BIG Shot!

After getting stinky with the spine Dr.'s assistant, I went in yesterday to get my nerve root injections.  Now I am NOT a fan of cortisone, but I was kind of between a rock and a hard place.  I had to get rid of the pain quickly so I could finish my physical therapy.

Stan had a series of these shots several years ago, but things have really changed.  He had his done sitting on the side of the table and it was almost guesswork where the doc put it.  Mine was done in a special room, lying on my stomach, and they were totally guided by a live X-ray.  They put in contrast dye to make sure they were in the right place.  They told me I would immediately feel quite a bit better, but after about 1 1/2 hours I would be back to square one and the real relief would come in 2-3 days.  I had about a 50% reduction in pain right away, but imagine my surprise when that 50% stayed away.  The only pain I had that was annoying was the injection site.  (Have you seen those needles?  They're about 6 inches long!)  Some Tylenol took care of most of that.

What the assistant didn't tell me when I made the appointment was this is a real medical procedure, not just a shot, so there were some things I should have done.  I wasn't supposed to eat, which I didn't because I was being cautious, I shouldn't have driven myself, I shouldn't go to work, and I was supposed to go right home and go to bed for 2 hours.  The only thing I got right was the no breakfast.  When the guy said I was being naughty, I chewed him out and told him that if he had informed me of these things, I could have done them!  I raced to a coffee shop, wolfed down some breakfast with the Benadryl by my side just in case of a reaction, then went home for 3 hours to rest.  But I had to get the bulletin done, so I drove back to town and worked for a couple of hours.  But then Stan remembered he had a 4:00 Santa job so he couldn't pick Sydney up from school, so I ran to Belgrade, picked him up, went back and finished the bulletin.  I then decided it was really time to go home, but as I passed the last interchange to enter Bozeman I realized I had forgotten to stop by Steve's work and pick up Syd's overnight bag.  All the way to Belgrade, turn around and go back and get the bag.  By this time I needed to get out of the car for a while so we went to a coffee shop and watched YouTube Christmas flash mob videos on my Kindle Fire.

Okay, now for home-but Stan gets home and wants to go out to eat-today is his birthday and he had a craving for Prime rib.  We just went uptown to the Oasis, a local, popular steakhouse and ate.  Finally I stood up and announced that I wanted to go home-I hoped they were done eating, but I was just done!  Went home, curled up with my blanket and went right to sleep.

I still woke up super early this morning, but I was coughing-I think I caught a cold.  I slept more soundly than I have in a long time.  Still some pain, but not like before, and I know that in a few days more of it will go away.  I feel enough better that that huge stack of newspapers on the kitchen table that Stan has left there is bugging me-didn't care a hoot about it before.  And I even had enough strength to cook a birthday pancake breakfast for him.  Resting now, but I'm heading back to town to get Stan's birthday present.  I had bagged that idea yesterday after all I had been through.  I also have to shop for gifts for the widows of the church-something we deacons do every year.  Nothing complicated, but necessary.  I feel well enough, finally, that I think I can wander around Walmart doing some shopping.

I estimate I put more that 100 miles on my car yesterday, just running back and forth.  I keep nagging Stan that we should move closer to Bozeman so we don't have to drive so far to get anywhere.  I figure that I went in the hole wage-wise yesterday-only worked a couple of hours but burned it off!

I cut out Gracie's nightgown this morning, too, so I really am on the mend I think.  Hooray-I am a very bad sickie and don't like to be held down!