Calcific Tendonitis, Bicipital Tendonitis, and Frozen Shoulder. It took awhile to get it, but that’s the diagnosis for my shoulder pain.

I went to see my regular doctor yesterday. After pushing on my shoulder and having me yell out in pain, he said he was ‘pretty sure’ this wasn’t serious and wrote me a Rx for vicodin. He said I should take that and ibuprofin and that the pain should eventually go away. I asked about an x-ray and he asked if I thought I needed one. When I said yes, he said he would try to get authorization from my insurance company but that it would take 2-3 days for that to come through–for a fucking x-ray! Are you joking?! Then I asked what would come next. He asked if I wanted a referral to an orthpedic surgeon. My response was something like ‘Well, you’re the doctor, what do you think?’ I asked if we couldn’t do something to speed up this process since I was in a lot of pain, and he recommended I go to ER–at $100 a pop!

I have never been so frustrated and felt so helpless. I tried to do something called a self-referral (something my insurance plan allows), but couldn’t find an orthopedic doctor that would treat shoulder problems through the self-referral plan. The afternoon was over (I went back to work after the doctor’s appt) so I headed home, stopping at the drugstore to fill the vicodin Rx. And then came the REAL shocker–the doctor wrote me a Rx for 100 (500 mg) vicodin!!! Can you believe that? I expected somewhere between 10-30, but never 100! The label on the bottle says ‘Take one tablet by mouth 4 times a day.’ If I take that many vic’s, I will be a zombie! And no way in hell will I be able to drive, much less try to work. What was this guy thinking?!

Went to work this morning and got online trying to find an Urgent Care Center that was affiliated with my medical group that had the ability to do x-rays in their facility. Finally found a place in Glendale and went over there this afternoon. The doctor who examined me was great. For anyone who watches Oprah, he was a lot like Dr. Oz. They took two x-rays and, after giving me the above diagnosis, he recommended that I get my regular doctor to refer me to an orthopedic surgeon for steroid (cortisone) injections as well as going through some kind of physical therapy program. He was very clear in explaining everything to me, told me to use a sling and recommended some exercises I should do every day to keep my arm mobile. He said I had to contact my regular doctor for the referral and that he would send the x-rays, his diagnosis and recommendations to him immediately.

I guess my regular doctor had second thoughts and realized he couldn’t just drug me up and that I would be satisfied with that. When I got home from Urgent Care there was a message on my voicemail from his office saying they had done a direct referral to a place called The Ortho Center in Pasadena and that all I needed to do was call them for an appointment. I’ll call them in the morning and hope that I don’t have to wait weeks to get in.

My God. All that just to get treatment for a real medical problem. Well, if you need any vicodin, you know where to find them–for a price, of course!