Having my Lumbar Facet Neurotomy tomorrow a.m.

[Cindylou]

Finally, tomorrow morning is almost here. I will be having my lumbar facet ablation and I do hope and pray that it gives me some long term relief. Please pray for me if you are the praying kind that this works, because I am getting to the end of the road in terms of options.

A side bar: Just the other day, my neighbor and best friend asked me once again: "I just don't understand. You have had all these back surgeries. Why are you still in pain?" Ahh, the million dollar question.....if only the docs had the million dollar answer, I could be out of pain. I guess if you have never experienced chronic back pain you really don't realize how stupid the question sounds. You know? It is such a stupid question that I hardly want to waste a breath to give a reply. And frankly, what is the answer? The answer, quite frankly is, I don't know. And the doctors don't know. We have some educated guesses, but they are guesses, at best. So, I try and be patient because what it does reveal to me is that they really just don't get it, because they have never been in chronic pain.

So, my hope and prayer for tomorrow is that I do get the relief I crave. I am wearing thin.

[Graysonlaw]

Good luck, CL! Yes it can be quite difficult to get "normal" people to understand what chronic back pain is like. This reminds me of a conversation I had with a work colleague just prior to my surgery of his opinion that most back pain is just an excuse for malingering.

Pete

[Gilbert P]

Hello Cindy Lou

I wish you the best , I will send prayers your way.

All The Best

Gil

[ajj1001]

Wow its tomorrow, that came around quick. Will certainly pray for success for you with the procedure.

[linda]

I will be thinking about you tomorrow Cindylou and hope this procedure gives you much needed and overdue relief.
Linda

[Justin]

Finally, tomorrow morning is almost here. I will be having my lumbar facet ablation and I do hope and pray that it gives me some long term relief. Please pray for me if you are the praying kind that this works, because I am getting to the end of the road in terms of options.

CL, I will pray that your lumbar facet ablation will provide you with long-term pain relief.

Good luck, CL! Yes it can be quite difficult to get "normal" people to understand what chronic back pain is like. This reminds me of a conversation I had with a work colleague just prior to my surgery of his opinion that most back pain is just an excuse for malingering.

Pete

Pete, people just don't get it. I remember having a conversation with someone that has never experienced chronic pain and they said, "yeah, I slept on my neck wrong last night and my neck is so incredible sore...I know exactly how you feel." Uh yeah, whatever--talk about pain.

[daveinaustin]

CL,

My thoughts and prayers are with you tonight and tomorrow.

It's amazing how insensitive and basically lack the understanding of chronic pain. Of all honesty, though, I don't think any of us truly comprehended it until we became spineys. Therefore, just continue your best to shrug it off, even when you're ready to wring their necks!!!

Every now and then when I have a bad spell, such as last week, I go back to the Chronic Pain letter that Mary.Mary posted awhile back. Thank God for Justin and this site for the understanding and compassion we each have for each other.

Once again, good luck tomorrow. I sincerely hope this will help bring you some well deserved relief. I look forward to hearing about your outcome!

-Dave

[Dave]

Hi CindyLou,

Been down for a couple of days so this is late. I hope and pray everything went well this morning.

[dalhousie]

Really hope everything went well CL & that the procedure gives you the much needed relief. Looking forward to hearing how it went when you're up to it.

Sending positive cyber vibes your way ~~~~~~

[Cindylou]

Well, I had my facet nerves cauterized around 9 a.m. this morning. Took about an hour. I had requested sedation, however it turned out to be mild sedation for the first half, and no sedation for the second half (because it had worn off). I was disappointed that they didn't adhere to my wishes as there were a number of times it was quite painful, leaving me to scream. But my pain management doc apparently doesn't like to fully sedate for this type of procedure. On the positive side, I had a fantastic nurse and my doc appeared so happy to see me and excited to be able to help me. My husband and I both thanked him profusely for being so proactive in my care. He cauterized the nerves bilaterally at L 3,4,5, precisely where my 3 artificial lumbar discs are. Which makes one wonder if my artificial discs accelerated degeneration in my facets. Hmmm? I am still having wonderful relief about 5 hours after the numbing medication went in....too bad I can't drive for 24 hours, nor lasso the moon, because that's how good I feel. I suspect the numbing meds will wear off in the next few hours, and then I will hurt worse for a few days, due to all the poking and prodding w/ the needles. I am icing big time. They wrote out a script for break through med's, 20 of them, so that was a relief....to last me 2 weeks till I see them next. And refilled the fentanyl patch. So, here's to hoping some long term relief kicks in, in oh, say 5-15 days.