Neck Update

Just over 2 weeks ago, I had another injection in my neck. In reality, it wasn't one injection, but six. The anesthesiologist told me that, since most of my pain is in my neck itself or manifesting as headaches, he didn't believe that a traditional epidural would provide the most relief. He recommended injections to a total of 6 specific sites of my cervical spine. His hope was that he could target specific sites of swelling that were pinching other nerves and affecting tissue besides the nerve root to my left arm that had previously been causing me so much pain. I told him that I wanted to do whatever would help my pain the most, so we agreed on the 6 injections versus the traditional epidural.

He forgot to tell me how bad they would hurt! Ouch! After the first one, which went in just below my left ear, I was ready to be done! Sadly, there were still 5 more...bummer. The good news is that I survived! My neck was so stiff after that I wasn't able to turn my head at all for several days, which wasn't really that much of a change, come to think of it... Oh yeah, and I was really light headed and off balance after the injections, so the doctor had to walk me out to the car, where Keith, my chauffeur, was napping! How embarrassing! I felt like a complete dummy, having to be escorted to the car my an MD. I bet he's glad he went to school for over 8 years so that he could do that! Ha!

I had some pretty amazing bruises and poke holes in my neck for quite a while afterward. I even thought about gluing some bolts to my neck for a Frankenstein"ish" effect! I have to admit that it was kind of fun freaking people out by showing them the huge bruises and the holes, in a neat little row, on each side of my neck. It totally freaked some of the vets out! Being elbow deep in a dog doesn't bother them at all, but anything that invovles people makes them almost faint! What a weird concept!

Anyway, 2+ weeks later, with remnants of a bruise that now look like a hickey (great...), my pain is worse than it was before the injections and my head feels like it could explode at any time. It's bad enough that finally I made a call to the surgeon, informing him that I can't do this anymore and that I'm ready for surgery. Much to my disappointment, 36 hours after the call, I still haven't heard back from him. Dumb. Maybe tomorrow... At any rate, looks like that's my only option at this point. I'm pretty scared, but excited at the same time, hopeful that it's gonna help. I'll keep you posted with updates. And don't worry, my mom has promised to come stay with me a while and take care of me. I love my mom! Oh, and I want my neck brace signed...just an fyi!