Sedona, Arizona

My partner of twelve years had two serious back injuries and five surgeries. She was a nurse and later a hospital administrator. Lark was one of the most dynamic people I, and others, had ever had the good fortune to meet and know.

In February of 2000, Lark had to medically retire. This was devastating, taking away her work which she loved. But her pain and ability to function almost left her overnight.

I have Spina Bifida and was not diagnosed until age 36. My story is not so important, just that we both ended up medically retired long before we were ready to stop working…

Lark was initially treated by a psychiatrist, but it seemed that more than anything, all he did was throw more medications at her—and the titration schedules were confusing, compounded by the effects of the medications. Lark became a spaced-out mess—that’s the kindest and most to the point way I can put it.

I was still working at that time, and for some reason one Sunday morning, I got up quite early and found Lark out cold on the floor in the living room. I could not get any response from her and called 911. She did stop breathing at one point and I thought I had lost her forever. And all this happened BEFORE her RSD diagnosis…

Now here we are in 2006 and Lark is currently in the hospital, since 10/3, de-toxing from opioid addiction. Two weeks ago, after several days of her being, well, “loaded,” I found her out cold again, across a chair. I could tell she was breathing so after about ten minutes, she did wake up only to pass out again in bed.

The next day was the beginning of the end. Over the next five days, I rallied her boys and my son, a neighbor and a friend and even my ex-husband. I did an intervention on 10/2 and she went into de-tox on 10/3.

Anyway, Lark has to get off and stay off these pain meds or one day soon we will lose her altogether. She has a history of abusing them, a family history of pain med addiction and suicide—and a personal history of thinking: “If I throw enough meds at the pain I can manage.” But the meds have affected her brain and so in many ways we already have lost her.

The hope here is that continued treatment such as rehab can and will help Lark learn new ways to deal with and manage her pain without the drugs that are killing her far more than her pain. She has the willingness to do this, but also has a very stubborn streak about treatment only with or by those who understand RSD—that, as I am sure you know, is a TALL order.