymore. It really is disgusting the way I have been treated. Dr. Regan has told me that in 6 weeks I will be healed enough to have another surgery, so I will come back to Los Angeles then for a follow up to the thoracic surgery, and have surgery on C7-T1 and T1-2. I am now on short term disability insurance which only pays 60% of my salary, however if need be I can borrow against my 401k to finance the next trip.

I really believe that I will get most if not all of my life back. When I do, I plan on writing a book chronicling this tortuous battle that I had to wage with this broken health care system.