I was nauseous last night before going to bed. I'm wondering if just thinking about the procedure made me feel bad. I was a little nauseous at lunch time after taking a couple of bites from a rice roll (also while thinking about the epidural). Then I remembered to check the instructions for preparing for the procedure. It said not to eat anything within 6 hours prior to the procedure. I trusted that a few bites of rice would not have an impact.
We were at the clinic 14 min. ahead of schedule. Being early is a habit I need to learn from my friend who goes by the code name, Brain Dead, in the blog world. Early arrival helped keep the stress down. The epidural went fast relative to the impact I expect it to have on my pinched nerve.
I was laying down on my stomach. The doctor disinfected the area around where the needle would go in. He gave a shot of local anesthesia, and then, while watching my spine through an X-Ray machine he inserted a needle. It was definitely a unique pain when the needle got to the spine. First he injected a die, then it seemed like he pressed the needle further in and injected the steroid. While doing that, he said "We'll be done in 3...................................2.............................1. And were done." The time between numbers was like for-e-v-e-r. I felt faint and extremely nauseous, and I told them so.
I was not so concerned about fainting as I was about throwing up. I felt really miserable. I started sweating profusely, realizing later that I had soaked through 3 layers of clothing and the paper on the table. They kept me face down on the table, raised my legs and told me to move my feet; I did, but it seemed like a long time before the nausea went down and before I could sit up. I asked them to bring Michelle in. As she walks in I hear her telling the nurse: "Did he tell you that he faints when in severe pain?" She had specifically asked me to tell that to the nurse before hand. There wasn't a good time to tell her... so I never did. But she found out. When I could sit up, they moved me to another room and set me in a recliner. The nurse tried to take a pulse with her fingers at my wrist... but eventually gave up. As I started to feel better, she used the armband to find out that the blood pressure was low. (I remember 60). She gave me a small bottle of water and we sat and chatted while things got back to normal. The nausea went away. She took my blood pressure one more time. It was up - so she let me go. Well, actually she had to wheel me out in a wheel chair and help me into the car. That is a very nice nurse. Jennifer is her name. By the time we got home (30 min. drive) I felt almost back to normal.
The pain in my leg is greatly reduced. But the nerves are not functioning right yet. I tried to walk normally, but Michelle just laughed. Apparently I'm still throwing my left leg out in front and locking the knee before putting weight on it.
During the first visit, the Doctor said the treatment is usually a series of 3 shots, with 2 weeks in between shots. I confirmed with Jennifer that it's not always necessary to get all 3 shots. Now I will see if I have the power to be healed after one shot, because I really really really don't want to do this again.
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