Thursday, November 13, 2008

Injection

After a reschedule from earlier in the week, The Rock Chick is finally having her Epidural Steroid Injection this afternoon to help alleivate the pain caused by a herniated disc.

Not that this sounds pleasant, but it sounds amazingly better than the lumbar discectomy the doctors believe I will need based on my MRI results.

Even though the articles say only 50% of patients get relief from this ESI procedure, I am trying to feel hopeful. I’ve been researching and the majority of people who do get relief are the ones suffering from radicular symptoms, like the sciatica pain that I am experiencing.

I’m also a little bit (ok, a lot) scared. I’ve been on the end of when common “don’t worry, we do these every day” procedures go wrong, at least twice.

Long story short, I suffered a long lasting nerve pain condition resulting from a misplaced c-section incision, among other things. The pain was bad, a little worse than I am experiencing now and they decided to do some sort of spinal nerve block at the pain management doctor.

That, unfortunately, was on a Friday (which is why I will never have anything done on a Friday again) and I was left for the entire weekend with what they call a post dural puncture or spinal headache. These spinal headaches are horrific and the reason I was left with one was because the doctor insisted there was no way that could happen based on the procedure I had and that it must be a migraine.

Yeah, it wasn’t. It was a spinal headache and they did fix it for me with a blood patch.

I intended to swear off things like this for the rest of my life, but that’s easy to say when you’re not in excruciating pain. I can’t walk, work or function like this, so I have to do something.

Anyway, I am wishing, hopeful, nervous, frightened and anxious today. Hopefully, they will have some type of medication available to relieve some of those symptoms, too. Wish me luck! I’ll let you know how it goes!

6 comments:

Crystal said...

How did it go?

D's had several and though they didn't really help enough to continue, he's still alive. :)

Surgery is scary. He'll probably need one eventually too, but I don't see how we can ever afford it seeing as he'll NEVER let the VA do it and our insurance won't cover it since it's the VA's responsibility.

Sucks.

Dustin said...

I'd ask how you're feeling, but there's a pretty good chance that it hasn't taken effect yet. My first ESI didn't take effect for a week. I think they told me that in some people it can take up to 2.

How did the procedure go? Painful, yeah, I know...but did you survive?

Malcolm said...

I knew you were in pain, but I didn't know it was this bad. That makes me appreciate you listening to me and Pop Art Diva the other night even more. Best wishes with the ESI procedure.

The Rock Chick said...

Crystal: well, it was painful but it doesn't seem to be doing anything. It's been like 5 days :(

A Janelle: Thanks! How long did it take before you noticed any relief, if you don't mind me asking?

Dustin: 2 weeks? aye caramba! I guess I'll have to work on my lack of patience, huh?

malcolm: I really enjoyed the show! It was nice to put actual voiced with you guys, too. I really wanted to call in, but wasn't sure how Vicodined I sounded...LOL

Dustin said...

It's really hard to be patient when you're in excruciating pain. Hopefully you'll feel some relief. I have actually heard that in some cases the first shot didn't provide relief while subsequent shots did. I guess it's kind of just a guessing game.

I guess that's why doctor's "practice" lol

JAM said...

I haven't been here in quite a while, I've just been working a lot and sleeping. Then more of the same.

I got here and started reading and found out about your back issues. I'm so sorry.

I've had these problems for years, and all you can do is try the different things and hope they help.

I had 3 microdiscectomies (sp?) and finally a fusion of the lowest three vertebrae in my back. The fusion was the most helpful thing, but the most horrifying surgery to understand what all he was going to do in there.

I still have chronic pain, but I've been seeing a pain management specialist for most of this year now, and the pain meds I'm on now allow me to work and function as close to normal as I'll ever get.

I will be praying for you, not just about the pain, but patience as well. I've learned the hard way that the whole process is such a long thing. Three months of medicine and bed rest. 3 months of steroid injections. 3 months of surgery recovery, etc.

Once your back is screwed up, from then on, it's all about just trying to improve your "quality of life." I'm hoping that they and you can find a surgery, a therapy, or whatever, that will allow you to get back to a somewhat normal life.

God Bless, and good luck.