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Caro,

I am so so so very sorry! I can't imagine the pain you went through and the lack of concern for your modesty, comfort and mental health just makes me crazy. You should send the letter you wrote to us to the hospital, doctor and anyone else involved. This reminds me of when Joyce Dalton went through her surgery without anesthetic. I can't imagine anything more barbaric. Rest, rest, rest and do something wonderful to treat yourself when you feel up to it. They say it takes seven positives to undo a negative. After this experience I think you might need 14! Take care dear friend-

R. (53) Sarcoid/PF 3/2006 Carlsbad, California

Subject: LSEI on FridayTo: Breathe-Support Date: Sunday, May 3, 2009, 9:36 AM

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Caro

As one familiar with the area in which you live, I can assure you there

is no local hospital there I would have gone to. Maybe Memphis, possibly

, more likely if it was anything I could, Tulane or as you did to

UAB. It's sad actually. So many good people in areas like the delta or

Mississippi who deserve better in so many regards. Education and medical

care being at the top of the list.

>

> From: Carolyn Wade carowade4444@...

> Subject: LSEI on Friday

> To: Breathe-Support

> Date: Sunday, May 3, 2009, 9:36 AM

>

>

>

>

> Hi all,

>

> I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for

my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was

coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay

before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so

on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had

made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done.

Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to

have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the

coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a

half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing

they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This

IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or

drink 6 hours before the procedure. I don't know where my mind was when

I got up on Friday. Well, they tell

> me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It

was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he

would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection.

I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to

drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off

work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off.

Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room,

the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the

procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I

cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too

high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said

if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass out, so I could

either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over

there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient

> surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would

not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss

another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital

at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV

(which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of

normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it

was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on

the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection

I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure

and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over

and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they wheel me up to the

OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient

epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight

across from the OR suite

> with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure

done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that

the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on

the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to

use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he

could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her

stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets

wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection?

I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be

alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and

soreness for a week when I get home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

>

> This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am

fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows

underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said).

Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they

throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was

about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I

can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it

and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP

is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head

in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She

said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is

good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it

to me my heart started racing so fast, I was just thinking, this is it.

This is the end for

> me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As

soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am

EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a

needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears,

then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects

me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the

recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my

children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get

in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says,

there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the

room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me

with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I

am I am going to be your nurse. Why are you crying? The

attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it

> was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says,

HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!!

Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main

side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would

mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs

(which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal

hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second

sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my

life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we

are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my

back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her

was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2 times).

She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they

don't call the doctor or anything.

> They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is

still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a

little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just

my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand

on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still

in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave

there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I

drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just

thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought

me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to

throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my

mom and says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will

wheel her out and she can go home.

>

> That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in

my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will

NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire

weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My

back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I

was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to

the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I

just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and

slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend

(I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were

supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse.

Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the

morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up with the pain

clinic), and I am going to tell them I am

> going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

>

> I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just

had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for

this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure

anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still

sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I

have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my

lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

>

> Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do

without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz

I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

>

> Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We

have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today.

Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel

like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

> Caro

>

> OSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID

ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS

03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09

> Mississippi

>

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Sometimes we all have to vent. Beverley

LSEI on FridayTo: Breathe-Support Date: Sunday, May 3, 2009, 9:36 AM

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure. I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2 times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Caro,

I'm certainly glad that horror show is over for you. What a nightmare. Hopefully things will settle down in your life. You could use some peace and quiet for awhile couldn't you?

Hugs,

Beth

Moderator

Fibrotic NSIP 06/06 Dermatomyositis 11/08

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 12:36:14 PMSubject: LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Caro,

I'm certainly glad that horror show is over for you. What a nightmare. Hopefully things will settle down in your life. You could use some peace and quiet for awhile couldn't you?

Hugs,

Beth

Moderator

Fibrotic NSIP 06/06 Dermatomyositis 11/08

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 12:36:14 PMSubject: LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Caro,

I'm certainly glad that horror show is over for you. What a nightmare. Hopefully things will settle down in your life. You could use some peace and quiet for awhile couldn't you?

Hugs,

Beth

Moderator

Fibrotic NSIP 06/06 Dermatomyositis 11/08

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 12:36:14 PMSubject: LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Thanks MB!! You got that right. I am still sitting here tearing up. Every time I even think about it. I guess I am having such a hard time dealing with this cuz I have never had a physician treat me so badly. I actually felt like he was treating me like I had messed his golf schedule or something because I was an add-on and he just wanted to see how fast he could get me out of there.

