Wednesday, July 31, 2013

 I had my 3rd injection (in a series of my first 3) this past thurs (started June 26th) and as far as pain relief goes the 3rd one did the trick, only I dont like how my insides feel...

Im shaky in the stomach and arms, and feel more fatigued for some reason...this happened with each injection...Its the steroids because when I had to take steroids for my chronic bronchitis I felt the same way... 

I also dont know how long this will last.. time will tell..

Doc said if this works then she only gives 3 per year... I have an appt for Tues next week but I think I will cancel because the pain is a whole lot less and I can walk and stand more than 5 mins again where before I couldnt...... I will call if the pain gets real bad again... 

she said the next appt if this 3rd one didnt work that she was going to do do a Lumbar Medial Branch Nerve Block which you can read about herehttp://www.spine-health.com/treatment/injections/medial-branch-nerve-blocks-risks-complications-and-follow-results and then if that took ok, she would do the radiofrequency neurotomy ... that you can read about here http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/injections/radiofrequency-neurotomy-facet-and-sacroiliac-joint-pain ....... 

so Im hoping these first 3 epidurals really keep the pain away for a long time so I dont have to go thru all that other stuff.... The epidurals were for lower lumbar severe pain of facet disease, bulging discs, foranimal stenosis, dorsal epidural lipomatosis... It seemed to have also helped my OA pain in my lower back and hips too... but as I said who knows how long this will last me ... 

I also dont know how much of these 3 visits we will have to pay... I saw one visit was $2200... I have medicare and secondary Ins. so Im hoping my part wont be much... or I will be sicker!!

Our dinner tonight was good at cheesecake factory! We hardly ever go out much but we celebrated our 12th Anniv which is Aug 1st  =)

I hope I can shake this crappy feeling from the epidurals...

I feel crappy enough without extra crappy added to it!   =)

Have a super nice week everyone!

Hugs,
Nancy

http://nancysnook58.weebly.com




Sunday, July 28, 2013

Had my 3rd epidural


well I went last Thurs for my 3rd epidural .. I told her about the sciatic pain and she
made sure she injected more toward that way.. She also gave me a script for Norco which she said to only use if I need it...  I took one Thurs night and one Fri night...  I didnt take one last night cuz I want to see if the epidurals are working or not ...so I will stay off of them til I know if the pain is better or not.... So far my lower back feels better anyway..at least I can walk and stand more without  severe pain down there ... I will have to see how long it lasts...

She has me coming back in 2 weeks to see if they worked and if not she will do a Lumbar Medial Branch Nerve Block which you can read about here http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/injections/medial-branch-nerve-blocks-risks-complications-and-follow-results  ... That is a kind of a test to see if the radiofrequency neurotomy will work for me or not...   that you can read about here http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/injections/radiofrequency-neurotomy-facet-and-sacroiliac-joint-pain .......

I am so hoping the epidurals work  so I dont have to go thru the next two procedures listed above......
my next appt. is for Tues Aug 5th.. but if I feel that the 3 epidurals have worked I will call and talk to the doctors nurse hoping I wont have to go back for a while... I esp want to see what my part of all these bills will be also... Im hoping both Insurances cover most of it..  They only do 3 epidurals in a years time which means they would have to last 4 mos each time... and Im not sure if that will happen...   time will tell...

I am going to go grocery shopping with hubby on Tues to see if my walking improves any..
on a happier note we are also going to Cheescake Factory Tues for dinner to celebrate our 12th Anniv. (my 2nd marriage) which is Thurs Aug 1st...  And Cheescake factory on that day is having half off cheescake slices!   YUM!!  We only go there about once a year to treat ourselves!  =)   Their food is good too!

well I hope you all have as much of a pain free day as possible...
Take care and talk to you soon
Love n Hugs,

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Saturday, July 20, 2013

My epidural injections...

Hi all

well I have been going to the hospital for epidurals in my lower lumbar
for a month now... They give a series of 3 initially and I had 2 already
Go for my 3rd one next Thursday....
Reason Im going is I had an MRI done in Feb and it shows bulging discs,
stenosis, facet disease, lipomatosis, renal cyst...
and thats on top of my Fibro., OA all over, CFS, ibs, gerd, heel spurs,
asthma, chronic inflammation, chronic bronchitis, etc

I am hoping these will work for me as I cannot walk or stand for more than
5 minutes without having to sit ... The pain is that bad.....

but Im having an issue since I started the epidurals... seems my sciatic nerve
in the right side  goes down my butt and down the back of my left leg ..
It is very painful  and it seemed to only have started bad since my epidurals started
Not happy with that ...  so i have to mention that to my Pain Management doc when
I go for the 3rd injection.....   She also said if this doesnt work we can discuss
other injections....

I am so hoping Medicare and United Health Care covers this for me...
The 1st visit was $2200  OUCH!     so that times 3 visits   yikes!
I hope we dont have to pay much or I wont be able to continue going!

well I need to go take meds and supplements
Talk to you soon!
Nancy


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