THE Ultimate Healthcare Hangover

Wow.? What a year.? Where do I start?

I’ve made a lot of posts on this platform over the years; many that have made a lot of other people uncomfortable, however this one challenges my own comfort levels.

It’s been a very rough year for me.? I have faced physical and mental health struggles that have tested me in ways I didn’t ?evenknow were possible.? Exposing failures in the insurance and healthcare industry is easy for me, doing the same about myself, however, is not.

My goal in writing and sharing this with you is threefold…

1.??????? To help someone who is almost certainly facing similar trials

2.??????? To raise awareness on how healthcare really can go awry even with the best directions

3.??????? And to be able to thank the countless number of friends that have reached out, checked in on me, and helped me get back to a point of stability.

I am not just some anonymous online figure who is magically immune to the very things I expose and uncover about this business of healthcare.

I am a husband, a father, a stepfather, and a human being.? And I have been fighting for my life.

It all started in January of this year with a sharp, shooting pain along the outside of my right thigh.? It quickly spread down my leg and, as the days dragged on, it became more intense with less and less moments of relief.? ?At first, I tried managing the pain with over-the-counter medications like Advil and Tylenol, and then prescriptions like Celebrex.? Although I kept taking the NSAIDs, they didn’t seem to do much to manage the pain – on a good day it might barely take the edge off.? The days wore on and I became more and more worn out.

Walking became an excruciating chore, and sleep became a thing of the past.? Eventually, there was no position that would provide me any relief.? So, doing what many of us do for a living, I knew I had to get a diagnosis and try non-surgical treatments when the pain didn’t resolve itself.?

The next 6 months were a series of physical therapy, chiropractic adjustments, massage therapy, cryotherapy, heat pads and ice packs, and getting professionally stretched by a man much larger than me.? ?With every appointment I would hobble in with hope that “this time, it will work” but it never did.? And honestly, the crushing disappointment every time a treatment didn’t work took me further into the darker corners of my psyche.

My pain was not just affecting me, but everyone around me.? I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t drive, I couldn’t travel, I couldn’t help around the house… I was unable be a good partner, father, or professional.?? I kept my wife up for nights on end just trying to find enough relief to sleep for a few moments at a time.? My kids started getting used to seeing me wince in pain or having to sit or lay in the middle of the day.? They stopped asking for my contributions around the house… and in their lives.? The clouds got darker around me, and I started feeling hopeless.

In June I was fortunate enough to go to Costa Rica with a good friend of mine; the goal being to focus on breaking through the mental and emotional anguish the prior months had left me with. I even attempted a hike on the trip (bad idea!).? While the trip gave me some sense of enlightenment and helped clear my mind, I, unfortunately, returned home with a nasty stomach bug that lingered for a couple of weeks, and no physical relief from my pain.? I was still taking NSAIDs every day with little to no relief. ?

June is also the month of my anniversary and after an exceptionally tough 6-months, I wanted more than anything to make the day special for my wife, Emma Fox, CHVA .? But there was an ultimatum on the table from Emma Fox, CHVA – Start looking into surgical options, or else.

The day before our anniversary, she drove me to an MRI clinic with orders (both hers and the doctors).? Sure enough, I had a bulging herniated disc at the L4-L5 which was pressing directly on my sciatic nerve.? Despite my wife pushing me to see a surgeon, I was just too afraid.? The thought of having this pain forever was bad, but worse would be getting a back surgery that leads to a lifetime of irreversible pain or repeat surgeries like my mother has suffered through since I was a child.? The idea of going under the knife scared me deeply.?

At the very end of June, Emma left for a brief business trip and returned to find me in dire straits.? Since contracting the stomach bug, I was dizzy, short of breath, and my vision was sporadically failing.? My wife had finally had enough and demanded that we get in the car, go to urgent care, and get a steroid shot.? We both thought the pain had reached its peak.

