They did a discography today.
Note: Many thanks to The Dude (aka Wilson to my House) for taking a half day off and driving me to and from the procedure. Cruel Wife couldn’t originally get the time off but then came down with a nasty cold and so I’m keeping her at least one room away rather than catch it before surgery. Spaced Diode was going to but then he got called off to San Antonio for work travel (poor bastard).
Imagine you are lying on your back, no sedative, and a looooooong needle is inserted in the front left right side of your neck so it can puncture the discs on the left side and inflate them. the needle goes through your entire neck diagonally.
Imagine that happening multiple times.
I’ve attached a horizontally-flipped image and put arrows on it to show where they stick you. Think of it then going for the left side of the spine.
Simply put, it is rather painful when they pump fluid into a disc.
I can think of things I would rather do.
Luckily I have painkillers now. Still smarts but the sharp edges have been taken off.
Ugh, sounds like fun.
I bet you understand Steve Martin’s character in “Little Shop of Horrors” a little better now though.
Let’s see… dentistry w/o Novocaine?
Only difference is I didn’t do this willingly.
Step one – so far so good.
Just make sure you have a variety of painkillers on-hand for the coming ordeal. Ideally, you would have the full spectrum of pills – fast acting, slow acting, strong, weak, long-lasting, temporary hard-hitters, and all in between.
Then there are the injection types – the second tier stuff you only use sparingly and at great need. You know – the liquid stuff folks used to get hooked on. Morphine, Demerol, etc. – and fer christsakes, don’t forget the horse tranquilizers!
And finally, the non-narc side items for treatment of side effects, like cottonmouth, sweating, constipation, diarrhea, and indigestion, and headache.
Properly assembled, your “Pain Kit” should be enough to make a Narcotics officer howl with delight and he eyes light up with glee!
Best of luck to you, dude!
Thanks Woo.
I have a fanny-pack that I carry with me. It is kind of like an everyday/emergency kit. I made the mistake a while back of not being prepared and found it to be a special little hell, requiring my wife to make a trip to my workplace to bring me something.
I have exceeded my limits only twice in the last few years where I needed ER intervention. I’ve found that the hassle and embarrassment of having to go there outweigh all but the most severe events. Yes, dilaudid in IV form will definitely chop off any horrid sensations you were having but I’m not willing to go through that for it unless I’m feeling like it’s that or cash in my chips.
People who don’t quite understand what it’s like 24/7 do a little eye-widening glance if I need to grab something on right-friggin-now basis when they see a Narcotics Officer Orgiastic Pharmacy but I say **** ‘em. Even fast-acting stuff takes some time to get into your system and as soon as you notice things going sideways you have to jump on it.
Oh, gosh… whatever anesthetic they pumped in there deep is wearing off. Oh this is exquisite… ok, I’m off to grab something right now. Whoa.
Well, I sure hope that all of this torture finds out something that helps in the long run. Would really suck if it was a waste of time.
Unless you’ve got a Doc who’s a masochist…
Hope the meds have kicked in by now.
Yup. 37 minutes is about how long I can expect – you get to know these things after a bit.
It seems that the test does confirm a large number of symptoms since it is a blind test, pointing definitely to C5-C6.
I don’t know enough to interpret the implications of the results on the other levels.
I do know that a cream cheese everything-bagel plus an Arby’s sandwich and curly fries plus a Chai plus a Dr. Pepper does wonders for feeding the body when you haven’t eaten in 18 hours.
I pray for you and yours as you go through this, LK. I know what it’s like, only in the lumbar region, and only experienced twice.
My guess is the doc that did it to me will be servicing Satan when he’s off his mortal coil.
They punctured you through your abdominal cavity? Ew.
Or are you thinking of an epidural?
This is a pressurize-the-disc-until-the-pain-is-worse-than-what-you-feel-now kind of procedure. And believe me, they can make it feel worse.
One was an epidural. The other was a search-and-discovery procedure. No, not through the abdominal cavity, thank goodness.
The other was to determine if they could “unfuse” the lumbar lump I have. They determined, after approximately three hours of needles with no break to rest that short of breaking my lower back, it couldn’t be done. I apparently broke quite a few needles, some inside of me.
But it’s the epidural doc that’s going to hell
Three hours of needles? I had a tattoo roughly that long. But yours had to hurt much worse – and near the spine, no less. Ugh.
Epidurals like you are talking about are different than the ones I’ve gotten. The ones I’ve gotten went into the space around the nerves branching off from the spine, which while risky scare me a whole lot less than the “gotta numb out half your body” ones in the spinal column itself. Those you’d have to sedate me first.
Boy you should have heard me today bitching that I wanted a sedative. And the OR staff were just laughing it off, no one wanted to be the one to tell me that this one couldn’t have a sedative. Well, they told me after they strapped me down.
my sympathies LK. i too have had a pinched nerve in my neck that affected my right arm though not as severe as yours. doctor told me it was not yet bad enough to risk surgery. this summeri was repairing a gutter on the house when the ladder collapsed. i landed on my right side and something crunched in my neck. while i lay there waiting for the pain to hit i realized the fingers in my hand were not numb. have not had any pain in months thank you Jesus.
in any case you have my prayers.
Whoa… I’m tempted and scared silly by the idea of falling off a ladder to see if it does any good.
“Hey, Doc… I don’t think you need to unpack your scalpels just yet… I threw myself off a ladder and **SHA-ZAAM!**.”
Wouldn’t that be a hoot?
That fanny pack of yours would probably 10 years in Leavenworth, or 11 years in Twelveworth.
Though I Could take 5 & 10 in Woolworth…for stealing from the Marx brothers, of course.
Best wishes.
Carrying your legally prescribed Rx’s isn’t legal? Since when?
I’m glad the procedure is over. Hopefully your pain will begin to fade soon enough.
I think seeing the needles you described would make my courage meter dwindle down to zero. Definitely have to put me under first.
I am of the same opinion, Curtal, which is why they strapped me down before telling me it would be sans sedative.
And normally needles don’t bother me even a tiny bit, but in the neck… It bugs me.
That would be about 110 years in Leventyworth, SG. But on the black market it is probably worth several $ Large in cash!
- and that’s nothing to laugh at, even in Levityworth.
Ah-ha! I understand now. They needled the suspects to see if they shouted in harmony and in the right key to be the culprits – and they did.
Good. Now the Docs can start looking at fixes.
I hesitate to say so this early, but 2012 could be shaping up to be a really great year for you and your fambly, LK!
‘Bout time!
Yes, that is EXACTLY what they did, Woo.
Makes me wish they’d have resorted to this sooner though. Like 2 years ago.
From what I gather, lots of people whine about pain and then turn around and sell them so they can buy bigger and better drugs (street heavy-hitters).
Me? Not on your life. For a jazillion reasons.