What's Going On Around Here

Evelyn the Snowy Egret returned on Monday.  You Tube keeps making these "Shorts" so I can't embed them into my posts so copy and paste the link to see my shaky video of Evelyn.

https://youtube.com/shorts/pVvpv_YSy4Y?si=gaynAAWVGLJ3Qg35

These bird visits make me smile.

What didn't make me smile was another round of test injections in my lower back on Tuesday.
This round was not as bad as round #1.  They keep the rooms there as cold as a freezer so wearing a hospital gown for this is no fun that.
The first time I had no clue what the doc was actually going to do.  I had to use a step stool(ACK!!!)to get onto the table/bed, laying on my stomach.  Then the nurse/assistant washed my back down with an iodine solution that made the frigid air even colder.

The doctor came in and said, "ok, we're doing to numb the area" and proceeded to inject "numbing" stuff into my back....three shots on either side of my spine.  Man, that was rough! They really need to numb you some other way so you can stand the numbing shots. lol

I had to perform some deep controlled breathing so as not to jump up and run from the room.  After those six shots, I thought I was done and started to relax, not knowing that all six of those were just "numbing" shots and not the actual injecting of the medicine.  Then the doc said, "Ok, now I'm going to do the injections.  WTF!?!?!

I don't think they wait long enough after the "numbing" shots to inject you because it was even worse than the numbing shots, except these injection shots were even more painful!
And there were a total of EIGHT injections/pokes(4 on each side of your spine).  Not only were they painful but there was pressure to them into my back.

When that ordeal was done, they slapped what could pass for a maxi pad on my back and sent me off to sit in the cubicle to shiver more, before getting dressed and walking out to the car.

Here's the wad of gauze after removing it that evening before going to bed after the first round of injections on 1/30.  To say I felt like a pin cushion that day(14 sticks!)and bled like a stuck pig would be an understatement.
Hubs drove me home and as I stepped into the house I got dizzy and fell into the open door, tipping over to my left.  I spent the rest of the day in bed and had to use the old walker from my TKR(which luckily we didn't get rid of)whenever I had to get up and walk anywhere in the house.

I also had to keep a "Pain Diary" for the rest of the day after this procedure.  As I had taken a Valium(the only med I've found that knocks my back pain down to where I can function since a middle of the night ER visit in 2018)that morning, when they asked me what my "Baseline Pain Score" was, I said a 3.  If I hadn't taken the Valium before going to this appointment that day it would have been a 5.  And they also offer everyone getting injections a Valium before the injection session.

So if you take Valium for this back pain, how do they know what your baseline pain really is?  They should advise you NOT to take anything before the appointment so the Baseline that is reported is accurate.  When they called the next day to get my scores I let them know the Baseline Pain Score was NOT accurate due to taking a Valium and advised that had I not taken a pill my Baseline would have been a 5.

So yesterday was Round #2 of test injections.  But knowing what I was in for in terms of pain, I did not take a Valium that morning.  Doing so, thought it was the proper thing to do so as to not skew my pain levels, filled me with fear and loathing, because I now knew what lay before me.

Surprisingly, though I was full of dread, this round of 14 shots didn't seem as bad, as I wasn't going into this with no knowledge of what lay ahead.  Baseline Pain Score was 6 when I arrived to freeze my ass off in the cubicle in that thin hospital gown as I prepped for the procedure and I turned down their offer of a Valium.  The injections didn't seem as bad(forewarned is forearmed), I didn't bleed as much and I wasn't dizzy this go round afterwards.  But you know as soon as 10pm came around last night and I was done with the hourly reporting of my pain level I popped my Valium before going to bed. ;-)

So I am now waiting for the phone call from the doc's office to tell them my scores and hopefully schedule the RFA or Radiofrequency Ablation of my Nerve Endings.  The explanation of this procedure is thus--

• "The process of burning nerve endings to relieve pain includes numbing the affected area with a local anaesthetic, inserting a hollow introducer needle and passing a heating wire through the needle to position the wire near the nerve endings causing chronic pain, explains Spine-health. The tip of the wire or catheter is heated, and as the heat thickens collagen fibers, the nerves are burned."
• More on this procedure HERE if interested.  
  Of course the nerves may and usually do grow back so this procedure has to be done again at some interval, depending on the patient's body's response.

It's so much fun being me lately. 

Sluggy