Chronic Pain
"After a failed back surgery, my orthopedic surgeons kept telling me I %u201Cshould%u201D be walking again. I could not get out of the wheel chair I had been in for over 12 weeks without assistance. And once out of it, I could not walk without severe pain. The docs eventually found bone fragments had been pushed INTO my spine rather than being removed before bone cement was used to repair my crushed vertebrae.  While they could %u201Ctry%u201D to remove them and redo the surgery, the chances of my not being able to walk, ever, were far too high to justify the risk of surgery. A brilliant pain management specialist in LA found the combination of Dilaudid and Morphine worked well for me. After starting pain medications, I was able to stand and eventually to walk again."