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badgerbagWell, the piriformis infiltration yesterday was a bit traumatizing and painful, mostly in my "bad" leg, and involved some doctors and a nurse walling off my upper butt cheeks with adhesive gauze, then swabbing it with sterile stuff, fluoroscoping my ass, and doing the horrible injections. I felt lucky that they were competent and nice and that the nurse talked me through it while patting my back and helping me hold my arms down.
The good news is that today I can bend over and touch my toes. AMAZING. I have not been able to do that for quite some time. It feels great.
Cut for those of you who may be squeamish about needles and pain.
On the first try I swatted and flailed and spasmed like a weasel on speed. NOT GOOD. Part of that was that, just as they put the needle in, the nurse tried to distract me by sort of scritching down my BAD LEG which has allodynia and is particularly painful when you brush or mess with it at all. They had to re-gauze and re-sterilize me.
The second time I managed to stay still but I was sobbing and snot running everywhere and I cried into the pillow till it was wet. Pathetic!!!! Crap! They first novocained it gradually going deeper and deeper and injecting more stuff. Then they went "all the way to the floor" as the supervising doctor put it ie shoving it down to the bone for more anesthetic. Then they swapped out the cartridge again (with the supervising doc reminding the resident who was doing this obviously for the first time to keep her other hand steadying the needle base so as not to wiggle it... THANK YOU.... NO WIGGLING) for the 10 ccs of steroid junk. They said it would only feel like pressure because the nerve would be numb by now, but, that was sadly not true. It hurt like burning stabbing murdering hell. After they took the needle out I was very relieved. I babbled a lot that I wasn't really wimpy and gave birth with no anesthesia. Really, I'm tough. Really...
The left side hurt with the needle and all but much more like a normal, "you are injecting my ass" sort of hurt. It was tolerable. I was really glad they started with the bad side.
I should maybe have taken some anti-anxiety drugs and muscle relaxants before this procedure, not after.
Went home in cab with D. and he got me some drugs and pastries and i cried into my stuffed animal for a while and played video games and then fell asleep for several hours feeling shaken & like someone had kicked the hell out of the small of my back.
Today I woke up feeling kind of awesome! I can bend over! I can pick things up off the floor! I am gently stretching every hour or so. My feet are WAY less buzzy and pins and needles and numb and stabby and etc.
None of this helps my ankles, or really the "bad leg" allodynia thing, but it makes life way more tolerable. I hope the steroids have some lasting effect. I'm in so much less pain today. I feel so cheerful! Everything is possible! The dial just went down from 11 to like, 6!
The good news is that today I can bend over and touch my toes. AMAZING. I have not been able to do that for quite some time. It feels great.
Cut for those of you who may be squeamish about needles and pain.
On the first try I swatted and flailed and spasmed like a weasel on speed. NOT GOOD. Part of that was that, just as they put the needle in, the nurse tried to distract me by sort of scritching down my BAD LEG which has allodynia and is particularly painful when you brush or mess with it at all. They had to re-gauze and re-sterilize me.
The second time I managed to stay still but I was sobbing and snot running everywhere and I cried into the pillow till it was wet. Pathetic!!!! Crap! They first novocained it gradually going deeper and deeper and injecting more stuff. Then they went "all the way to the floor" as the supervising doctor put it ie shoving it down to the bone for more anesthetic. Then they swapped out the cartridge again (with the supervising doc reminding the resident who was doing this obviously for the first time to keep her other hand steadying the needle base so as not to wiggle it... THANK YOU.... NO WIGGLING) for the 10 ccs of steroid junk. They said it would only feel like pressure because the nerve would be numb by now, but, that was sadly not true. It hurt like burning stabbing murdering hell. After they took the needle out I was very relieved. I babbled a lot that I wasn't really wimpy and gave birth with no anesthesia. Really, I'm tough. Really...
The left side hurt with the needle and all but much more like a normal, "you are injecting my ass" sort of hurt. It was tolerable. I was really glad they started with the bad side.
I should maybe have taken some anti-anxiety drugs and muscle relaxants before this procedure, not after.
Went home in cab with D. and he got me some drugs and pastries and i cried into my stuffed animal for a while and played video games and then fell asleep for several hours feeling shaken & like someone had kicked the hell out of the small of my back.
Today I woke up feeling kind of awesome! I can bend over! I can pick things up off the floor! I am gently stretching every hour or so. My feet are WAY less buzzy and pins and needles and numb and stabby and etc.
None of this helps my ankles, or really the "bad leg" allodynia thing, but it makes life way more tolerable. I hope the steroids have some lasting effect. I'm in so much less pain today. I feel so cheerful! Everything is possible! The dial just went down from 11 to like, 6!
no subject
Date: 2012-07-13 01:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-13 03:29 am (UTC)1. Horrible.
2. Pain relief.
I know you're probably itching to start walking all over the block but it's OK to continue with the scooter and use the energy from pain freedom to go kayaking instead.
You are one BAMF!
no subject
Date: 2012-07-13 05:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-13 04:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-07-13 04:09 am (UTC)I haven't had that particular injection series, but I did get intra-knee joint injections, and let me just tell you, IT HURT LIKE A MOTHERFUCKING SONOFABITCH.
You're not wimpy. Injections into painful areas hurt like HELL. Even with novocaine stuff. (Did they try using the 'ice spray'? Because that is basically placebo nothing, far as I'm concerned. Ahem.) You're holding still and letting people do stuff, when bazillion years of evolution tells us: MOVE. Which is STRESS. Plus? PAINFUL.
You are a GODDESS. Lying there not moving your whole body? GODDESS.
I don't know if you have to get more of these, but what I discovered (the hard way, after I turned kind of gray and could barely make it to the car after my first bout, sheesh) was to boost my med cocktail so that the drugs peaked their effectiveness during the injection. Since I was taking them when I wasn't in pain YET (as in a couple hours beforehand), it meant I was stoned out of my gourd for the shots, but that wasn't so bad. It's a method I learned from an PT guy, who had to do other (non-shot related) painful stuff to me, and it made it easier. Then I had plenty of stuff in my system so when the pain did hit, the meds could handle it instantly.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-13 05:13 am (UTC)My knees shudder just thinking of it.
no subject
Date: 2012-07-13 05:59 am (UTC)