First ablation "test"

I went yesterday for my first nerve ablation test hit. They put whatever cocktail they use at three levels on both sides; C3-C5 I think they said. I was feeling horrible the morning of, but just before I got a break in the pain and I was at a very comfortable (for me) 4 or 5. I only had the local anesthesia, but I laid perfectly still the whole time. I had a twinges of nerve pain on the left while he was in there, but otherwise it was just an odd feeling of the needle pushing through tissue. When he got done he said "Very stoic. You did better than a lot of people who take the sedation." I'm a mechanical engineer. I know what precision means and wanted him to be able to do his job! So now I'm in my pain log period, then I mail it in and wait a week for results before scheduling the second test. So far it has been a success I think. My pain has definitely come down. It has been about 16 hours and this is generally the time when I feel the worst and I would say I am around a 3. I can't tell my "normal" pain from the discomfort of the injection at this point. It highlighted to me last night that my worst time was when I was getting my 2 year old to go to bed. I sit on her bed, kneel by her bed, read her books and I found myself squirming a lot trying to get comfortable. I was very frustrated.

So we will see how long it lasts and get the results back. Hopefully long term the ablation would give me more relief as my muscles would get time to relax. So I am very hopeful that this will be a "long term" solution for me. I did have a question for others who have gotten ablations; how often and how many times can they do it?

Thanks all.

Both tests went great. I was relatively pain free for 2-4 days each time. I had the real deal done on the left side yesterday. Supposed to go back in 2-3 weeks to have the other side done. Yesterday was bad. I had a headache all day. Today is a bit better. The doctor said it wouldn't be instantaneous relief this time. I still have swelling at the site where the needle went in. I took the sedation (at their recommendation) for this one.

Now that I'm getting this and should be excited to be pain free, I find out I need to get my thyroid removed. A bit anxious about that. Consult on the 30th and I'll take it from there.