A Horrible, Awful, No-Good Day...

Those of you who are my regular blog readers know that I have back pain issues, ie, advanced arthritis in all three levels, cervical, thoracic, and lumbar, and herniated discs in multiple levels in the neck and lumbar areas causing spinal stenosis.  I have been suffering with this for the last 3 years and things have deteriorated over those 3 years.  

I had an appointment with a neurosurgeon last month, but he says I'm not yet to the point for surgical intervention, and even when I am, he is more concerned about the cervical/neck issues more so than the lower back.  Since being put a medicine for nerve pain, the neck and arm pain has been relieved.  However, the lower back pain is what bothers me from day to day and what concerns me most and limits my activity the most.

Starting in March of 2012, I started getting lumbar epidural injections for the pain and they really helped.  They basically gave me my "life" back.  I was able to clean house, garden, and walk long distances again.  The injections were lasting about 4 months and then it would be time to get another one.

That is...until this past April when I got an injection that only lasted 1 week.  :(  At that point, I was sent for updated MRI's and then sent to the neurosurgeon, which I already mentioned.  

Today I was scheduled for another lumbar injection.  In preparation for the injections, I have to go off of all anti-inflammatory drugs for the 5 days before the injection.  The anti-inflammatory drugs help decrease my pain by about 60-75%, I would say, so going off of them brings on about 4 days of pure HELLISH PAIN.  Basically, for the last 2 days before the injection, I drug myself with every narcotic I have in the house, trying desperately to relieve enough pain to even be able to walk around the house and get a decent night's sleep.  

I go through this hell because I know that within minutes of getting that epidural injection, I will be essentially pain-free.  

That is the plan, anyway, and has worked in the past.

Until today.

The doctor tried to get the needle into 3 different levels of my lumbar spine to deliver the epidural medicine.  He was not able to get into ANY of them due to bony prominences (bone spurs), and overly-toughened ligaments due to the degenerative processes going on in my spine.  

What should have been a 15 minute procedure, turned into a 1.5 hour procedure...all to no avail.  That was 3 injections of local to numb the skin...OUCH!!!...and 1.5 hours of me laying on my front trying to lay as still as possible...no moving at all.  

First off, people with back pain DON'T lay on their stomachs because it causes too much back pain, and secondly, people with back pain are in constant motion because staying in one place for more than a couple minutes causes pain.  I tell people that I am the "queen of movement"...always changing positions, trying to relieve pain from the previous position and trying to find a new, comfortable one.

To then find that all of this was in vain was truly more than I could handle.  I left the procedure room in tears and didn't stop crying till I was home and finally just fell asleep from sheer exhaustion.

The doctor seems to think that there are other alternative treatments that we can try, but I was too upset and he was too behind on his other patients to really discuss them today.  I have a follow-up with him on Monday to go into these in more depth.  

I'm not particularly hopeful because over the last 3 years we have tried a variety of medications and treatments, but the injections were really the thing that gave me back any semblance of "normalcy" to my life.

Needless to say, I am quite upset and worried about how all of this is going to affect my life, work, activities of daily living, etc.  I am WAY too young to feel this old or be dealing with these kinds of life changes.

If you've made it all the way through this post, then thanks for letting me vent...

Loretta

Oh What a Relief It Is....

Quote for the Day:

"The aim of the wise is not to secure pleasure, but to avoid pain."
~Aristotle

This morning I got my lumbar epidural steroid injection.  The procedure didn't go as smoothly as the previous ones I've had.  The doctor had to numb up the injection area twice, then had a little difficulty getting the needle in the exact space, and then I started getting nauseated from having to stay completely still in the uncomfortable position for so long.  :(

Luckily, the admission/discharge nurse for the Pain Clinic is also a licensed massage therapist and they had her come into the room.  She massaged my left hand and performed reflexology on it for the nausea.  It worked wonders and we all got through the procedure in one piece with a successful injection to boot!  :)

I've been 95-100% pain free since the injection and I couldn't be happier to have my life back!  I'm experiencing a little muscle pain in the mid-back, but I'm sure that is from having used those muscles all week long while trying not to use the lower back.   I can't put heat on it until tomorrow, but I think a nice heating pad to the mid-back should do the trick.  A massage would be better, but my massage therapist is out of commission for a couple more weeks due to health issues of her own.

After coming home, I took a much-needed 1 3/4 hour nap.  Ginger decided to join me and cuddled right up next to me like she does in the morning after Andy gets out of bed!

After waking up, I still felt "out of sorts" mentally...probably from the pre-procedure Valium and the rough morning, but I was bored and decided that I had too many projects going in the quilting room and it was time I tried to work on something...to get a "completion" under my belt so I can mark at least ONE thing off of my "To Do" list.

Against my better judgement...because my embroidery machine is a very hands-on machine...not a "set it and forget it" kind...I decided to work on the label for my grandson's quilt.  I wasn't sure my mental abilities were up to the challenge, but I wasn't going to let a little thing like that stop me!  LOL  

So I dove right in and made the label for the quilt...

For the picture, I covered up the name of the quilt so the design of the quilt will still be a surprise.  (Since the mother of my grandson reads my blog!)  LOL

The label isn't "perfect" and I'm sure my graphic-artist son would be more than happy to point out all of its shortcomings, but I'm hoping my unborn grandson will be more forgiving!   :)   I just wish the "x" in Alexander didn't look so much like and "a".  :(   Oh well...it'll do.  I'm learning to let go of some of my perfectionist tendencies!

