pixiepoodle

DMS and Kim,
The trial run for my morphine pump implant went great. I really couldn't appreciate just how great the spinal injection was until this afternoon when my normal pain level set back in after taking the pills. The dr. gave me 1 mg. as planned, but I could still slightly feel some sore muscles in my upper back. We discussed him possibly uping the doze for the pump to the next level which he says he does in increments of 20%. I guess that means 20% of 1 mg which would mean 1.2mg???? The actual procedure of the injection went as I thought it would except for them putting in an iv line and hooking me up with gluose. They used a jel to numb the injection site first and then when they used the novacaine, I did feel a tiny pin ***** that lasted all of 3 seconds. The morphine worked instantly upon getting the injection so that was cool. They let me eat a sandwich about 20 min. after the shot because I was starving since they made me go without food and fluids since midnight and by then it was 10 a.m. I asked them to let me get up and walk around to judge how the injection was working since all my joints, especially my hip joints had been very stiff and painful for the past week. I started walking and pushing my portable IV a little too fast for the staff and they got upset - but I felt great and thought I was walking normally. I think they are used to dealing with a lot of very sick cancer patients or elderly patients who have no desire to get up and start walking around. A 1/2 hr. after the injection they took me to the Neuro IC unit to monitor me for 24 hrs. I thought the monitoring was quite a bit of overkill as they had me hooked up with so many wires to monitor my blood pressure every 10 min., my heart rate and other vital signs. The IC unit didn't have a bathroom or shower facilities so they brought in a portable toilet chair and I had to go home this morning without being able to take a shower. The only bad experience about the whole thing was the fact that they give you an IV doze of antibotics and I am allergic to ALL antibotics except Keflex and when they called the dr. to let him know, he prescribed something he said was in the same family of sulfer drugs as Keflex. Well, just as I predicted, I lost my lunch shortly after I received the antibotic.

I did find out that I will have my surgery next Friday afternoon (I hope that doesn't mean I have to fast from midnight the night before) and I will have to stay overnight. I will be meeting with the dr. before next Fri. and I believe his nurse said they have a video for me to watch. I also found out that the pump can be computer programed to increase the dozage if the initial doze is not enough. If I find anything else out interesting before my surgery I will post it on the board, otherwise you might not hear from me until after the surgery. Until then, the Lord has me in His hands as always.