I actually had a thought, though. Dr. deAndrade in Birmingham (who I love so much) had said that he wanted me to schedule me to see a rheumatologist in Birmingham when I go back in July. I do medical transcription for a rheumo in Indiana and he gives epidural injections for patients with back pain who have autoimmune and rheumatoid disease. I was wondering if maybe I could just call Birmingham ahead of time and tell them I would rather see rheumo there and I could just get my pain meds from there instead of having to deal with this physician here (and I just the term loosely) who treated me so horribly. Do you think I should give it a shot? This pain physician here won't even consider increasing my Lorcet from 1-1/2 tabs a day (10/650 mg) even when I call and tell them I am still in pain and need more pain meds. It's like he doesn't even care and I stay in pain every freaking day and

it's only getting worse. I guess I could call Dr. deAndrade next week and leave a message and go from there. Maybe he can schedule me to see a rheumo the same week I am coming to see him in July anyway? What do you guys think? At this point, I think anything would be better than going back to the pain clinic or hospital here. CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 1:03:27 PMSubject: Re: LSEI on Friday

Caro,

I'm certainly glad that horror show is over for you. What a nightmare. Hopefully things will settle down in your life. You could use some peace and quiet for awhile couldn't you?

Hugs,

Beth

Moderator

Fibrotic NSIP 06/06 Dermatomyositis 11/08

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 12:36:14 PMSubject: LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Thanks MB!! You got that right. I am still sitting here tearing up. Every time I even think about it. I guess I am having such a hard time dealing with this cuz I have never had a physician treat me so badly. I actually felt like he was treating me like I had messed his golf schedule or something because I was an add-on and he just wanted to see how fast he could get me out of there.

I actually had a thought, though. Dr. deAndrade in Birmingham (who I love so much) had said that he wanted me to schedule me to see a rheumatologist in Birmingham when I go back in July. I do medical transcription for a rheumo in Indiana and he gives epidural injections for patients with back pain who have autoimmune and rheumatoid disease. I was wondering if maybe I could just call Birmingham ahead of time and tell them I would rather see rheumo there and I could just get my pain meds from there instead of having to deal with this physician here (and I just the term loosely) who treated me so horribly. Do you think I should give it a shot? This pain physician here won't even consider increasing my Lorcet from 1-1/2 tabs a day (10/650 mg) even when I call and tell them I am still in pain and need more pain meds. It's like he doesn't even care and I stay in pain every freaking day and

it's only getting worse. I guess I could call Dr. deAndrade next week and leave a message and go from there. Maybe he can schedule me to see a rheumo the same week I am coming to see him in July anyway? What do you guys think? At this point, I think anything would be better than going back to the pain clinic or hospital here. CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 1:03:27 PMSubject: Re: LSEI on Friday

Caro,

I'm certainly glad that horror show is over for you. What a nightmare. Hopefully things will settle down in your life. You could use some peace and quiet for awhile couldn't you?

Hugs,

Beth

Moderator

Fibrotic NSIP 06/06 Dermatomyositis 11/08

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 12:36:14 PMSubject: LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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OMG Caro...what can I write that would be of any help whatsoever!

I can imagine what you went through because I was with my daughter when she was going to give birth....long story short, what you describe, for her too. She let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard outdoors. That poor kid cried and begged him to stop...it was awful and mama stood there, frozen with fear for my child.

I'm so glad that is over for you Caro. Lysa says she too, will NEVER have another epidural!

I sent you big mamasher hugs and pray for your complete recovery from this ordeal.

MamaSher; 70, IPF 3-06, OR. NasturtiumsDon't fret about tomorrow, God is already there!

LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure. I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2 times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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OK, you girls have me scared now! I have 4 herniated discs in the cervical and 2

more in the thoracic portion of my spine. I'm scheduled to have an interlaminar

epideral steriod injection in the right C-7 T-1 on Weds. After reading your

experience, Caro, I'm not sure if I should do it. The doctor has said because

he'll be working in the cedrvical spine, he won't do it in his surgical suite in

his office. He will only do it in the hospital. I hoping that I'll have a much

better time of it.

Nan 49, MASS

listed started in '82

PF '08

>

> OMG Caro...what can I write that would be of any help whatsoever!

> I can imagine what you went through because I was with my daughter when she

was going to give birth....long story short, what you describe, for her too.

She let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard outdoors. That poor kid cried

and begged him to stop...it was awful and mama stood there, frozen with fear for

my child.

> I'm so glad that is over for you Caro. Lysa says she too, will NEVER have

another epidural!