Tomorrow or this weekend, I will tackle sewing it onto the quilt and getting the quilt washed and ready for gifting!  :) 

Then it will be time to work on some of the other gifts!  :)


Loretta

One Day at A Time...

Quote for the Day:

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.”
 ~Linda Grayson 

I've been out of commission for the last couple of days.  A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I was having enough break-through back pain that it was time for another epidural injection.  Unfortunately, they make you go off of any NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) that you are on for 5 days before the injection because they can cause/prolong bleeding.

Last Saturday was my last day of my NSAID's.  Sunday was fine.  We went to an auction and I got a cute little vintage typing table on wheels to use in my sewing room.  

I paid the grand sum of $2.00 for it!   It has a couple of scratches near the front edge that you can see in the picture, but otherwise is in great condition.  I'm thinking of spray painting it bright cherry red to coordinate with this cart that I recently got from Ikea for my sewing room.

I actually went to the auction to bid on a Singer Featherweight sewing machine, but it went too high...$310.  I never even got a chance to bid, and by the time the bidding slowed enough for me to bid, it was more than I wanted to pay.  Bidding had been very slow and low on items up till then, but it was like piranhas on a piece of meat when the Featherweight came up for bid!  LOL

That was Sunday.  Monday was a totally different story.  It was my second day without my NSAID and I was in pain of 10 out of 10 from the moment I climbed out of bed.  :(  I took my non-narcotic pain pill and went to work anyway.  I got through 9 hours of my 12 hour shift before I had to leave.  The pain was too great, never going below a 5 out of 10.  (In the USA we use a pain scale of 0-10 and ask patients to rate their level of pain based on that scale.  It is more accurate than "a little pain" or "some pain" or "a lot of pain".)

Tuesday was more of the same, but since I stayed home from work I was able to medicate with a narcotic pain pill that worked better on my pain.  I was feeling horrible and out-of-sorts, when a friend came by and brought me some flowers.

That was so thoughtful of her and I appreciated it so much!  I smile every time I walk past them!  Who wouldn't smile seeing them?  :)


About the only thing I've been able to do is take my pain pills, watch TV, and work a little on this...

 ...crocheting on a baby gift I'm working on. 

My epidural injection is scheduled for tomorrow morning and I am counting down the hours.  I know that when I leave that hospital, I will be virtually pain-free, if everything works the way it has in the past....which I am counting on.  In the beginning, when I first started getting these injections a year ago, I was scared and nervous.  But now I know how much better I will feel almost immediately, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's injection. 

Say a prayer for me that all goes well, and I'll be back with more quilting news soon...when I'm having less pain and can work on my quilting again.


Until then, I'll leave you with this picture of Ginger that I took last night...

Maybe it's time for a bigger dog bed!  LOL



Loretta

Saving Money is Always MY Style...

Quote for the Day:

"A graduation ceremony is an event where the commencement speaker tells thousands of students dressed in identical caps and gowns that "individuality" is the key to success." 

~ Robert Orben

I've blogged on here before about my chronic arthritic back pain that I've been living with/suffering from for almost 2 years now.

Well...I have an update with some good news!!!

On Friday (2 days ago), I had an epidural injection for pain control.  Leading up to the procedure, I tried not to get my hopes up too high and expect any miracles.  

On Saturday the pain wasn't too bad, but there was still pain.  However, it was not severe enough to keep me from being a whirling dervish when it came to cleaning  the house and preparing for an upcoming trip.  I was able to get a great amount of work done (a great amount for me, anyway, considering that I have spent the last 1 3/4 years only able to do the barest minimum of housework because of the pain.)

This morning when I woke up I noticed that I didn't have any pain.  I've gone shopping today (something that has KILLED my back in the past) and I have only had a rare twinge of pain every now and then.  

Right now...today...I have about 97% pain relief from my normal levels of pain!!!  How exciting is that?  All from a procedure that took about 1 minute to perform.  Heck...getting me positioned and applying the antiseptic took longer than the actual procedure!  :)

I feel like a "normal" member of society again!  :O   Instead of having "pain" when I do something, I will sometimes get a sensation of "tightness" or "pulling" in the area that would have hurt from the same motion just a few short days ago.  

I thank God for Dr. Mahmood, my pain management doctor!  What a blessing his skill and knowledge is for people like myself dealing with chronic pain!!

I have also started doing some simple yoga for arthritis, so I'll keep that up and see if we can't extend the intervals between future injections, too!  :)


I haven't done any couponing since late December.  (I find that I don't like to deal with it during the winter months...weather and all, ya know.)  Since December we have been using from the stash of supplies, toiletries, etc., that I had built-up.  About 2 weeks ago, I resumed my couponing again, although for now I'm only going to Walgreens since Rite Aid hasn't had any really fantastic deals the last couple of weeks.  Today I went to Walgreens and got some great deals that I thought I'd share with you.

Missing from the picture is the Sunday paper that I picked up there, too.  After coupons, I spent $20.18 out of pocket and got $15 back in Register Rewards, making the net cost $5.18 for all of the above items!  Not too shabby!  You'd spend more than that at the dollar store!


And now....I have a Public Service Announcement for you...
Have you heard of Biscoff Spread, yet?  

I had heard about it from co-workers so when I saw it at Walmart today I decided to pick up a jar of it.  (There was a $1.00 off coupon on the side of the jar!)

Let me just warn you DO NOT BUY THIS ITEM!!!  It is THE DEVIL!!!

OMG...it is DELICIOUS!!!  You will thank me for warning you to not buy it!!!  Trust me on this!   I think this link says it all!!! 

You have been warned!!!  I can not be held accountable if you choose to ignore this warning.


Loretta