Time has come

As the months pass and I await a call from Barrows, the pelvic pain has returned and I am seeing Dr Hibner.  The Arachnoiditis is in my Lumbar and Sacral nerve roots.  Well, guess where the Pudendal Nerve is?  It sits at S2 in the Sacrum, so now those are all adhered together, one possibility why the pudendal neuralgia has returned.  Pelvic Floor Spasms are difficult to describe.  I feel a pulling in my hips when I stand, so it makes standing difficult, my sits bones (butt bones) are painful, so it makes sitting difficult, and the SI joints are extremely painful, so it makes walking difficult.  I am comfortable in a reclining position and laying down, I sit on ice packs throughout the day.  January of 2017 was my first Botox injection into the pelvic floor, then 8 weeks of pelvic floor therapy twice a week resumed.  May was my second round of Botox and October was the 3rd round. 

I got a call in June 2017, to come in and meet with Dr Kaibara which always requires Phil to take me in the wheelchair as I can not walk that far.  We met with him and were not sure what the outcome would be.  Surgery? No surgery?  But we knew he would make the right decision for me.  We met and he decided to do the surgery!  He explained the complexity of the surgery and the outcome could be 50/50.  He was unsure how helpful it would be, he was upfront that it could make the Arachnoiditis worse.  He explained the procedure- Laminectomy, bone graft, and fusion with cages and screws. Planned to do the right L5 to sacrum to ileum as that was the side with the Bertolotti's.  Well, the whole entire ileum was fused as the left side also was grown into the sacrum/ileum as well.   August 8th I was scheduled and I was so ready.  I had my dad coming from Florida, I just couldnt do this one without him.  This time was going to be very very different from the last.  I was not going to be that vulnerable patient that I was before and I was going to make damn sure of it.

Had my dad scheduled to come for a couple weeks, after my dad was my dear friend Mary, I knew she would take great care of me, she is a nurse.  After Mary was our other close friend, Haley.  I had my care all set up.  One of our friends set up a meals from our friends and that was so helpful as Phil was back to work right away and my dad had his hands full with me.  We had friends and family who were beyond helpful and I can not thank them enough to this day.

This time a set up a website that people could go to online to check the status of my healing, it was just simply too overwhelming last time for Phil to be receiving the amount of text messages he did. This time he would be returning to work immediately and would not be able to return messages.  We agreed this would be the best way.  He could update the site, one time and our friends/family/co-workers/other people who just simply wanted to know, could check the website.  Some people seemed "put off" by this.  It wasn't their ordeal, they had not lived this nightmare before, and unfortunately, it really didn't matter to me what their thoughts were, I had to do what was best for me this time.  So either check the site, or don't, I will be taking care of myself. Exactly what I should have been doing all these years.

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