Tracy's situation

The short answer is that the ENT said Tracy has trigeminal neuralgia (facial nerve pain).
The longer story is: About the first of March Tracy started experiencing pain in his sinuses, jaw and teeth. The pain became so severe that we went to the ER on Saturday, March 13th. The doc said he had sinusitis and gave him Amoxicilian and Vicadin. Six days later he was still in pain so we returned to the ER. This doctor decided he needed a head CT scan to determine if he had a sinus infection. At this point that would have been the simple answer, but no such luck. They found no sinus infection and prescribed a different pain med., Ultram, and suggested we see an ENT. At this point he's been in pain three weeks and we are frustrated because we don't know the cause. Monday morning he was feeling fine but by Monday night he was in severe pain again. We went to the ENT this morning hoping for some answers. After describing his pain, sharp pain like someone drilling in his jaw and teeth on the left side of his face, his face is tender to the touch, and pain in his ear, the doctor said you have trigeminal neuralgia (like we knew what that was). He said it is fairly rare and has the most debilitating pain of the problems that he sees. Tracy was relieved by this, at least he wasn't crazy. The doctor prescribed 4 things: a steroid, a pain med specifically for nerves, a stronger form of Vicadin, and an MRI. We hope to have the MRI by the end of the week to determine if any blood vessels are compressed. If so then we'll proceed from there. For now he's taking his meds and resting, while it isn't hurting.
For me the situation is heart wrenching. I just sit by watching as he shrieks in pain. We are glad that the ENT pin pointed the problem, or so we hope. He continues on the nerve pain meds for 2 weeks. We are hopeful that this will relieve his pain more so than the Vicadin does. I'm just ready for everyone to be healthy again! Your thoughts and prayers are appreciated. We hope the worst is behind us and that healing is ahead for Tracy.

Make Lemons!