Chemoprevention

So chemoprevention. Second least favorite word at the moment (cancer is #1). I don’t have cancer (yet) so I don’t need Chemotherapy, which is worse. Chemo comes from the word “chemical” supposedly, but the connotation I’ve always had is that it’s basically poison. That’s why it’s so miserable for people who have to go through it. Chemoprevention is using chemicals to prevent cancer, and likely less much less miserable, but it still has this nasty connotation, like I’m being forced to ingest poison for the idea I’m avoiding something much worse. Keep in mind there’s nothing technically wrong with me now. It’s all in the name of prevention. Maybe all prescriptions are some sort of poison, as they’re usually man-made concoctions, but I’ve never thought of them so negatively. Whereas most prescriptions advise of possible side effects, my brain is convinced that I’m guaranteed to have the negative effects of chemoprevention, because chemo is such a nasty connoted word. The chemoprevention I’m starting next month has 400+ drug interactions, 1 of which I am taking and they are choosing to ignore. Also has interaction with a couple dozen vitamins and supplements I would normally take (at least occasionally). At least 50 very common side effects and serious side effects include stroke and vision loss. Some side effects make my existing conditions worse (arthritis) and also take away supplements I’d been taking to help (ginger, vitamin c). Sounds like fun, right? Get to take this toxin a minimum of 5 years. 10 years may also be beneficial. I guess we’ll do 5 and re-evaluate then.

Leg & Foot Pain Everywhere

No, not really in that much pain. This is my progress update. Right foot is hurting pretty good again, but not quite as bad as it was initially. Left leg can straighten out better now, but burns if I stretch it. Not that nice comfortable feel, but not quite the burning sensation I had when they worked me too hard in the first place. Sort of in-between. Wondering if I would be better off getting a different PT referral. Just don’t have a great feeling about this place.

Physical Therapy Idiots

I know getting into shape isn’t always easy and can sometimes be quite painful. Usually physical therapy is a bit more gradual and less painful. That is, I normally don’t go in and have searing pain during the exercises they demand I keep doing, and wind up being sore for close to a week.

The problem is we’ve only been working on one foot/ankle/leg, and then they decided to throw in an exercise using both, and my other leg was not up to the challenge. Is this another ploy to get more visits out of a person? Let’s put you in extra pain, even if we don’t outright injure you, and then make you think we’re the only people who can get you back to square one, even though we’ve already used (and thus wasted) several of your visits. The owners/management of this business keep sending out stupid e-mails about how much they care and if there’s any little thing that you’re concerned about to please contact them. I don’t want to ruin a person’s employment, but the one guy ignore me so much while he socializes with the others, he doesn’t seem to want to be there. I have been patient, but he doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing in the first place. Maybe he needs more training or supervision. I don’t want to be the guinea pig where he ignores me half the time, can’t figure out what his directions are, and then tells me to do things that I can’t because he doesn’t have the equipment set up correctly, or he’s holding a resistance band, but with no resistance, because he’s too busy trying to talk to the more seasoned and muscular guys there. Maybe if this wasn’t going to cost me a couple thousand dollars I’d be more patient. But when I can give you a laundry list of what he did wrong after every visit, and on top of that, puts me in so much pain because he thinks it’s good . . . I’m not a body builder. And I’m pretty sure body builders don’t progress well if they’re in so much pain they can’t move either. Duh. So that’s how physical therapy is going. Aren’t you glad you asked.

Physical Therapy Gold-diggers

I like the idea of physical therapy in general. Slow careful recovery versus trying to do too much too fast. Exercises that build up slowly, vs. say, the ones I did this summer that surprisingly put me in ridiculous pain.

Here’s my beef with some physical therapist situations. I’ve heard on more than one occasion that they really milk the process to get more money. Require visits more frequently than necessary, or drag the process out longer than the person’s situation needs. Let’s face it; they’ve got a lot of control how fast you can recover if they won’t help you and you legitimately need their help, like for the physical manipulation and massage (that you can’t figure out how to do yourself). I used to show up for an initial visit, and yes, they do assess and take measurements, but then they get down to business. The one I went to this time did measurements and spent the rest of the time explaining the process and basically their business model, and how everyone, no matter what is wrong with them, will require at least 20 visits to get better with lasting results. I can see not rushing the process or getting overly optimistic that once things feel better you’re done and don’t need any followup. But at some point it feels like they’re over-doing it, and the point is they want financial security.

I went to one guy who was nice enough, and maye not over-doing it, but basically talked to me as if I was his therapist, whining a lot about money. He didn’t make enough working under someone else, so he started his own business. Fair enough. But he made comments like the only good patients people want are the ones who’ve had surgery because they need more visits, and people with lesser issues can drop earlier and then he’s scrambling fore more business. He complained about the cost of laundry (towels used for heat/ice packs) and his minimum water bill being too high even if he hardly used any water. So you hear things in general, and stuff like this, and when they seem too clingly that you absolutely HAVE to show up 3x a week even though all you’re doing is exercises that you could do at home and they ignore you the rest of the time because you do know what you’re doing . . . you start to wonder.

So the first vist was not actual physical therapy, even though they charge it as such. The issue is a lot of people only have x many visits their insurance covers, so it does seem wasteful to spend one on them showing up just to measure and leave. I’ve heard lots of complaints like this, so I know it’s not an isolated practice. Someone’s in the hospital, the PT shows up to introduce themselves, asks if they have any questions, and says they’ll come up with a plan/strategy for next time. But they waste a whole PT session. It’s annoying. The the patient’s side of the financial thing. Even if we’re not penny-pinchers, we’re paying x amount per visit, and to be required to have 20 vists, say, times $30-40 a visit , that’s a sizeable investment of $600-800. Again, if you’ve had a serious injury or surgery, you may well need this. But if you’ve got a smaller tweak or sprain and you bounce back well, some honest therapists would agree you don’t absolutely need that many visits, especially if you’ve got a solid exercise plan in place and are diligent in completing, to continue strength and stability. You don’t need someone to babysit you doing exercises in a corner that don’t require specialized equipment. My PT referral suggested 2 vists a week for 2-4 weeks. While that might have been on the low side, 8 weeks of 2-3x a week is twice as much, and they state this is the set amount for everyone, without even knowing what’s wrong with them. So you can see why I am given to wonder.

Waiting for Physical Therapy (Foot Pain Continued)

Foot pain got bad enough that I stopped doing the exercises until I get physical therapy. Maybe I’m not doing them precisely right. I got a referral; now waiting for the appointment. It got bad enough that I wans’t sleeping well and it didn’t make sense anymore since it was making it so much worse. In the meantime I got a couple different compression sleeves, gel heel cushions, gernic diclofenac gel, and re-useable elastic bandage wraps. I’m not doing any walking, which sucks. I will be so out of shape when I finally get back to walking. The other day I running errands was painful enough and limping/overcompensating probably isn’t a good idea either. Who knows how painful PT will be. They usually know what they’re doing and massage, ice or give instructions how to keep discomfort reasonable. But who knows.