So this morning, CareerMom and I headed down to my Orthopedic Surgeon’s office and I was treated to two exquisetely painful epidural steroid injections. Actually, when we got down there, they didn’t have me on the schedule and I was this | | close to pitching one of my famous fits, when they came out and said they could fit me in after all. So, that was good. Crisis averted…tantrum, unnecessary.
It’s funny to read the description of the procedure by doctors who have apparently never had these. While it’s true that they numb you up pretty well and that you don’t feel the steroid needle actually go in, but what you DO feel is when they hit the bone…repeatedly…and when the steroid itself starts oozing around in there and doing its magic.
This is the third time I’ve had this done, but the first time I’ve had two at one time…not fun. I think I sweated out a quart of water in the 15 minutes it took to complete the procedure.
So now I’m kicked back at home with an ice pack on my back and jerking every few minutes as the steroid finds a new nerve to bully around, but I’m assured I’ll start feeling some relief in a couple of days!
Yaaah.
Also, three women got to look at my hairy butt this morning, and none of them were CareerMom. Hooray for them!
Postulates & Pastimes 
Yikes! That’s rough. Those poor women, having to look at your butt like that…
😉
RE: It may be hairy, but thanks to all the squats and leg presses I have done (that partly are to blame for landing me in this predicament) it’s very taut!
I like that word…taut. Now, since you’re my sister, this line of conversation is officially over!
Are they planning on surgery???
I have had one (repaired by surgery).
My FORMER supervisor had three (caused by a car accident). I hate to admit it, but the pain was so intense, she got pretty much hooked on the pain meds, and that in turn ruined her career… They tried to repair them via surgery (fused three vertebrae with a cadaver bone) – but it did not take very well…
My son’s friends’s father (the Father of my son’s friend if that makes more sense) has FIVE herniated disks.. He is a dairy farmer, and his sons (ages 11 and 9) have had to take on ALL farming responsibilities.. 5am till dusk.. My #3 of 5 son loves working on the farm, and has gone over there several times to help the boys out with their farm chores… (Milking, haying, fence repair, etc….)
Hang in there… and best of luck…
RE: David, thanks for the well-wishes. I’ve already had two different surgeries (discectomies) where they went in and clipped the protruding disc at the L4/L5 and S1 sections. This herniation is at the L4/L5 again and since I don’t have enough disc material left, in order to “fix” it, they’d have to completey remove it and fuse the L4/L5 vertebrate together (imagine railroad tracks screwed into the spine). Despite the pain, the convalescence period is unnaceptable (6-8 weeks). My doctor says I’ll keep having problems unless I have the fusion, but I’m hoping that I can hold out till the FDA approves artificial discs, which are having great success in trials in Europe. Then, my insurance would pay for it.
But yeah, the pain meds can be addictive. As I mentioned in my “50 things about me” section, I don’t get hooked for whatever reason. I’ve taken Hydrocodone for nearly two years, and then quit. I took Oxycontin, which got Rush Limbaugh in so much trouble, for about 6 months and quit with no problem, so I’m lucky like that. Course, it also means that I metabolize drugs quickly and I need a high dose to make it effective, which in turns makes doctors suspicious. It’s a vicious cycle.
Anyway, waaay more info than you wanted and have time for I know. Thanks for the comment.
David.
Sheesh, I hope that the shots help alleviate your discomfort, but I’m sorry that you had to suffer in the process.
I think I could have used one of your famous fits at the dentist’s office a couple of weeks ago!
RE: Already helping, as is evident from my latest post. Interesting side effect though that i had forgotten about–hiccups. I’ve have ’em three times this morning!