35 Weeks 1 Day

I'm finding it more and more difficult to remember what day it is, the date, and how many weeks along I am! I think I'm driving Joseph nuts by my daily asking if he has "to go to work today?" haha

Yesterday I didn't have an episode, but instead had a good appointment with Dr.C. 

I've been knocking myself out in the evenings and nights with 

900mg Gabapentin to try and minimize the nerve pain. 

We woke this morning at 6:30am and had to be at the surgery center in Vaca at 7:15. Joseph took me today since Dad was unable to take me. It was a pretty quick check in and we were taken back to a room right away. Within 15 minutes pain began quickly and was spreading despite Joseph's intense massaging. 30 minutes after being there I was borderline level 10 pain. Half crying and half not, the doctor came in and answered any questions I'd asked thru my on and off tears. He explained what was to happen, but since I had an epidural with Blake, I was familiar with the procedure. 

Laying on my side and clutching the side of the bed I was wheeled down to the surgery room. At this level of pain my eyes are always clenched shut and today talking wasn't too difficult. I was able to answer questions pretty good. I was instructed to sit up with my legs over the edge of the bed (different than with Blake where I stayed laying on my side the whole time) and a nurse stood infront of me holding my hands. I leaned forward as far as I could over Blaire without being unstable. Breathing hard, half moaning, half humming, and eyes clenched shut, I tried to not move while the pain surged and stabbed it's way through my ankle, foot, and up my leg. 

The needle went in and it was so minimal I don't even have anything to compare it to... a splinter is more pain. Then I felt medium pressure in my spine where he was injecting the medications. That was more discomfort but still nothing compared to the pain in the rest of my body. The doctor kept reassuring me that we were almost through and I kept reassuring him that the pain was not being caused from him. I chatted, trying to distract myself, with the nurse and she asked about Blaire and all my pain. Everyone in the room heard, of course, and quite a few of them asked questions about my pain and all were quite appalled with my immense pain. They couldn't believe the pain I was experiencing in front of them was nothing abnormal. 

I was wheeled out to the recovery room where I was instructed to lay on my right side so hopefully the pain medication would go down the right leg and give me relief. Moaning, humming, tapping my fingers on the edge of the bed, eyes still clenched shut, I waited... I waited for the pain to go away but it didn't seem to want to. I might have dropped from a borderline 10 to a not borderline 10 and just a regular 9, but that wasn't the relief I was praying for. Dr came in and asked how I was doing and at the 15 minute mark he wanted me wheeled back into the room so we could try the procedure again. He apologized multiple times over the fact that he was unable to do it "right" (with xray guidance) the first time and that he felt that we needed to try again. Breathing hard and still unable to look at him I told him I was perfectly fine with doing it again. 

Instead of going back to the surgery room, he decided to do the 2nd procedure right there in the recovery room. I let go of the edge of the bed so that I could sit up and lean forward over Blaire. Once again I held the nurse's hands and once again I felt the needle's touch. Once again I felt the pressure of the medication being administered, but unlike before I now felt warmth in my upper leg. I let the nurse know, 

"my leg is warm. Oh, now my calf is warm. . . My foot is warm!"

I lifted my tear stained face to look at her and was finally able to state,

"my leg and foot pain is almost totally gone!"

From the time the Dr pushed the meds through his syrenge til the time I felt relief was about 3 seconds in all. From a nearly 10 pain down to almost gone!!

I laid back on my side, thanked the Dr, listened to his instructions for going home, and waited for Joseph to come back to see me. Within about 10 minutes I was fully dressed and was being wheeled out to the truck for the ride home. My legs were weak, but not so much that I was unstable. 

The rest of today has gone pretty well. I came home and put some ice on my back since it was aching (a normal side effect of the procedure) and skipped my 10am Dilauded. I'd spoken with Dr C. yesterday about dialing back on my pain killers if this procedure works.  By 2pm, my foot was aching some, but it's not the usual pain, it's the bone spur pain. I'm now able to distinguish the difference between the nerve and the bone spur pain much better than before. I put heat on my foot and went ahead on schedule and took the Dilauded. 

So far so good! I'm still taking it easy by staying in bed and using the scooter to not put additional pressure or movement on my ankle.
We shall see how tomorrow goes.
As for today?
God has definitely answered my pleas for help!