Fell Off the Face of the Earth
I didn’t. Not quite.
Between the colds that have hit my household, a birthday party for my oldest, a baptism, and a huge family Easter celebration I’ve been busy. Add in dealing with all of my appointments for my neck/back pain and I think I need an assistant.
To catch everyone up.
I threw out my back in mid-November (which we now think was related to the neck pain I had back in September). After several weeks of chiropractor visits my rheumatologist put me on a Medrol pack (anti-inflammatory) that is safe to take while nursing (because just about everything else, including pain killers and muscle relaxants, aren’t safe for the baby) it seemed my body was healing. I was taken off restrictions at the end of January, then the family got Croup and a cold, and by mid-February I had pulled it again. Back to the chiropractor.
Chiropractor then said it was time for a surgical consult. I went to a neurosurgeon who referred me to a sports medicine doctor who ran some tests and determined that the protruding and bulging discs in my neck hadn’t caused any nerve damage. The neurosurgeon also referred me to a pain management specialist who I have been working with for the past month. Meantime, no chiropractor visits, back on most restrictions.
After my consult with the pain management specialist, her recommended course of action was a spinal injection of Depo Medrol (same thing I took in December, but the injection made it longer lasting). Her belief was the injection would lay me out for a day (just take it easy), then after 3-5 days I’d start feeling much better. I could feel worse before I felt better though, but the longer term goal was to get me functional. She believed within 10-14 days (after my post-procedure visit) I’d be off restrictions and back to normal activity. Thank goodness.
April 2nd I had the injection. Pretty simple and straight forward. Went home, took it as easy as I could with two little ones and a husband. Next day could resume pre-procedure activity. Injection site was sore, and I did get worse. And worse, and worse, and worse. To the point that they called to reschedule my follow-up appointment and I told them that after a week I was worse off than before the injection.
They had the doctor call me back. She started to go through the muscle relaxant, pain reliever (Vicodin), and other anti-inflammatory she was going to put me on as I interrupted and asked if they were safe while nursing. Oops, nope. That’s why I wasn’t put on all of that post-procedure (which is typical…they drug you up to get your body as relaxed as possible so the injection can do it’s thing).
Today was my rescheduled appointment. I’m a little better than last week, but still sore, uncomfortable, and my new complaint…crampy. Yes, the neck and especially left shoulder are crampy. Like I have a continual charley horse. Just hard to get comfortable and stay that way. When I spoke with the doctor last week she said take Tylenol every 6-8 hours and ice three times a day. I tried that. I forget to take the Tylenol until the pain is really bad, and my three year old steals my ice pack and thinks it’s funny. Hard to sit still for 20 minutes twice during the day with two little ones at home.
Today’s solution: another injection. I’ll have that on the 28th. Supposedly, it could take up to three injections, especially since I can’t take the cocktail of drugs they typically provide post-procedure. Anything is just about better than surgery, and if we can keep me at a pain level 6 until I’m done nursing in a few months I think then I’ll gladly accept the cocktail and a weeks’ vacation. In the meantime, I don’t stop. I just think three times before doing anything. Constantly remind myself not to lift heavy things, run after the kids, or stretch to far. I also spend quite a bit of mental time worrying I’m going to have another set back. I can go to bed one night feeling great and wake up worse off in the morning.
Right now I’m working through the cold that’s running through my family. Oh, and my right knee’s been giving me trouble (giving out when I climb stairs, etc.). I’m falling apart. It could be worse, much worse.