epidurals

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I too was told that I could not have an epidural for childbirth because of my long fusion. However, my pain management doctor has absolutely no problems giving me the epidural steroid injections because he uses a flouroscope that works like a live action x-ray and he has some sort of flexible device that he uses for the injection -- he does not use a straight needle like I assumer the OB_GYN folks would use. He threads it up around all the metal in my back and gives me injections in several places, including facet joints and SI joints in addition to the "lumbar selectives" I love my pain management doctor! It wasn't easy to find a good one, until I called the local scoliosis specialist who had previously told me he couldn't do anything for me and asked if he could recommend a good pain management doctor for SI joint injections. Why didn't he think of that on his own?? I have no clue, but I am glad that I went out of

town to see a doctor who was more familiar with treating Harrington Rod patients and was able to explain exactly what was happening to my back and what the possible treatment options are. He recommended the SI joint injections as a tool to help determine if the source of my biggest pain is the SI joint or the end of the crazy rod that goes across my pelvis. He was the first doctor who seemed familiar with that third rod. The knowlegeable doc??? Barton Sachs at Texas Back Institute in Plano (thank you, in Waco for giving me his name). I had my fifth visit to my pain management doctor (Dr Eckman at Spine Hospital in OKC) and I have to say that I am so happy to have finally found him. He is very caring and very knowledgeable about what is happening in my back. I kinda freaked out when I opened the first statement from my insurance company that showed how much my portion of the bill would be and I tried

to ignore the hospital bills until I was doing my taxes a couple of weeks ago. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were much less than expected. On my fourth visit, I had told the doctor that I was tempted to cancel because I really can't afford the bills. The doctor is "in-network" for my insurance, but the hospital is not. A few weeks later, I got a nice letter from the hospital saying that at my doctor's request, they will accept the amount the insurance pays, plus the normal co-payment for 'in-network' facilities and write off the remainder. I think they can do this partly because Spine Hospital is owned by the group of doctors who work there. After having the injections, I am sore for a couple of days, but about a week later I notice the pain is mostly gone. I still have some problems waking up in the middle of the night with my legs hurting from the knees down, so the Dr has given my neurontin to take

at bedtime. I had only tried it a couple of times before my most recent visit last week, and hadn't liked it because even though I took it around 8 PM, I was still feeling loopy at noon the next day and my students wanted to know where they could get some of whatever I was on. The doctor told me that it is something that has to be taken on a regular basis to work, so I have been taking it for a week now. Monday morning, my mouth and my brain just would not coordinate and it was very difficult to do math. Fortunately, I have an honors class first thing on Monday and they were very patient with me and helped me avoid making too many mistakes. By afternoon, it was better. By Friday, I was having no problems at work, but it was still difficult to roll out of bed at 5 AM when I felt so nice and relaxed. I am sleeping much better (and even having some interesting dreams). I went shopping

yesterday, and managed to walk a long way from the parking lot to the store without a shopping cart!! One thing the doctor said last week kinda freaked me out a bit. I told him about the new school building that we moved into over Christmas break and how crazy it is that the handicapped parking places and a handicapped ramp go to a door that cannot be opened from the outside. I have to walk around to the main door, then walk a long way to the office, then walk a long way to my classroom. It has been taking me 20 minutes to get from my car to my classroom (fortunately, I can exit out the door in the afternoon and it is not far from my room). Dr got quite upset and said he would be happy to help me agitate for a lock and a handle on that nearby door, or my boss should provide me with a wheelchair. I had been getting to the point of wondering if a wheelchair or scooter would be a good idea so I could go more places without

worrying about how long I would have to walk (because if there aren't shopping carts, I can't walk far at all -- the cane isn't much help), but it still freaked me out that the doctor suggested I might need one. I had really expected him to say that the exercise would be good for me instead of getting so insistent that I should not be expected to walk so far. The first day I went to work still woozy from the neurontin, I had a LOT of difficulty making it to my room. It is a good thing I had my cane to help keep me upright. I bought the cane mostly because I noticed several years ago before I knew about flatback, that it was less painful to walk if I didn't try to stand up straight. It looks less weird to walk bent over with the cane (and it is handy to lean on if I have to stop). I had a wonderful Christmas break since we got an extra two weeks off work for the movers to do their thing. I

spent the first three weeks working nonstop to get as much of my unpacking and organizing as possible done. I finally have my house to a point that I can live with it --except for my daughter's room. After we get her stuff organized, there is still the attic to deal with. My husband is making progress in the garage. The formal living room still has a ton of pictures that need to be distributed around the walls of the house, but I spread them out along the walls so I can finally walk around in the living room. I don't think I have enough wall space for all of them. Moving into a house that was already full of stuff has definitely been challenging. I spent the fourth week of my vacation in the Bahamas. I absolutely love it there and I always feel so much better while I am there. It was my husband's first time to go, and we left the kids at home under the care of our next door neighbors. We didn't do

anything touristy -- we spent most of our time visiting my family and friends. It doesn't matter that I divorced my Bahamian husband -- his family is still my family and they were thrilled to see us. My new granddaughter is gorgeous!! I have posted a picture at http://members.cox.net/bahadreama/shamara.jpg Even the saggy bed in the hotel felt very comfortable to me!! I had no pain while I was in Nassau. Of course, with a chunky 5 month old to tote around, my stepdaughter wasn't too interested in doing much walking this trip either, and I rented a car. As I drove around, I was amazed at the distances I used to walk with my daughter on my hip!

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