8/15 Hallelujah!

The epidural hurt a lot more than the first one, but the doc was funny and fun. He put in a lot more medicine (steroids included). Jane and Jan were there the whole time and the doc said that if it hurt too bad it was Jane's fault.

Afterward Jane and Jan took me to lunch which was sweet of them. Then before taking me home we went to John and Paulette's new house and we got a grand tour. John and Matt were working hard and the place is looking great.

Right now I'm feeling a little "weird," but there's not much pain. Tomorrow I should be able to have my normal routine. I have high hopes that this epidural is going to work. I'm very lucky and very blessed.

Thanks, Jane and Jan, for being there for me today.

8/14 Something good

I went to orientation tonight for adjunct faculty at QU. I'm pretty excited about teaching there.

But the wonderful news is that I get free use of the gym and athletic facilities, meaning I have use of an Olympic size pool one block from my house. How cool is that!

Tomorrow morning I go to Blessing Hosp (at 14th) to do a consult on a young patient, and then to work for a few hours. I'll leave at noon to go home to prepare for the epidural.

It's going to work this time. Yes it is.

8/13 Surrounded by saints

Jan stopped by at lunch and took care of Gus. Cindy picked him up after lunch. When I got home at 8 PM Joe and Cindy brought Gus home and also gave me a huge salad and a huge brownie. As I said, I'm surrounded by saints.

And St. Jane is doing taxi duty for my epidural on Friday, although Jan said she may go too.

Here's the non-saintly part. They're going to go to lunch while I'm having my spine stuck with a needle the size of Cleveland. Ah well...

7/23 Puppies and doctors and stuff

Today Gus and Snickers are at the groomer's. They're getting a "face, feet, and butt" trim. So they'll still be nice and fuzzy and adorable.

Got a call from Wash U Medical Center in St. Louis to screen me for the neurosurgeon appointment. Now they'll give the info, plus the MRI results, to the doctor there and they'll call me back with an appointment. There are no choices about date and time. So I'll wait...

Also, we're setting up the next epidural. They'd told me I may need more than one. Unfortunately I was only pain free for one day and it started to get worse day by day.

So there it is... but tonight I'm having potatoes, sweet corn, tomatoes, and cucumber and onions. And yeah--it's going to be great.

7/17 Lots of GREAT news

I took Gus outside at 6 AM as always and thought, "Something's different." And it was--I was totally pain free for the first time in almost four months. It felt weird at first.

After my shower, when I started moving around a lot more, little pains came back--but if my worst back pain was a 10, this is a 2 or so. Nothing that will stop me from doing anything.

I actually wanted to call in sick and clean my house. The house is the worst it's ever been in my life. So I'm anxious to rectify that, but the prospect of doing it all is daunting--therefore it's going to be one room at a time.

The TAB (talented arrogant bastard who did my procedure--no names) said it may last for hours, days, weeks or even months. But he was really negative about the ultimate success. Guess what? I wanted to slap him but didn't let him drag me down. He also acted like all my answers were wrong. "If I do this with your leg, it's supposed to hurt. But it hurts when I do this, and it's not supposed to." That kind of thing. I know he had to give a negative spin on the ultimate success so as to not get my hopes up, but still....

Anyway he's talented. And I feel really really good, and am incredibly grateful.

Thanks so much for all your support and love.

AND--I'm getting Gus's brother. Yep. He's the last one in the litter and they don't want to advertise and they just want to be done with puppies. So I said I'd take him if he was free. And he is. :) I get him today. Anyone in the family want to steal him?

7/16 Happy birthday, Jan and other stuff

Hope you have a great birthday dinner tonight with Kris and Tim. Thanks to you and Jane for a delightful taxi service today.

The epidural went well. Other than two brief times when I experienced bad pain (he was trying to find the right place to inject the meds), the procedure was painless.

Right now, the paim is gone/minimal in the upper areas of my spine, but still hurts from my lower back down to my knees. I expect this to be gone in a day or two. The power of positive thinking. :)

Gus and Bozie were happy to see me. There's a chance I'm going to get Gus's brother as well. Will keep you informed.

7/15 Finally

Finally my internet is working again. I'm happy about that.

Today was so bad that I even cried a few times at work. This was probably the worst day I've experienced.

So tomorrow is coming none too soon. The epidural will be done around 12 which means I can work tomorrow morning for a few hours.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

7/8 Don't read this

Don't read this if you're sick and tired of reading about my back. But...

Wish the epidural were today. I experienced my worst night ever last night. Had pretty bad pain all day which is not the norm. By the time I got home I was crying. And the hydrocodone didn't help. Finally called my sister who's my doctor's nurse and cried to her. She said, "I don't allow patients to call me at home." God that made me laugh, and of course that helped immensely.

Of course, she did give me comfort. That calmed me down. The pain didn't go away but I stopped crying. Being calm makes things a lot better. Thanks, Jan.

Oh, and the night before last we had a first--Gus slept all night without me having to take him outside. Last night it was three times, but I do see that a full night's sleep is now possible.

And when I got out of the shower, Bozie was watching the weather. She's such a smart cat.