My "Neckidural"

I finally went in for my epidural (I've lovingly dubbed it the "neckidural) today and let me tell you, I was STRESSED out. I kept busy all morning just to keep my mind off of my noon appointment. I mean, it was like rage cleaning except it was freaking out cleaning instead. (The house is a little sparkly though!)

My appointment was scheduled for noon but I wasn't even called back for prep until one o'clock. I knew we were in for a wait when the lady next to us began complaining to her husband that they'd already been waiting an hour past her scheduled appointment time.

For this procedure you are required to have a driver to take you home afterwards so Tony was there with me. I felt awful that he had to sit in there and wait with me even though I didn't have a choice in the matter. He passed the time reading while I sort of watched an episode of Fixer Upper in which I never saw the ending because my mind just couldn't stay focused. Oh well, the couple they were "helping" on that episode were making me feel really barfy anyways.

I was put into a little stall where a nurse took my vitals (155/81; holy crap! That's high for me!) and then told me to put on one of their fancy sheet shirts and wait for the doctor to grace me with his presence. After about 15 minutes he came into my curtained enclosure and asked me a bunch of questions that he already had the answers to and then told me there was one guy ahead of me but that I wouldn't have to wait much longer.

Finally, around 1:30 pm (noon appt., remember?) I was walked, what seemed extremely slowly to the operating room. I was surprised when the nurse opened the door and there were already four people in the room! They all had these somber looks on their faces and I didn't know where to look so I looked away from all those sad faces. I was told to climb up on a table, belly down and stick my face in a headrest with a hole in it. Then the anesthesiologist assured me that they wouldn't do anything without warning me first but I really just wished he get started. My nerves were just about shot. Finally he started by giving me a bit of an anesthetic that a dentist may use to numb you up before some dental work and then he moved on to administering the epidural. The anesthetic he used is the kind that they say "you might feel a small pinch and then a burning sensation" when they should say "you'll definitely feel a needle go in your skin and then it'll burn". But, honestly, it isn't bad at all, and even less so going into your back than in your mouth.

He had one of the people in the room moving the table up and down and spinning it in slow circles it seemed and I only realized it was moving when I opened my eyes to peek through the head hole. As soon as I realized I was moving I quickly snapped my eyes back shut because I felt a sudden wave of nausea. The doctor talked me through the whole thing and it was over in about 7 minutes. I didn't really experience any pain (just the little needle prick at the beginning) but I could feel pressure and him moving the injection around on my back. I'm not sure how to really explain that. But, when he'd reached the most inflamed area, I could feel a bit of pain at that point but it was brief.

Once he was done they told me to roll on my side and swing my legs over the table and to just sit until I gathered my bearings. I did have a little light headedness when I first sat up but it dissipated rather quickly and before I knew it I was back having my vitals rechecked and being herded out to the lobby where I was instructed to make another injection appointment for 2 weeks time. He said it's best to have the appointment scheduled if the pain doesn't go away but if it does to just cancel it.

We were finally out of that office right around 2 pm and I felt like a huge weight had been lifted. I'm hoping that I'll be able to get some decent sleep over the next few days and that the throbbing in my elbow and bicep with lessen, or better yet, go away completely.

So, that's my update. I've got physical therapy again Wednesday and Friday of this week and I'm really hoping things will keep improving!