Have you heard the joke that when you play a country music song backwards you get your truck, motorcycle, house, dog and money back? Before my accident, I had a great life for a single person- a new house, a car, a motorcycle, a great job and an active social life. I was active in sports and loved working out in my yard and riding my bike. One winter morning, I was taking my dogs out on retractable leashes down the back deck steps. We had an ice storm overnight, which I didn't realize until i hit the top step, went flying and my right shoulder hit the bottom pointed deck post square on. The RSD showed up shortly after surgery. It has now spread to my neck and jaw after having my wisdom teeth pulled and my left leg from my hip to my knee.

Since then, up until recently, it has been a medical nightmare. I spent a year in physical therapy, which insurance only covered 20% after the $2,500 deductible. I had several doctors tell me it was likely RSD, but never documented that in the records and tried me on all kinds of crazy medications. I finally hooked up with a great neurologist who understood and worked with the crazy limitations of my insurance, kept me on medications that worked and enabled me to continue working. In November, I finally got a good pain management physician who did nerve blocks, which really helped a lot. We were going through the insurance pre-authorization for the SCS when I lost my job and my medical insurance as of 12/31/08.

I am currently scrambling to find medical insurance, which is no small feat since I just had 5 nerve blocks within the last 45 days and an RSD diagnosis, and trying to figure out how I can get a SCS.