The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men ...

As the Scottish poet, Robert Burns wrote: 

(To a Mouse - November, 1785)

But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men,
Gang aft agley,
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain,
For promis'd joy! 

Translation: The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.  

And that pretty much sums up today.

I was scheduled to have a procedure on my back this afternoon at the pain clinic.  I was looking forward to it with a mix of hope and trepidation.  Needles in the back do not sound fun, but the prospect of relief from months of nagging pain was enough to make me willing to endure the process.  So, Jennifer kindly dropped me at the doctor's office today at 1:00.  I dropped off the pre-filled-out paperwork, gave them my insurance info, and took a seat.  An hour and a half later, I was taken to an exam room.  And there I waited for another hour, interrupted briefly by a nurse who asked questions and typed info into her laptop.  Finally, I walked to the front desk and pointed out that I had been there for two and half hours and had yet to lay eyes on the doctor.  Megan had arrived to take me home and so far I had virtually no interaction with the medical community.  It was at that point that I was informed that the doctor had been called away to the hospital several hours earlier and had just returned.  I skulked back to my exam room and waited some more.

Finally, the doctor arrived, hurried and apologetic.  He walked me through a quick physical, discussed the immediate details of my situation, took a quick look at the MRI results, and told me that he would give me some paperwork explaining the procedure he thought would be best for my condition ... but the procedure itself would have to be rescheduled for next week.  << sigh >>

So next Tuesday, the day before I had planned to drive to Tuscaloosa to have Thanksgiving dinner with my mom, I'll be back at the pain clinic, finally getting poked, needled, and steroided.   No relief today.  No relief this week.  But the promise of relief in the not-too-distant future. 

Thanks for the prayers, emails, and good words.  I wish I had a better report to pass along, but I'm still in wait-and-see mode.  I guess, given how long I've managed to live with this, another week won't make a big difference.  But I admit to being a mite disappointment.  My "best laid plans" went awry.  Now, if I can only figure out what the best laid plans of mice actually consist of ....