At the urgent care intake, they took my blood pressure.? Then they took it again.? Nurses exchanged glances and went to fetch a doctor who brought a manual pressure cuff.?

“Your blood pressure is 71/44. You need to transported to the emergency room, immediately”, the doctor said.? Emma and I looked at each other and I knew the look on her face was one not to argue with.

At the ER I was diagnosed with Acute Renal (Kidney) Failure.? My left kidney was not functioning, and my right kidney was filtering at about 10%.? Between the NSAID’s, the stomach bug, and my increasing lack of mobility, I was so severely dehydrated my organs had started to shut down.?

I was in the hospital for four days on constant fluids, antibiotics, steroids, and pain medications before my blood pressure stabilized.? The greatest symptom I felt, however, was the continued sciatic pain.? I was discharged from the hospital with a prescription for oxycodone and a couple of refills.

As these months had worn on, I felt less and less connected to all of you, the industry, and my profession.? I couldn’t attend conferences that I had committed to, sometimes due to the physical pain but more often due to the failings of my own mental health.? I started to lose my way along with my identity.

After much (much) pushing from my wife, I finally decided to consider surgical options.? I was able to connect with a high-quality orthopedic surgeon in Charlotte who practices minimally invasive surgery and together, determined I was a candidate for a microdiscectomy.? Because I am a cash pay patient, I saw my surgeon within 2 days. And was under the knife just a week later in mid-August.

I woke up in recovery wondering if I was still under anesthesia… my sciatic pain was completely gone for the first time in months.? We were elated!? My wife drove me home that very day with a quick stop by the pharmacy for another refill of oxycodone.

About three days after my surgery, the only discomfort I was experiencing was a dull pain from the incision in my lower back, so I began discarding the medications I had collected.? For the first time in a very long time, I started to feel… normal.?

Then I developed the worst headache of my life… followed by body sweats, nausea and vomiting. ?I couldn’t eat food, I was incredibly light sensitive, and my head pounded every moment of the day.? I had no idea that I was withdrawing from opioids. I have never experienced withdrawal in my life and I’m here to tell you it is exceptionally unpleasant.?

It took over a week for my body to flush out just a few weeks of opioids.? That’s all it takes to get addicted without ever knowing it.?? And where did it start?? With a legitimate prescription for a valid medical concern in which pain needed to be managed and taken less often then prescribed.?

Today, I am still dealing with lingering mental health issues.? I still have a lot more recovering to do… physically, yes, but mostly mentally.? Chronic pain took a lot from me this year.? It pushed me to limits I never expected to have to face.? It tested my family and many of my friends.? It made me question my sanity, my strength, and my worth.? It removed me from my business, my clients, my industry, my marriage and the things that give me purpose In my life.

And so, I share this with you today with a slight sense of hope.? Because over the months, so many of you have shared yourselves with me… The text messages, the phone calls, the personal visits to prop me up.? People have taken a moment to check in on me, on my wife, and offer their support in the kindest of ways.? And if I am to reexamine who I am after having lost so much of myself this year… well… I want to be more like so many of you; vulnerable, authentic and honest.? A friend.

(And still a pain in David Mordo, REBC ’s a$$ from time to time).

I still have more recovering to do, some physical, but mostly mental and it may take years to undo the damage this experience has caused.? But I am finally in place where I am getting the help, willing to listen and be vulnerable, and make a change for the betterment of myself, my family and those we serve among our clients.

So, I hope you’ll welcome me back to the community I have missed so much.? And I thank you sincerely and deeply for holding this space for me.?

What are the takeaways I am hoping for?

1)??????? It’s OK to not be OK

2)??????? Just because something is OTC, doesn’t mean its safe

3)??????? Opioids are highly addictive, even when taken as or less then prescribed

4)??????? Sometimes surgery IS the answer

5)??????? Leading with fear can delay finding peace

6)??????? And, of course, listen to your damn wife!

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Part 2 coming soon……here come the bills.