New Developments...again

"When obstacles and trials seem

Like prison walls to be,

I do the little I can do

And leave the rest to Thee.

And when there seems no chance, no change,

From grief can set me free,

Hope finds its strength in helplessness,

And calmly waits for Thee."

-from Streams in the Desert

As I wrote in a previous post, my life is truly a "two steps forward, one step back" kind-of-thing.  One and a half weeks ago, I was actually doing so well!  I didn't have burning pain in my left arm, and pretty much the only pain I had was localized in my finger from the initial trauma back in November.  But that was not to last.  On Friday, I noticed my left upper back burning.  It wasn't too painful, but the next day, things started feeling worse.  By Monday, the burning pain spread to my right upper back, so I emailed my pain management dr., and by God's grace, he had an opening for me to see him this morning.  It's been a long day.  The CRPS has, in fact, spread to my back, and we're not yet sure why.  Today, my dr. told me CRPS doesn't usually spread to other areas this quickly.  This does happen but not very often.  He said that, in other people, CRPS usually stays in one spot, like in the foot.  But with me, CRPS is more of a whole body disease of the nervous system.

Sooo, now I am to get some lab work done, and if anything shows up positive, I will go back to the OHSU rheumatologist to once again rule out any other diseases/conditions.  I will be starting up biofeedback with one of the doctors at the pain center.  My pain dr. also wants me to switch the nortriptyline to a different pain med because the nortriptyline may partly be why I have tachycardia..  Waiting to hear back from him right now because the cost of the med I was going to try is SO expensive!  The pharmacy told us it's expensive because it's a brand name and is classed as a tier 2 drug. :\

Thank you so much for your prayers!  Prayer is powerful. :)  I will keep updating when there are new developments!