Facet Joint Injection
It just doesn't sound like the most fun to have at 0645 in the morning, does it? But there I was at the hospital eagerly waiting for my facet joint injection. An interesting thing happened in that because I was recently there for another proceedure, the paperwork went much quicker. The doctor was already there and got started quickly. My pre-proceedure nurse was one we've had a couple of times before, so we got caught up with her when the doctor's assistant came in and told me to hurry and get ready so he can stick me!
The doctor came into my little room where I leave my pride at the hospital and actually allowed me to keep some pride for this proceedure! I was amazed! Pants and sock stayed on...whoohoo!
I also had a good discussion with him. We were very clear that this was a diagnostic to verify I am experiencing the exact same pain I had before the fusion, so he was to inject just the T9-10 facet joint. He talked to me on how the pain can be in others and show up there and maybe I should do 8-9-10 but no. This diagnostic is only for this one facet joint.
Off to radiology we trundled with my pants and socks! The doctor marked me standing so he knew the exaxt point of the pain, then got ready to do his thing. I had to tell everyone time and time and time again that I did not want any anesthetic for this proceedure. We're talking about the pain of a thorn pricking you then some pressure when the medicine is injected, but they really wanted to give me something for it. It was a battle, but I won.
The doctor did a superb job with a difficult task. You see, my previous fusion at T8-9-10 has not only hardware but newly grown bone in the way of the needle getting to the facet joint. But by turning the fluoroscope to various angles and seeing how the needle was going in, he was able to bypass all the stuff in the way and I was able to tell him for certain that he had hit the right spot. He took picture after picture of that spot to make sure and show my neurologist, then injected the medcine.
Chronic pain is a tough road. Anybody on this road knows how hard it gets. We have to count our medicine for the day, then plan our activities around when we can take enough medicine to feel human for them. There is never a moment of any day when we are pain free. The 1-10 pain scale of how much it hurts is in our minds all the time as our doctors always ask us to say where we are at. Around a 7 pain level I like to take a breakthrough pain pill so I am usually running around 5-6, but it drains you. Sometimes as the person in pain you don't realize how much energy goes into carrying this pain around, but it's a lot. It's like carrying around a bag of rock salt...all day long. Constantly having to carry the rock salt around. Sometimes just carrying it into the house you need to stop for a minute, set it down and catch your breath and then continue. The same thing occurs with chronic pain. Because of this injection, I was able to set this burden down for a minute...it was wonderful! We chatted with my recovery nurse then talked to my wife as she drove me back to work. It might not seem like a whole lot to somebody that hasn't experienced it, but I've been carrying this bag of rock salt since February of 2005. I've been able to set it down occasionally, but not once for the last eight months or so have I had this little pain. It's indescribable, but I now have energy again. I've picked up the pain again and am around a 7 so I'll take some medicine, but I have enough energy to pack this around for a while.
Next week I go to the neurosurgeon to see what our next move is...hope he find something!
The doctor came into my little room where I leave my pride at the hospital and actually allowed me to keep some pride for this proceedure! I was amazed! Pants and sock stayed on...whoohoo!
I also had a good discussion with him. We were very clear that this was a diagnostic to verify I am experiencing the exact same pain I had before the fusion, so he was to inject just the T9-10 facet joint. He talked to me on how the pain can be in others and show up there and maybe I should do 8-9-10 but no. This diagnostic is only for this one facet joint.
Off to radiology we trundled with my pants and socks! The doctor marked me standing so he knew the exaxt point of the pain, then got ready to do his thing. I had to tell everyone time and time and time again that I did not want any anesthetic for this proceedure. We're talking about the pain of a thorn pricking you then some pressure when the medicine is injected, but they really wanted to give me something for it. It was a battle, but I won.
The doctor did a superb job with a difficult task. You see, my previous fusion at T8-9-10 has not only hardware but newly grown bone in the way of the needle getting to the facet joint. But by turning the fluoroscope to various angles and seeing how the needle was going in, he was able to bypass all the stuff in the way and I was able to tell him for certain that he had hit the right spot. He took picture after picture of that spot to make sure and show my neurologist, then injected the medcine.
Chronic pain is a tough road. Anybody on this road knows how hard it gets. We have to count our medicine for the day, then plan our activities around when we can take enough medicine to feel human for them. There is never a moment of any day when we are pain free. The 1-10 pain scale of how much it hurts is in our minds all the time as our doctors always ask us to say where we are at. Around a 7 pain level I like to take a breakthrough pain pill so I am usually running around 5-6, but it drains you. Sometimes as the person in pain you don't realize how much energy goes into carrying this pain around, but it's a lot. It's like carrying around a bag of rock salt...all day long. Constantly having to carry the rock salt around. Sometimes just carrying it into the house you need to stop for a minute, set it down and catch your breath and then continue. The same thing occurs with chronic pain. Because of this injection, I was able to set this burden down for a minute...it was wonderful! We chatted with my recovery nurse then talked to my wife as she drove me back to work. It might not seem like a whole lot to somebody that hasn't experienced it, but I've been carrying this bag of rock salt since February of 2005. I've been able to set it down occasionally, but not once for the last eight months or so have I had this little pain. It's indescribable, but I now have energy again. I've picked up the pain again and am around a 7 so I'll take some medicine, but I have enough energy to pack this around for a while.
Next week I go to the neurosurgeon to see what our next move is...hope he find something!
posted by Pastor Tom at 2:33 PM
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