My mother has severe spinal stenosis, last year at about this time our summer was going great. We were making plans to do stuff with my little girl and things were going great. Next thing you know, she is complaining of severe leg and back pain. It got to be so bad that it made her blood pressure jump to stroke level and she was put into the intensive care unit at our hospital for a week. When she came home, the pain got worse to the point where she has been to the emergency room several times, with the last time being just yesterday. Her doctors are planning on putting a spinal stimulator in her back to try to ease this problem, but it has been months since this problem has started and the trial surgery is scheduled for next month. Then it will be another 1-2 months before they can actually do the main part of the surgery. Therapy was a joke, all they wanted to do was show her how to sit in a chair and because the pain is so bad that it makes her blood pressure rise, the therapists said they really couldn't work with her.

The problem is, mom has gone from being an active happy person to someone who is wasting away. She can't eat, sleep, or even focus on speaking because the pain is so bad. This morning she tried to walk in the kitchen, but the pain was so bad that she laid on the floor until I could get someone to help me pick her up. All she does is try not to cry anymore and it seems like no one can help her. Now, I will be honest, my mother is a marijuana user in a state that does not allow for medical marijuana, plus since she has tested positive for marijuana, she is not allowed to be prescribed anything major for pain. Her doctors agree that it should be legalized her for that purpose, but it is slow in happening. With that said, even the marijuana is not helping the pain or to give her an appetite. She has lost weight because she can no longer eat, she sleeps maybe half an hour at a time, and she can no longer control when she goes to the bathroom. It is really saddening to see her this way and I am helpless to stop it. Can't someone help, anything I can give her or do for her to at least help a little bit??? Her arms are even going numb because the pain is so intense. Isn't there something anyone can do?