Update:
It has been
a rough couple of months for me with back and nerve pain. The pain has gotten so bad that for the last
four days, I’ve basically spent all day in bed (except for meals and medical
appointments). That helped reduce my
pain levels but I still needed heavy-duty pain medicine from time to time. Monday afternoon I received a facet steroid
injection in the spinal joints (lower back).
See video
explanation of the procedure: http://www.spine-health.com/video/facet-joint-injections-procedure-video
When the
doctor injected the steroid into my right side, blazing, fiery pain shot down
through the sciatic nerve all the way down through my neuroma on my residual
limb. WOW! That hurt! The intense pain didn’t last too; but for
about six hours after the procedure, I felt worse than before. The good news is that the pain indicated they
found the right location for the source of my back and nerve pain. Now eight
hours later my back feels better than it has in months. It still hurts if I sit too long, but this
has given me some hope. The steroid may
take up to a week to become fully effective, so time will tell what the result
is.
For some
people the pain relief is very temporary.
For others it lasts several months and for a few the pain may not come
back. Of course, there are also some
folks that don’t get any relief at all.
The next few days will show me what I can expect. Follow-on treatments can be done to extend
the benefit.
On Friday,
June 12th I will have my kidney/ureter repair surgery. My right kidney isn’t draining properly, so
this surgery will repair my plumbing so I can “go with the flow.” J I’ll be in the hospital for a few days and
then was told it was a 4-6 week recovery period afterwards. I’m just starting to feel good again after
the procedure to put a temporary stint in that I had done on May 14. That procedure helped relieve a lot of my
kidney pain. The surgery on June 12 will
repair/replace the junction between my kidney and the ureter. Think of the kidney like a bath tub holding
water and the ureter is the drain pipes.
My drain pipes were installed incorrectly, so the surgeon is going to re-plumb
the pipes!
I probably
will also have to have surgery on my residual limb. I have a painful neuroma (nerve bundle) that
is hypersensitive. I can no longer wear
my prosthesis because of that pain, so I am wheelchair bound until that is
repaired. Nothing will be done on my leg
until my kidney is healed. With the time
it will take my leg to heal after that surgery, I’m guessing that I will
probably be in a wheelchair until at least September.
I cannot
wait until I feel well enough to be active again, walking and resume my
favorite activities. Once again,
patience is called for. I’m just trying
to find happiness in each day I’ve been given and not allow “destination
disease” to sour my outlook. I’m looking
forward to good health again, but that doesn’t mean that I cannot find
something to be thankful for right now.
Each day has something for me to be joyful about if I look hard enough
for it. I also know that there is a
possibility that I may never feel good and walk again; my wheelchair and pain
medications might become a permanent part of my life. I hope not; but I’m not going to worry about
that day until it happens. Even then it
doesn’t mean that I can’t be joyful and squeeze every drop of sunshine that I
can out of the days I have. My attitude
is my choice and I’ve decided to keep a positive one no matter where life takes
me. My physical health might give me
pain; but there is no reason to allow my attitude to make me miserable on top
of that! 
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