Donna, my dear friend, thanks so much for posting to let our friends know and thank you everyone for being so kind and caring. You made me feel so very special and really helped me during some very dark times. I struggle with depression and anxiety and as you can imagine, this surely didn't help. In fact, I had an appointment with a psychiatrist this past Monday that I had to wait almost 3 weeks to see him, to talk to him about
the depression and anxiety because lately I feel as if I am losing the battle. I have fought this battle for many, many years and for the past two years, I have done so withOUT the use of antidepressants and I was able to keep matters under control, until recently, A close friend of mine died three months ago from breast cancer and then one of my dogs was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer (so far he's doing okay). In addition, I have another friend that is dying of cancer and one that has dementia and she is in her mid 60s. I think it's all just been too much for me and so I felt I needed help and made an appt with a psychiatrist, to talk about
medications and/or counseling. But I ended up in the hospital and so I had to cancel the appointment...timing is everything
.
Sherrine thank you for sharing your protocol with me. I will see how things go and if need be, will discuss your protocol with my doctor. I am praying this works. I've had epidurals in the past and they haven't been successful but...the majority I had were not under flouroscopy, only one was and that one was so bad, I cant begin to tell you. It was 8 months ago, done by an anesthesiologist and it took her ONE HOUR to complete it while I screamed and cried my head off from the pain and then it only lasted six weeks and when I called her, she all but told me to look elsewhere. She told me she expected it to last 8 months! What doctor tells you that? In any case, this guy today was amazing. He talked me through the entire procedure, which by the way took all of FIVE minutes. Yes, it was painful and he explained to me that when it's done right, it is painful because they enter the area near the spine where the pain is coming from, they expect it to be painful. But he was confident and oh so good and just kept talking to me telling me to breathe and I did, with some sobbing in between.
I'm telling you, never in my life have I experienced this kind of pain. I actually was asking God what on earth had I done to deserve this? I've had sciatic pain before, but it has never been so relentless. To be completely off my feet, with constant ice bags, and heavy duty pain meds and still no relief, well I felt I was being tortured.
I hope and pray I will find relief soon. I'm not out of the woods yet, but definitely better. Hey, I'm home! I do have to use a walker, my leg feels very weak, wants to give out on me. I still have the same pain but not as severe and it does let up when I sit or lie down. I just have to watch how much I do. My instructions do state that I need to be active so it's a little confusing...guess it's a fine line, keep active, but don't overdo.
And my dogs were so happy to see me, but they got freaked out when I came out of the garage with a walker in front of me. It did keep them from jumping all over me, which would have not been pretty.
Thanks again everyone...I feel blessed to be a part of this forum with all of you very special people.
Miriam