Hey Rhonda.
I figured I'd offer some suggestions, if you don't mind.
Have you had a physical therapy eval? My husband's pain kicks in at a 7 degree bend. It should be in your medical records somewhere.
As for the mattress, it took us years to find the right one for him. He uses the hardest we could find; its a Simmons. It's so hard a little boy jumped on the display model and hurt his nose!!! I use the softest. We put two extra long twins together and cover them with a king-sized fitted sheet.
As for sleeping positions, I use a fat pillow between my thighs and sleep side-lying. He mainly sleeps on his back with a foot up to keep his spine straight. On rare occasions, he'll try sleeping on his belly with one leg straight out and the other pulled up to his chest.
He tried most of the anti-inflammatory drugs out there with little help. He is currently on Mobic. He says that helps him because he gets "frozen" too. I worry because of the side effects. You've got to sit up for @ 45 minutes after taking it to decrease the risk for complications like performation of the bowel (or as I like to say: busted gut syndrome).
As for the calve pain, I don't know really. He gets calve pains, but he drinks tomato juice (guzzles it down really) for the potassium. He has to do this because the pain (along with other factors) made his blood pressure to high, so he takes a blood pressure pill which depletes the potassium from his blood. Hence, he drinks tomato juice to balance it all out.
I've notice with his worker's comp docs that they really don't pay attention to getting lab work ordered. Have you had a "complete metabolic profile" recently?
With my sciatica, I was informed to do yoga and and Qi Gong exercises. (Works even better when you TRY to make your belly button touch your spine, suck in the buttock cheeks, and pretend your trying to hold your urine.
I thought they were nuts when they told me to do that but, it actually helps, although I am behind in my exercises. I was wearing a back brace (the first one was improperly sized), but they said to only wear it at work and to wean myself off it once my stomach muscles got strong enough to actually help my back.
As for getting a second opinion via worker's comp, we had to get a lawyer to help us fight for the "approval". Now, we may need to find a new doctor again...
Keep your chin up.
When our daughter was 6-7 years old, I was on crutches and John was just starting his postop physical therapy. She taught herself how to ride her bike by going down the slight incline on the side yard. We stood by watching.
But she has learned from us. She's 15 now, knows cpr, has a killer spiral when she throws a football (I taught her that!) and she's resilent and compassionate. Helps her handicapped grandmother grocery shop every other weekend and wants to be a doctor.
Know of any worker's comp college scholarships for the kids?
-ginny