> I sent you big mamasher hugs and pray for your complete recovery from this

ordeal.

>

> MamaSher; 70, IPF 3-06, OR.

> Nasturtiums

> Don't fret about tomorrow, God is already there!

>

> LSEI on Friday

>

>

>

>

>

> Hi all,

>

> I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when

I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was

coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before

leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday

(the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all

so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning

thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small

breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups

of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the

first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING?

This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or

drink 6 hours before the procedure. I don't know where my mind was when I got

up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I

ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local

and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I

told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly

an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure

and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the

table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time

they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they

asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not

too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he

gave me injection in this shape, I would pass out, so I could either reschedule

or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could

do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so

my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss

another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11

a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I

totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I

had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12

noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more

nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate

me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad

back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2

outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit

straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can

watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing

I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me

sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to

use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a

deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well,

seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the

nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is

going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can

deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get home.

NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

>

> This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR

suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2

pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said).

Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my

gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5

people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want,

which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I

look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the

doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the

nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He

said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative.

As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was just thinking,

this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the

second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up

and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a

needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he

starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another

time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I

promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the

pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the

attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me

there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and

no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she

says, Hi I am I am going to be your nurse. Why are you crying? The

attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I

thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to

give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the

office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating

headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating

down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage

(internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second

sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life.

Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let

you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb

and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb

like that (it didnt' the first 2 times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did

inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They

wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still

have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone

from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said

if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one

calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she

is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes

in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was

actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she

brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to

throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out

and she can go home.

>

> That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will

EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I

will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend.

I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still

throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with

pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go

back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and

make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept

maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I

thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you

worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the

morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up with the pain clinic),

and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I

won't be back.

>

> I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends

and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for

this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why

didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears

even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so

little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it

was a party compared to this!!

>

> Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what

I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this

cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

>

> Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the

weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today.

Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like

sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

>

> Caro

>

> OSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08,

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS

03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09

> Mississippi

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest guest

OK, you girls have me scared now! I have 4 herniated discs in the cervical and 2

more in the thoracic portion of my spine. I'm scheduled to have an interlaminar

epideral steriod injection in the right C-7 T-1 on Weds. After reading your

experience, Caro, I'm not sure if I should do it. The doctor has said because

he'll be working in the cedrvical spine, he won't do it in his surgical suite in

his office. He will only do it in the hospital. I hoping that I'll have a much

better time of it.

Nan 49, MASS

listed started in '82

PF '08

>

> OMG Caro...what can I write that would be of any help whatsoever!

> I can imagine what you went through because I was with my daughter when she

was going to give birth....long story short, what you describe, for her too.

She let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard outdoors. That poor kid cried

and begged him to stop...it was awful and mama stood there, frozen with fear for

my child.

> I'm so glad that is over for you Caro. Lysa says she too, will NEVER have

another epidural!

> I sent you big mamasher hugs and pray for your complete recovery from this

ordeal.

>

> MamaSher; 70, IPF 3-06, OR.

> Nasturtiums

> Don't fret about tomorrow, God is already there!

>

> LSEI on Friday

>

>

>

>

>

> Hi all,

>

> I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when

I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was

coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before

leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday

(the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all

so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning

thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small

breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups

of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the

first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING?

This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or

drink 6 hours before the procedure. I don't know where my mind was when I got

up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I

ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local

and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I

told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly

an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure

and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the

table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time

they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they

asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not

too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he

gave me injection in this shape, I would pass out, so I could either reschedule

or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could

do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so

my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss

another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11

a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I

totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I

had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12

noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more

nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate

me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad

back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2

outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit

straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can

watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing

I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me

sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to

use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a

deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well,

seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the

nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is

going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can

deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get home.

NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

>

> This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR

suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2

pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said).

Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my

gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5

people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want,

which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I

look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the

doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the

nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He

said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative.

As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was just thinking,

this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the

second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up

and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a

needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he

starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another

time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I

promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the

pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the

attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me

there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and

no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she

says, Hi I am I am going to be your nurse. Why are you crying? The

attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I

thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to

give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the

office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating

headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating

down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage

(internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second

sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life.

Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let

you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb

and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb

like that (it didnt' the first 2 times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did

inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They

wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still

have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone

from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said

if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one

calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she

is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes

in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was

actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she

brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to

throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out

and she can go home.

>

> That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will

EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I

will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend.

I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still

throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with

pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go

back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and

make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept

maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I

thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you

worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the

morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up with the pain clinic),

and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I

won't be back.

