Today was my appointment with my new pain doctor. I arrived on time. I was given forms to fill out, of course. As I was filling them out the receptionist called me to her work station. It turns out the pain doctor who is new to this practice has yet to be approved as an in-plan doctor by my insurance company.
Why didn’t they tell me this three weeks ago when I made the appointment? I had the option of seeing an in-plan physicians assistant a week ago but insisted on seeing an MD.
So I was given three choices:
(1) Book a new appointment with another in-plan doctor (which would probably have delayed my treatment by another three weeks).
(2) Pay the out-of-plan rate to see my new doctor today. (Hey, what’s $600 between friends, right?) Or,
(3) Make an appointment to see the physicians assistant on Monday of next week.
It was like being on Let’s Make a Deal. I chose Door No. 3. They assured me that the PA was authorized to order cortisone injections.
While I was there I asked them if they kept a copy of my MRI. Nope. So my first order of business was to go home and dig it out of my files.
Ironically, I am not in pain. Somehow, for the last four days or so, the referred pain in my leg went from a 9 on a scale of 10 to a 1.
What’s behind this?
Well, first of all, other than riding my bike and mowing my lawn I hardly do anything but sit. Mowing the lawn doesn’t cause any pain because it involves supported forward leaning, just as riding a bicycle does. I did some housecleaning (bathrooms, vacuuming and such) last Thursday. Since this activity did not involved forward leaning, leg pain increased.
Another possibility is that I have made some modifications to the physical therapy exercises I’ve been doing. I doubt this is having such a big effect though.
My final thought is that I have been riding The Mule consistently for over two weeks. The Mule has easy gears and absorbs road shock well. In contrast, my CrossCheck has aggressive gears. My Bike Friday doesn’t absorb road shock. And my Tour Easy recumbent does not involve leaning forward.
The time is now for me to get this back issue squared away. I want to be able to walk around like a normal person, perhaps even do a day hike now and then.
Watson! The needle!!
A Few Spokes Shy of a Wheel 
The needle beats the knife.