A Little Hope Again... We Think... Maybe...

Thus far nothing has helped ease Steve's back pain. The initial run of shots was a double whammy, both draining the budget and maximizing the pain levels. We both found it reasonable for him to turn down the opportunity to get a couple more of those  just in case they had better results next time.

So, back to the drawing board, i.e., another visit to the pain clinic to find what other options might be available. OK, so the next plan is a set of shots too, but with a difference. This time they inject lidocaine in carefully selected locations to see if they give (a couple hours of) relief. If so, they repeat a week or so later to make sure they got the right exact locations of the nerves producing the pain. Then, if both times show positive results, they schedule him for ablation surgery and zap those buggers into history.

Assuming all goes as planned, he should get relief for maybe 10 months, best case. Not sure what follows that or why it wouldn't be permanent, but those months would be relative bliss.

The term ablation surgery is not a new one for us. Should medications eventually stop working to control my cardiac rhythms, they're the next step on the treatment schedule for me, likely paired with a pacemaker. I don't think it scares either one of us, particularly compared to what it seeks to fix. One of his kids is getting the procedure (cardiac) tomorrow (Wednesday).

Monday morning, right at the crack of insane o'clock, I drove Steve over for his first of the new treatments. He emerged higher than a weather balloon, partly from the sedation meds, partly from total relief of the pain. This means they found the right place. It only lasted a couple hours, but his recovery from those shots didn't drive him to the top of the pain scale the way the previous kind did. His one-to-ten pain scale levels have been a notch or two lower than they've been even before the first shots boondoggle.

It's a little scary, particularly after how high the hopes were before those first shots and how badly they got shot down, but there seems to be some new hope for an effective treatment.

We think.

Maybe....