Painful loss: I am not on vacation

I was supposed to be on vacation this week. 

 

At 28-years old I’m not supposed to have this much pain.

 

I threw out my back picking up a frying pan last Tuesday. Despite taking care not to bend at the back, bending with my knees, the motion of picking it up with my arms caused my lower back to slip out again. It still hadn’t recovered from the previous injuries going back to January. 

 

I’m mad, in pain and out $1,500 in non-refundable Air BNB costs. My friend Madi and I, after much discussion, decided we would go to Wisconsin and Indiana. We intended to visit a handful of monasteries. Madi hadn’t stopped talking about her desire to visit said places for months. It felt like a no-brainer when I suggested the idea. 

 

We spent hours researching where to stay and found two unbelievably nice places at decent prices. The plan was to visit the monasteries along with the National Park in Indiana, and any other scenic places, museums, parks, etc.

 

I encouraged Madi to go without me after my efforts to try and ‘heal quickly,’ were unsuccessful. I did not leave my couch Tuesday or Thursday except for acupuncture and chiropractor appointments.

 

When I still couldn’t manage to walk for more than five minutes without having to stop due to pain on Saturday, I decided it wasn’t a good idea. The drive to the game store that day, was painful enough. I couldn’t imagine six hours in the car on Monday.

 

Madi decided she would do the first leg of the trip and arrived safely Monday evening. She sent me photos and we spoke on the phone for about an hour during her drive. The monastery was beautiful, but the cabin we rented, Madi tells me, ‘was filled with freaky African and Indian masks.’ She also inserted a crying ‘emoji face.’

 

I wish I had more positive events to write about in life this week. I have an appointment on Tuesday to see my primary care provider to refer me to a specialist for my GI issues, aka, my left side pain. With the help of Ken at Heartland Healthcare, I have found a solution that helps me get through the day without too much discomfort. 

 

I have a call in to see a clinic in Mankato for my back. Mayo kicked me out of physical therapy and said I left voluntarily. I begged them, twice, in person to schedule me for more appointments because I was scared I would re-injure myself. They told me I need to be re-evaluated and the lady in scheduling didn’t believe me when I told her I had already been evaluated a second time to extend my therapy. I was assured three or four times, by two different staff members, in person, that scheduling would reach out to me to schedule more appointments. They didn’t. If they had, it would still have taken three weeks to get back in their ‘rotation.’ My last physical therapy day was July 7th. I re-injured myself exactly three weeks later on the 28th. I still wouldn’t have likely gotten back into physical therapy unless they had actually called me that first week to schedule.

 

After a half dozen phone calls with Mayo last week, I got an appointment for a third evaluation. That isn’t for another two weeks and then it will still be at least two weeks after that to be back in physical therapy. I am hoping I can be seen sooner in Mankato. 

 

I don’t understand why the people I keep asking for help from in the medical field don’t help. They offer a potential idea for what might be wrong, and when that isn’t correct, I have been abandoned. I felt defeated this week, all the while in lots and lots of pain.

 

I know my story is not unique. Many folks have had issues. To the readers who have suggested potential ideas and paths forward, I wish I had just called those phone numbers and seen those providers sooner. My faith in the healthcare system had not been as eroded as it is now. I expected to find help faster.

 

Locally, Ken has been great. Michelle at Swanson Acupuncture has been very good, along with the folks at Growing Roots. They’re the only ones who I have seen actually do everything in their power to help. Really, it’s one lady in scheduling in Albert Lea who doesn’t want to do her job. Three different times I had to beg her to do her job and she didn’t want to. Once was to get a phone number because the people who were supposed to call to schedule my injection, didn’t. The next time she lied to my face when I arrived late for an appointment. I asked her to please see if there was an opening or cancellation. She pretended to look at her computer and told me no. The next moment my physical therapist walked out and said she was really glad to see me. She then said the patient ahead of me cancelled, so she could see me. So as much complaining as I have done, it’s really just that one person who I have had bad interactions with at Mayo Clinic in Albert Lea. Everyone else, truly, has been very kind. 

 

On a lighter note, I got my butt kicked in cribbage this week. Dad won 12 games and I only won six. It started really bad for me as I fell down seven games to one before winning five of the next six to pull within two on the week. But Dad skunked me three times this week and pulled away.

 

This week’s cribbage tally’s updated from last week total:

Dad 484 wins, 73 skunks

Eli 430 wins, 44 skunks, 1 double skunk

2026 totals, Eli 93 wins, 5 skunks, Dad 71 wins, 12 skunks