I survived it!

The epidural injection on my back was yesterday morning. I got up at 5:30 and we left the house at 6:15 to be there by 6:45. We had to wait in the waiting room for a while, then they sent me into the pre-op room. They asked me a bunch of health-related questions and took my blood pressure--it was really high from being nervous, so they calmed me down a bit and took again and was much lower then. They were waiting for the doctor to get ready so they sent me back into the waiting room to sit with Jared because I was so nervous. Once they were ready, they took me into the operating room. I didn't even have to take off my tennis shoes or any of my clothing--they just had me lie on my stomach with a pillow under my belly and they pulled up the back of my t-shirt and pulled down the top of my jeans. The local anisthetic was the worst part--it hurt and burned just for a bit, no more than what you get at the dentist. I squirmed a tiny bit, though, and they told me I had to stay very still. Immediately after he administered the anisthetic, he inserted the epidural needle. I could feel pressure as he moved it around to find the right spot to inject the steroid--felt really weird! Of course, I could not see any of this and never saw either of the needles or--you know me--I would have run out of there screaming, ha ha! The actual procedure took literally about 2 minutes. Then, they had me roll over to a guerney and rolled me into a post-op recovery room where I had to just lie there and drink some Dr. Pepper for 15 min. Then, a nurse walked me out to the front where Jared met us with his truck. Voila!

I took it really easy all day yesterday, I just lay in bed watching TV almost the entire day and night. I'm taking it easy again today but my back still hurts. That spot just feels sore, probably from the needle poking around to find the right spot. I hope that goes away soon. And I am praying that this will work and that I will have a lot less pain in my back at least for a while. I have a follow-up visit with the doctor in two weeks and he'll decide if I have to do another injection in my back. I'm still waiting to hear about my appt. to get an injection in my neck. I'm still nervous about it but at least now I know what to expect! Please pray that these injections will help me. Thanks!