Is the 88 really that good?
Thanks for asking.
It was nothing life threatening.
I've been struggling for a few days with a very painful back issue.
Until this morning it was a minor annoyance, but this morning it escalated to such a level that I was unable to walk without some real support. It was pure level 10 pain.
Sat in a wheelchair in the ER for FIVE HOURS waiting to see a doctor. Amazingly, when I got out of the wheelchair for the first, the pain was reduced to about 10% of what it was. No clue what caused that.
They ran lots of tests - including a cat scan and a lot of blood tests. The doc says I've got some arthritis, but all my bloodwork returned (his words) "really good numbers."
Then they gave me an intravenous steroid and I walked out.
Still have pain, with a few shots that hit level 7 or 8, but nothing like the prolonged pain at level 10.
I will let the rest of the community address your other questions.
Dave
PS: Really great thread for your first post.