Lumbar Epidural Steroid Injection
Today I had a series injections of anesthetics and steroids in my spine. These are supposed to temporarily relieve my pain over the next two or three weeks. After that, we get to see if I am still in pain, and how bad it is, and that will be the lead determining factor of whether I go in for a discectomy to take care of the herniated disc. The discectomy would be a minimally invasive micro endoscopic procedure, which depending on the results may or may not be an outpatient procedure.
The shots I had today were painless, and the radiologist who administered them was amazing. The hard part though was lying on my stomach long enough to receive the injections. This three minutes of lying on my stomach was probably one of the most painful experiences of my life. My back just can not support that position right now. But relief came quickly afterward, so the three minutes of extreme pain was worth it.
What I’m hoping for, of course, is that after three weeks and the wearing off of the steroid injection, that the ejected disc material pushing up against my sciatic nerve will have been reabsorbed or receded away from my nerves. That’s really the source of all this pain; not the rupturing of the disc, but rather the pressing on and displacement of my lumbar nerves. If I’m not in pain after that, I can start some more serious physical therapy and hopefully get some strength back. But the radiologists reaction to my MRI was not encouraging, and he gave the impression that any relief he could offer would only be temporary. Only time will tell.
New England Baptist Hospital was impressive though. No smoking anywhere on their campus, super clean and modern, all the support staff were in suits… it just felt like a very well run operation.
In light of all this JobVent.com prospecting goes well… I’ve had several good conversations over the last few days. The power of online social networking in situations like this is becoming extremely clear. LinkedIn and Twitter have been indispensable.
July 11th, 2009 at 5:20 am
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July 20th, 2009 at 10:56 pm
Hey, good luck with the injection. I had one this AM. My question is how fast the anesthetic wears off. I have been almost pain free for about 12 hours, but It seems unlikely the steroids are working yet. The doc said there might be a period in between–if the steroids work at all. Any insights?
Thanks!
August 17th, 2009 at 10:12 am
I have recently had 2 injections over a 5 week period and have had good results.
January 5th, 2010 at 2:51 pm
How are you going on?I had one about 4 weeks ago and I dont think that it has worked for me.
March 3rd, 2010 at 3:53 pm
good luck man