wow, it's been a while since i've blogged. i've thought of topics to write about, but that's about as far as it got. a big part of my absence can be attributed to the fact that i've been in almost constant pain for the last two weeks (at least), and i felt semi-paralyzed for about three of those days. i figured i'd write about what's going on with regard to my back and all that...
i had an MRI done on january 13, and got a call from the nurse the next day that i needed to come in asap to get my results and my first "treatment", some kind of nerve block thing that entails me being semi-unconscious and my doctor injecting cortisone into my spine.
fun. fun. fun.
so, i went to the doctor on january 21; first opening, even though i was about to pull out my hair because of the pain from about january 17 till then. the MRI showed that not only do i have arthritis (knew that), i have stenosis (swelling of the spinal cord, gross), TWO bulging disks, pinched nerves in my neck, and a hairline fracture in my lowest vertebra. um, wtf?
i haven't really drunk (drank?) milk in a year or two (my memory is going to hell in a hand basket at this point), but i take calcium and vitamins every day. unless someone kicked me in the back (not that i'm aware of), or i fell on my ass (totally plausible) and don't remember (highly unlikely), i have no idea how that happened.
the doctor did say that being in two car accidents probably did enough damage to cause the arthritis, but the rest of it is just a deterioration of my body, pretty much.
okay, the procedure: this time cervical, and soon enough, lumbar. let me preface all of this by saying that i have a HIGH pain tolerance, and i'm not afraid of needles. hello, have you seen my tattoo? i can obviously deal. i also have had a bunch of piercings. however, i freaking HATE (what's up with all the caps today?) IVs. the first time i had to have one, i was 28, and already had a major phobia that i had worked up.
i've also had traumatic IV experiences almost every time. the first one was when i had appendicitis, and when the nurse put *that* IV in, i couldn't stop throwing up...and she didn't have a bucket, or a trashcan, or a pan, or anything. i had to throw up in one of those bags they give you for your belongings. i almost suffocated while throwing up. to this day, i can't eat fried rice. probably more info than you bargained for.
past that, after i had my appendix out, the IV malfunctioned, was in too long, or my veins were full because my entire arm and hand swelled up with fluid. dis-gusting. enter the masochistic nurse at 4 am, who came in to make sure i was alive and give me pain killers, saw the sausage that was my arm, and decided to rip the tape off against the hair growth (OUCH), then yanked it out.
no, i'm not exaggerating. at this point, i was sobbing. btw, i asked for pain killers before this little performance, and she told me i had to wait till after. why; was my arm going to fall off? no, and if it *was*, give me the drugs first!
one more IV story: i had one in my arm that was disconnected from the drip, but had to be left in my arm overnight "just in case" i bled to death while having the packing pulled out of my face. it itched *so* badly, i almost ripped it out myself.
wow, lots of personal medical info here. my poor body has been sufficiently altered since birth.
*back to 2011 and back injection*
so, nurse ratched comes in and tries to put an IV in the BACK OF MY HAND. why? i have a good 12 inches of arm she could stick it in. actually, 24 inches (two arms). she jabbed, and jabbed, and jabbed that needle while i looked the other way. yes, i was crying. wouldn't you?
the bitch even gave me a hard time about getting the IV because i have tattoos. in her mind, that means i should like pain? i'm not afraid of needles, but i don't want to see them entering my body. i have to lay down when i have blood taken or get a shot. hell, i even have to lay down when i get a tattoo, so i don't faint or throw up.
bitchy nurse finally gave up, and a nicer woman came over and put the IV in the crook of my arm where there are veins larger than a thread. they wheeled me in to the procedure room, and gave me "twilight". it's a type of anesthesia, but you're still conscious.
despite that, you feel super-drugged up, and it's a little amnesiac. before the injection, they stuck me in the back with something to numb the area; that hurt a bit. i didn't feel the injection at all, and it seemed to go by really quickly.
i spent the weekend drugged up (finally, pain killers that may not kill the pain, but at least knock me out) and immobile. i had to sleep in my living room chair for a few nights because every time my melon of a head is sideways, the flower stalk that is my neck felt like it was going to break.
the good news is that my mid-back (thoracic) is okay, because apparently that's the most difficult part to treat. anyway, three days later the stabbing pain is mostly gone, but my back still feels like someone stomped on it. it'll be a week or two before i feel the full effects.
and just think, in eleven days i get to do this all over again...