>

> I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends

and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for

this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why

didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears

even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so

little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it

was a party compared to this!!

>

> Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what

I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this

cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

>

> Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the

weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today.

Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like

sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

>

> Caro

>

> OSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08,

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS

03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09

> Mississippi

>

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest guest

OK, you girls have me scared now! I have 4 herniated discs in the cervical and 2

more in the thoracic portion of my spine. I'm scheduled to have an interlaminar

epideral steriod injection in the right C-7 T-1 on Weds. After reading your

experience, Caro, I'm not sure if I should do it. The doctor has said because

he'll be working in the cedrvical spine, he won't do it in his surgical suite in

his office. He will only do it in the hospital. I hoping that I'll have a much

better time of it.

Nan 49, MASS

listed started in '82

PF '08

>

> OMG Caro...what can I write that would be of any help whatsoever!

> I can imagine what you went through because I was with my daughter when she

was going to give birth....long story short, what you describe, for her too.

She let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard outdoors. That poor kid cried

and begged him to stop...it was awful and mama stood there, frozen with fear for

my child.

> I'm so glad that is over for you Caro. Lysa says she too, will NEVER have

another epidural!

> I sent you big mamasher hugs and pray for your complete recovery from this

ordeal.

>

> MamaSher; 70, IPF 3-06, OR.

> Nasturtiums

> Don't fret about tomorrow, God is already there!

>

> LSEI on Friday

>

>

>

>

>

> Hi all,

>

> I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when

I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was

coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before

leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday

(the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all

so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning

thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small

breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups

of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the

first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING?

This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or

drink 6 hours before the procedure. I don't know where my mind was when I got

up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I

ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local

and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I

told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly

an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure

and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the

table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time

they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they

asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not

too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he

gave me injection in this shape, I would pass out, so I could either reschedule

or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could

do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so

my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss

another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11

a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I

totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I

had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12

noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more

nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate

me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad

back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2

outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit

straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can

watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing

I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me

sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to

use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a

deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well,

seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the

nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is

going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can

deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get home.

NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

>

> This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR

suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2

pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said).

Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my

gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5

people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want,

which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I

look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the

doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the

nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He

said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative.

As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was just thinking,

this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the

second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up

and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a

needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he

starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another

time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I

promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the

pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the

attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me

there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and

no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she

says, Hi I am I am going to be your nurse. Why are you crying? The

attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I

thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to

give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the

office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating

headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating

down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage

(internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second

sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life.

Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let

you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb

and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb

like that (it didnt' the first 2 times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did

inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They

wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still

have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone

from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said

if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one

calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she

is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes

in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was

actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she

brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to

throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out

and she can go home.

>

> That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will

EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I

will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend.

I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still

throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with

pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go

back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and

make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept

maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I

thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you

worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the

morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up with the pain clinic),

and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I

won't be back.

>

> I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends

and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for

this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why

didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears

even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so

little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it

was a party compared to this!!

>

> Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what

I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this

cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

>

> Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the

weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today.

Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like

sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

>

> Caro

>

> OSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08,

RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS

03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09

> Mississippi

>

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Thanks so much Mama Sher!! I just felt like I caught every hug and I am here right now with tears of joy streaming down my face!! I love everyone of you so much!! You have all made me feel so much better just by being there!! I hope I can do the same for all of you, being there I mean, cuz I would never ever wish a day like Friday even on my worst enemies!!! CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 1:36:19 PMSubject: Re: LSEI on Friday

OMG Caro...what can I write that would be of any help whatsoever!

I can imagine what you went through because I was with my daughter when she was going to give birth....long story short, what you describe, for her too. She let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard outdoors. That poor kid cried and begged him to stop...it was awful and mama stood there, frozen with fear for my child.

I'm so glad that is over for you Caro. Lysa says she too, will NEVER have another epidural!

I sent you big mamasher hugs and pray for your complete recovery from this ordeal.

MamaSher; 70, IPF 3-06, OR. NasturtiumsDon't fret about tomorrow, God is already there!

LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT! !!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/ DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Thanks so much Mama Sher!! I just felt like I caught every hug and I am here right now with tears of joy streaming down my face!! I love everyone of you so much!! You have all made me feel so much better just by being there!! I hope I can do the same for all of you, being there I mean, cuz I would never ever wish a day like Friday even on my worst enemies!!! CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 1:36:19 PMSubject: Re: LSEI on Friday

OMG Caro...what can I write that would be of any help whatsoever!

