Sunday, November 30, 2008
I'm laying in bed, and have been since last night. The spinal tap on Friday went as well as one could go, I guess.
First, they took spinal x-rays. Not in the usual way, though. I was laying on my stomach & they took the x-rays from above me. They shot 2 films.
Then they "prepped" me. They tucked sterile drapes in, on, and under me. They scrubbed my back with Betadyne. Then the real fun began.
They injected my spine with Lidocaine. It burned and stung. Just when I thought I was ok & able to handle it, they went deeper and injected more. I tried not to grunt, and tightly gripped the table.
As they advanced the needle from which they would actually draw the fluid, I found that that pain compared to muscle spasms. Since I get muscle spasms in my back on a frequent basis, that actually wasn't too bad.
They slanted the table in increments to have gravity help them obtain the samples since it takes a while to get spinal fluid. By the end, I was almost completely vertical!
After what seemed to be an infinite amount of time, they were finally done. They slowly lowered the table, cleaned me up and put a band-aid on my "ouchie."
Then they drew a blood sample as well. They're testing me for MS again. All of my brain CT's and MRI's show no plaque or lesions on my brain, but I guess it needed to be done.
Slowly, I rolled onto my side to start to get up after it was all over. Instantly, I experienced the "spinal headache." That term does it no justice. Let me just say this: I've had migraines since childhood. Debilitating, nauseating migraines. This made them seem like a walk in the park.
The headache came & went Friday night, but it was tolerable.
Saturday morning, though, was another story. The pain woke me up. Even laying down, the pain continually increased until I could not take it any more. By 10:30 am, I was on my way to the ER.
They placed me in a room about 30-45 minutes after I arrived. Not bad for this particular hospital.
I eventually got an IV & they ran 2 bags of fluid into the line. One was just regular saline. One was saline with caffeine.
The caffeine drip did help to take some of the edge off.
At around 4, an anesthesiologist arrived. It was time for me to get a "blood patch."
What they did was almost like an epidural. It was much stronger than the lidocaine. It burned and caused tremendous pain in both my legs. Then they drew 20 cc's of my own blood, then they "transfused" that blood back into my spine to form a clot over the hole from the tap. The hole from the tap caused me to leak spinal fluid, which caused the unbelievable head pain. This second procedure was like "fix-a-flat" for my spine!
About 60-90 minutes later, a new anesthesiologist came to check on me. He made me sit up in the hospital bed. The headache was significantly less than what it had been before. By 6:30 pm, I was on my way home.
No headache today (thank heaven!). My back is very sore & my legs still hurt to some degree, but I feel so much better. It was well worth it. I'm on strict bed rest for the rest of the day & I have to be extremely careful for the next 3-5 days, but I'll be ok. Now all I have to do is wait for answers…
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Still no headache. That blood patch pretty much instantly cured me! It's been an amazing relief. My back is still very sore. I'm taking Tylenol 2 – 3 times per day. My mobility is extremely limited, and I am only comfortable lying in certain positions.
I'm still waiting on my results. I pray they come today. I desperately need answers!
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