My turn. Yesterday I had my follow up appointment with the nurse practitioner who works with the pain doctor who oversaw the doctor in training who gave me the shot in the back about a month ago. Phew. That was a mouthful to say.
I
didn’t know exactly what to expect or even to say to the nurse. I have been
sleeping ok. Well, until the night before when I cut back one of the Tylenols
I’ve been taking at bedtime. The pain wasn’t as bad as it had been in the past,
but it was … just there. Lots of tossing and turning as a result. Chris
said I shouldn’t even need the Tylenol at all, but since it works, I shouldn’t stop
it.
The
nurse was very engaging, and she obviously knew her stuff. After she did her
exam and assessment, she explained the doc’s planned next move. I go back in
with him in about three weeks and have a short-term anesthesia administered by
shots to three different nerve ending sites in my back. If that brings pain
relief over the next 8 hours or so, then they do it again in two weeks (an
extra step required by insurance to make sure the first “success” wasn’t a
fluke). If it works again, we move to the next step. Sounds weird, but
they will then burn the nerves to block the pain signals to the brain. That
should work for six months to a year.
Oh.
If these pain management anesthesia steps don’t work, the next step is full-on
back surgery. That opens a whole ‘nuther can of worms, to quote Chris.
Then we’d be back to three separate disc surgeries, followed ultimately by
putting in a rod. Gee whiz. Can’t wait.
Ephesians 1:7 says, “In
him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in
accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”
Father,
thank you for all these options to ease up my back pain. Help me be able to
tell if this next one really works. Amen
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