Baby's Got Back Injury

Since the end of May, I've been struggling with a back injury, which has had me staying away from the gym, hiking, and… well, sitting. My chiropractor called it early on, saying it was a disc injury.

My primary care, on the other hand, decided it was a muscle and told me to call if it got worse. Well, it got worse and I called two weeks later to schedule a follow up, and to get an MRI referral to find out the extent of the damage.

The administration in the office is far beyond what I would call disorganized. I've been mad at them for over a month. They continue call my defunct home phone to make appointments, despite me giving them my cell phone number on four separate occasions. (Finally, I had one of the admins remove my home phone number from the database entirely.) And, they keep scheduling me on days when I say I absolutely cannot make it.

Is this opposite day?!

I finally got in to see the doc, who said it's a disc injury. Something I’ve known since May 30. Late to the party, but at least she showed up. She wrote me three referrals.

1) MRI
2) Physical Therapy
3) Spine Orthopedist

I felt relieved, and went home to make all of my appointments. Well, today, the spine doc still does't have the referral from my primary care that was supposedly faxed last Wednesday to her office. Even better, I received a letter from my insurance that says they won't cover an MRI unless it's ordered by an orthopedist.

And here's the funny part that makes me want to pull out my hair and wander the street babbling to myself... the orthopedist won't see me without an MRI.

It's like a Mobius strip straight out of hell.

What's really annoying is I'm not even sure to whom I should direct my increasing ire. Private insurance for being yet another failing American invention? Or, the primary care clinic for being so lame in the first place?

Meanwhile, my left foot keeps tingling. That can't be good.