update #9: the war on back pain

I just realized it's been two months since I last wrote an update, but I wanted to wait until I had some news. Well, I do now.

I mentioned in my last update that I'd had a medial branch block, which was a diagnostic procedure to determine if there was pain coming from the facet joints in my lumbar area--there was.  I had it done again to confirm and got the same results, so I was scheduled for the radio frequency ablation ("RFA").

Emily

I had the first half of the RFA this past Thursday. They did four levels of the lumbar area on the left side, L1 through L4. The right side will be done on February 4.

In the days leading up to the procedure I was very nervous. The doctor's assistant described the procedure to me during my last follow-up appointment. He said that it was just like the medial branch blocks, but the needles would be hollow. The needle would vibrate with electricity, which would burn a lesion into each nerve, the purpose being to interrupt the pain signal to the brain, which results in not feeling the pain. He said that I wouldn't feel anything more than what I felt with the branch blocks. Those weren't as painful as the cortisone shots I'd had, but there was discomfort. And he said I wouldn't feeling the part where they burn a lesion onto the nerve at all. Yeah right! I didn't believe him for a second--I'm a total baby when it comes to pain from procedures.   All day Thursday I was trying to decide if I should take a half a Percocet, which I hoard so I don't have to ask for more; or just Tylenol, which is almost useless on me these days; or take nothing at all, which is what some people advised since they'd be stimulating the nerve and I'd need to be able to feel it. I opted to take some Tylenol about a half hour beforehand.

They starting by rubbing my back down with iodine and then placed a grounding pad on my right side so I don’t get electrocuted. They do use electricity after all! The doctor injected a little Novocaine (or whatever they use) to numb up the four insertion points a bit. Yeah, that doesn't really work. After needle insertion the doctor then stimulated each nerve to make sure the needle was placed in the right spot. First he made the nerve vibrate and then made it twitch, which felt weird. No pain at all, though. Then he started burning the lesion on the nerve. I didn’t feel that at all on the first two nerves and had no idea he had even done it until he said, “OK, same thing. Tell me when you feel the nerve vibrating,” which meant he’d moved onto the next one. The third one I felt a little, but it was hardly anything. The fourth, which was at the L1, felt like pressure. It wasn’t painful, though. Overall, I’d say it was 20 minutes from the time I got on the table to the time I got up. After I got up I lost my balance for a couple seconds, but it might have been the head rush after laying on my stomach.  Afterwards, my toes tingled for about 15 minutes, kind of like my foot had fallen asleep slightly.

So all in all, it was not horrible at all! Honestly, the most pain was from the needle insertion and that was basically like getting a regular shot or blood drawn. I'm not nervous at all about the next one.

We left and went to get food–I couldn’t eat for four hours beforehand so food was my first priority. Well, that’s when the pain set in. If anyone has had cortisone shots, you know the pain I mean. It was mostly my left butt cheek and the upper thigh in back, but oh man! I had a hard time sitting through dinner.  When we got home and I was just counting the hours until I could legitimately go up to bed (being in bed too long makes my back hurt more). I spent my time going down a rabbit hole on You Tube, looking to discover music I like. At 9 pm I took a half a Percocet (that's all I can handle at once), some Tylenol and went to bed.

Oscar

I felt much better yesterday. I was able to sit at my desk at work ALL DAY with minimal pain! Actually, the pain last night was in my legs, because I sat much longer than usual. I feel pretty good today and was able to lay in bed longer than usual. Normally I need to get up within about 10-15 minutes of waking up, otherwise the pain starts. Today I was laying there for about an hour and then had to get up because the sciatica was starting. Of course, my mind was racing about an upcoming phone interview (woo hoo!) so that helped me to not think about my back.

They'll do the RFA on my right side on Monday, February 4, so I'll report back after that. In the meantime, it's nice to not feel like Death warmed over by the end of the day.