The Waiting Game With CRPS!!!

Today my stress level is a little higher than yesterday which may be one of the reasons that I woke up in a fog. My pain level is on the rise however I have had a couple of decent days. If you have been reading earlier posts then you know that I have recently had some surgery and am waiting to have some more surgery done. Well yesterday I went in to meet with the surgeon to find out that I have to wait for another two months until I have something done. Without getting into detail I understand the surgeons reasoning however it's just hard to sit back and wait while you are in pain.

It's the waiting that's the hardest thing to deal with. Waiting for 2 months isn't bad compared to some of the specialists appointments that I have to wait for. Sometimes I have to wait up to 6 months just to get into see them, and that's just for the consult to be done. Then you usually have to wait and have tests done so another 3 months goes by before you see him again. My wife is waiting to have some tests done at the moment. She's dealing with a problem right now, however the date of her test isn't until October. This is crazy! Waiting for 8 months isn't right. She then has to wait another month until she sees the specialist. Why do we have to wait so long???

I understand that specialists are busy and that there aren't enough to handle the demand. I understand that the wait for tests is long. When you allow time to roll by though without treatment then your chances at making a full recovery aren't as good. This is the case with any illness or disease. So my question is what has to be done in order to diagnose people quicker to get them into treatment faster?

What I find is that people with chronic pain often take a back seat to other illnesses which lead to death. So what happens is that when we go to see the specialists, because we aren't at risk of dying we get shuffled to the bottom. Now I'm not saying that those cases aren't important and don't deserve high priority, however we do get lost in the shuffle and seen as less important. Look at the number of people that live with chronic pain as opposed to cancer or heart problems, the numbers speak for themselves. All I can say is try living with chronic pain for a while and see what it's like. I can assure you that it's not a party!!!!

As you can see I am frustrated with all the waiting that I've had to do as well as the waiting I'll have to do in the foreseeable future. I'm not mad at anyone in particular however I'm mad at the fact that I was bounced around like a basketball because nobody knew who to send me to. As a result it delayed my treatment which has made it a tougher hill to climb. I'm not the first person to say this, and it doesn't only apply to people dealing with CRPS. Its time to shorten our wait times and start doctors to really start listening to there patients when they say they're in pain!