bobkat

Hey Denver, I've been thinking about you. Haven't heard anything but I'm assuming you had your surgery and all went well. Hope you are up and at 'em soon, oogling that bike, and driving your caregivers nuts with questions like "when can I get back in the saddle" and "when can I get back singing??"
Have a speedy recovery!!

DnvrFox

Thanks. No surgery yet. Wheels don't turn that fast. Tomorrow I am having the "cortisone shot."

In great pain today - oral steroid regimen finished 2 days ago. After the cortisone shot, I will have the flex X-ray to determine if the spondolythesis is stable or not, which will determine the type and extent of surgery.

Thanks for askng. I am on Norco right now, which helps, but doesn't totally solve the pain problem. Sang in church this morning, and used a stool for support. A first for me.

Anyway, I am doing OK, but, wow!! - it can really hurt. No food after 6:30 am tomorrow. Procedure at 2:30 - I will take bicycle ride in am.

Again, tx for asking.

MTG

Good luck and best wishes for a very speedy recovery from whatever procedure they do. Will be thinking about ya.

wiredfoxterror

positive thoughts your way

bobkat

Ouch! I always wondered why they couldn't just inject some epoxy or J-B Weld or something between those vertebrae to stop them from sliding around. Kind of a vertebrae slipping 'top kill!"
Hang in there and good luck! Gotta get you back on that bike real soon!

DnvrFox

The one thing I CAN do is to ride, and I have been riding regularly, and plan on a ride today. Doing about 25-30 miles per day with no pain. The bending forward of the road bike seems to relieve the pressure. as does walking in a hunched position.

ahsposo 

Hang tough!

I am glad you can ride.

cyclist2000

When I had my back pain I found the same thing that the riding position would stretch out the back and relieve some of the pressure.

Well, good luck and happy riding.

DnvrFox

"Ride Report"

WOW and OUCH!!

Yesterday is a day I never desire to repeat. It is the day when I had the supposedly pain-relieving cortisone shot into the root nerves of my L-4 vertebrae.

First, a brief discussion of the environment/timing, etc.

This is relatively less important in the entire scheme of things, but does provide a background leading up the "THE EVENT.

1. Timing - the procedure was scheduled for my arrival at 1:30 and the procedure at 2:30. OK, the MD got delayed, and we did receive a call postponing it until 2:00 arrival and a 3:00 procedure, and while on our way to the office, a message was placed on the voice mail stating a 3:15 arrival and a 4:15 procedure. OK, I can live with this. The problem is that I was allowed no food from 6:30 - as related to the 1:30 arrival, and no liquid from 10:00 on for the same reason. However, the timing of the delay calls was such that I could make no adjustments for food or liquid intake, so I was without liquids from 10:00 am - to about 5:00, the time we finished, Again, no big deal, I made it through that fine, but my wife would never have made it as she is hypoglycemic and needs both the liquid and the food,

2. HIPPA. As we all know, HIPPA is a joke as regards privacy in hospitals and medical offices. This was probably one of the most blatant examples of violation of HIPPA. When we finally went in, we were next to a lady in her 70's, separated by a thin curtain, and with the presence of a medical assistant with a very loud voice, asking the lady next to us her entire medical and other history. There is not one thing we do not know about that lady's history, including her flight arrangements to Florida, info about her husbands situation, etc., etc. Important? Well, I guess that congress feels that HIPPA is important, but I have never been in a medical office where it was more violated.

Likewise, the person following us got an earful about our medical stuff, although we managed to keep our voices low.

3. The pre-procedure. We were asked if I wanted "sedation" through an IV. I asked specficially why would it be important for me to have sedation, and received the reply that some folks are nervous about a needle going in their back and are needle phobic, and the sedation would relieve the anxiety. Not being needle-phobic, I declined. Then I signed a bunch of releases, which is typical. However, nowhere along the line was the possibility of pain, or extreme pain, mentioned, nor the need for an IV for injection of something like medication lowering blood pressure during the procedure. If that had been mentioned, I would have said "yes" to the IV.

4. MD's comments. The office had not requested the MRI disk, but we brought it anyway. We asked again if they needed it, and they said no. However, we brought it in to the procedures room, anyway. We asked the doc if he wanted to see it, and, finally, he agreed. Upon completion of his viewing the MRI, he commented that the radiology report had been extremely conservative, and that the back looked a lot different (worse) than the radiology report.

We were there as a portion of a plan that our Neurosurgeon had developed with us, and the shot was one step, to determine if the spine/pain would respond to a cortisone injection, as a part of a diagnostic step to determine the types of possible surgery. However, the MD giving the injection then proceeded to outline an entirely different course of treatment and action, in opposition to what our neuro had planned. This was most confusing to me, as he was going to provide additional - non-prescribed shots, not what the neuro had ordered.

I finally stated, "Let's do exactly what the neuro ordered, no more, no less." We finally left it there.

5. THE PROCEDURE. Again, pain (extreme) had not been mentioned as a reason for an IV, nor as a likely result of the injections. WOW - were they wrong. Each injection (seems they are each accompanied by an x-ray to determine if the needle is in the right position), caused an amazing amount of pain - I mean, I was practically on the ceiling of the exam room. Electric like impulses coursing and burning through my thigh. My blood pressure shot up to 220 from the pain, and, since I had no IV, they had to try and get an IV in me while I was going through the pain, in order to get my BP down (usually at 124/82 - last physical 2 weeks ago).

There was a lot of confusion in the room, many people, a nurse trying to stick a needle in the back of my hand for an IV. I heard, amongst the voices, perhaps the doc saying, that maybe the injection had gotten into the vascular system.

I asked the doc if, despite everything, he had been able to complete the procedure. I also heard that "Next time we should use a sedative." Between gritting teeth, I said I was told that the pre-injection and IV would be for sedation and not pain. They agreed and said that the doc did not do the pain relief thing.

Finally, it was over, I was shaking. I felt I knew a bit about being tortured in a prison, and my admiration for McCain increased greatly.

We expected the doc to come and talk with us briefly. Nope - never happened. He was too far behind in his procedures, apparently.

Next time? Not with this doc, not this place.

Fini!!

ahsposo 

That's not the report you wanted to write.

Certainly not the report I wanted to read.

Like I said earlier, Hang Tough.