more adventures from the couch

Today I had my 29th career nerve block... well, the career being my life.

I was diagnosed with RSD just over 11 years ago after spraining my right ankle in a pretty severe fashion three months prior to that. The pain was super abnormal, as were the colors my foot and ankle were turning. When I met my pain doctor, he went to take the pulse in my foot and said, "Whoa. I could chill a can of soda on your leg." So, that was awesome. I was the youngest patient he had.

I still am.

I've come a long, long way from spending nine months on crutches during freshman year of high school (and several months of sophomore and junior years, and freshman year of college). I run! I play sports! I went skiing again that one time! I drive all over the place and hike mountains and climb lighthouses!

It's actually a pretty cool accomplishment, but wouldn't be possible without the occasional "tune up" as my pain doctor calls it. Well, this whole unemployment thing means my health insurance is just about up, so I got a preemptive nerve block and a new prescription for my magical non-narcotic super pain relievers.

I don't know why I'm sharing this, I'm just kind of bored and felt like sharing the adventure that is a nerve block, followed by the adventure that is spending the day on the couch reading Harry Potter and watching the first season of Community on DVD. I had a picture of the x-ray of my spine with the needle in it from a nerve block several years ago, but I can't find it anywhere. I was really writing this with the intent of posting that picture. But now that I'm this far--

Nerve block. I get to lay on a table on my stomach with pillows under my belly because I'm too skinny for the x-ray machine (an improvement over having to arch my back with the needle in it). Doctor and I exchange jokes about the ridiculous rainbow knee socks I wore to my first appointment in September 2000 (what, my leg was freezing, and they were neat). Doctor takes an x-ray of my back with a little pointer on it to find the neighborhood of the nerve and draws crosshairs on my back with a pen. Doctor injects local anesthetic into my back around the L4 (bonus points if you know what the hell, or where the hell that is). Doctor sticks a big needle into the nerves along my spinal cord in that same neighborhood. Doctor takes a bunch of moving x-rays (fluoroscopes!) of my back to make sure he's poking the right nerve. I feel pressure in my right hip and probably leg. Then doctor shoots some lidocaine through that big needle. More intense pressure, and also the feeling like something is peeing on my leg-- it gets warm and spreads down toward my foot. Within ten minutes of the initial small talk, we undo everything and I'm left with some pen marks, a hole, sometimes a bruise, and a numb hip that makes me walk like I'm drunk.

After the drunk swagger wears off, it's like restarting your computer. The nerves in my leg get their act together, and I can continue to walk and have other adventures.

I love walking.

That was my day. That almost counts as an adventure?

Edited on April 5, 2012 because I found the picture: