The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Part I

Has it really been September since I updated this? Damn. Apologies, but what with work, my dissertation, moving, hospital appointments, this just slipped off my radar. So I will try and keep this as to the point as possible, but there is a lot to cover!

The Good: Last I posted, I was about to have Phenol Injections - and the procedure went exactly as planned, it was a little painful, but having needles injected into your thighs would never be a pleasant experience! After doing some bendy tests, my consultant was happy with the results.

The Bad: The Phenol injections have now worn off, boooo. They didn't last as long as I thought they would, which is a shame.

The Good: Following this I also had my Baclofen trial shortly after, which involved injecting baclofen into the spinal fluid. I have taken a video of the procedure, which I might upload some time in the future, but I know some people find medical prodecures and big needles iffy.

The Bad: The trial had to be stopped halfway through as they couldn't get any spinal dluid out, so were not able to procede, again, booooo. This was after the needle had been inserted, wiggled about, taken out, re-inserted, wiggled about, etc, in about 4 or 5 different places in my lower spine. At one point the nedle brushed a nerve ending, and pain shot down my left leg. FUN. So after all this fun having needles repeatedly inserted into my spine, the procedure couldn't be completed! No fault with my consultant, she was lovely and doing the best she could for it to be as painless as possible.

The Ugly: Having gone home in some mild discomfort, and napped at my parents for a bit, we decided to head back home. This involved catching a train at The Dreaded New Street Station, which, in hindsight, was a terrible idea. The mild discomfort had now gone up a level, but all hell broke loose when I decided to use the loo before catching the train. Now the disabled loo there, is basically, scary in most cases, as the light is on a timer and will switch off by itself - very annoying if you are not ready to leave, not to mention the scary noise of the air freshner coming on! So what is the worst thing that could happen? Getting on the loo was fine - then the pain kicked in. I will refer you to this:

Hyperbole and a Half's Scale of Pain

The pain was probably a 8-9 Yes, on the loo, in the dark, and unable to transfer back to my chair because the slightest movement was searing agony. My screams could probably be heard throughout New Street station. If I wasn't in so much pain I probably would have been mortified when I was finally rescued.

Hospital Updates et al

Quickly adding this onto the blog, as Something Important is happening tomorrow which I haven't got round to posting about.

As briefly mentioned, I have been going to a rehabilitation unit for Physio and Occupational Therapy, which has been interesting, fun, tiring, but all the people there are lovely and has been going well (albeit a couple of dramas, but anywhoo). I have attempted pottery, with one successful piece (if slightly childish looking), a complete disaster of a teapot (very structurally unsound), and I am now attempting another pot.

The Big News is that I will get my Phenol Nerve Block injections tomorrow, and then on the 19th I will have my Baclofen day trial - woah! I have just realised that a few posts ago I never said what the last minute Dr appointment was about. Well it was to get the above sorted out, as my consultant could see my patience was wearing thin.

To put it succinctly as possible, the Phenol nerve block will reduce the tightness in two of the worst offending muscles groups in my legs, and also act as a stop gap whilst waiting to get the Baclofen Pump. Try and imagine a bass beat being pumped under your skin and into your nerves and that is kind of how it feels. Freaky but cool. The anesthetic nerve trial proved successful (giggling is apparently an unusual reaction to this), so the go ahead was given for the full on nerve block.

The nerve block should last up to 12 months, and will take away some of the supporting tone in my legs, so this will be interesting to see how it turns out.