I can imagine what you went through because I was with my daughter when she was going to give birth....long story short, what you describe, for her too. She let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard outdoors. That poor kid cried and begged him to stop...it was awful and mama stood there, frozen with fear for my child.

I'm so glad that is over for you Caro. Lysa says she too, will NEVER have another epidural!

I sent you big mamasher hugs and pray for your complete recovery from this ordeal.

MamaSher; 70, IPF 3-06, OR. NasturtiumsDon't fret about tomorrow, God is already there!

LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT! !!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/ DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Thank you MB! I guess you're right. I should thank my lucky stars that I'm

fortunate enough to live where I do. I've only met this doc once. But, before

even seing him, I spoke with others who he's treated. I also checked with the

medical board of registration. He has very high marks from my primary, too. I

think I'll remain a bit nervous until after it's done. (this is the first

injection) But, you're right. Things are different in Mass.

Nan, MASS

Listed started in '82

PF '08

> >

> > OMG Caro...what can I write that would be of any help whatsoever!

> > I can imagine what you went through because I was with my daughter when she

was going to give birth....long story short, what you describe, for her too. She

let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard outdoors. That poor kid cried and

begged him to stop...it was awful and mama stood there, frozen with fear for my

child.

> > I'm so glad that is over for you Caro. Lysa says she too, will NEVER have

another epidural!

> > I sent you big mamasher hugs and pray for your complete recovery from this

ordeal.

> >

> > MamaSher; 70, IPF 3-06, OR.

> > Nasturtiums

> > Don't fret about tomorrow, God is already there!

> >

> > LSEI on Friday

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Hi all,

> >

> > I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd

lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me

home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and

my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I

tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the

injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was

going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the

coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl

of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you

had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and

I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure. I

don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they

can't give me an IV

> for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they

could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before

giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my

mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off

work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the

longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I

got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed

shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure

was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to

120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass out, so I

could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there

at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the

hospital like I said

> so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have

to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital

at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I

totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I

had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12

noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more

nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate

me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad

back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2

outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit

straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can

watch the entire procedure done

> on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2

procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the

table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine

since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see

the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after

she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to

give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will

be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and

soreness for a week when I get home. NNNOOOTTTTT! !!

> >

> > This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully

awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my

stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy

style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my

bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc

gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned

out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor

and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury

my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She

said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good.

Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart

started racing so fast, I was just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me.

I am a goner!! Then he

> says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my

head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and

he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst

into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and

injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the

recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children

if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery

room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she

leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare

providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a

nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your nurse. Why are you

crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful

than I thought it was going

> to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's

patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told

the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which

would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs

(which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal

hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got

what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse

when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in

about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my

whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like

that (it didnt' the first 2 times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject

your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back

downstairs and I get down there and my BP

> is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a

little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right

thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I

could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is

throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am

okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt'

want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!)

Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt

like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she

looks at my mom and says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I

will wheel her out and she can go home.

> >

> > That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my

life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER,

EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely

walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend,

, called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an

ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for

anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night

and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I

doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to

be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I

am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions

said to follow up with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going

to find another

> pain physician and I won't be back.

> >

> > I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to

vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even

knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock

me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just

reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a

physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared

to this!!

> >

> > Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without

you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely

thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

> >

> > Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have

had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the

storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day,

but am still in too much pain to sleep.

> >

> > Caro

> >

> > OSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/ DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF

UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09

> > Mississippi

> >

>

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Thank you MB! I guess you're right. I should thank my lucky stars that I'm

fortunate enough to live where I do. I've only met this doc once. But, before

even seing him, I spoke with others who he's treated. I also checked with the

medical board of registration. He has very high marks from my primary, too. I

think I'll remain a bit nervous until after it's done. (this is the first

injection) But, you're right. Things are different in Mass.

Nan, MASS

Listed started in '82

PF '08

> >

> > OMG Caro...what can I write that would be of any help whatsoever!

> > I can imagine what you went through because I was with my daughter when she

was going to give birth....long story short, what you describe, for her too. She

let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard outdoors. That poor kid cried and

begged him to stop...it was awful and mama stood there, frozen with fear for my

child.

> > I'm so glad that is over for you Caro. Lysa says she too, will NEVER have

another epidural!

> > I sent you big mamasher hugs and pray for your complete recovery from this

ordeal.

> >

> > MamaSher; 70, IPF 3-06, OR.

> > Nasturtiums

> > Don't fret about tomorrow, God is already there!

> >

> > LSEI on Friday

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > Hi all,

> >

> > I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd

lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me

home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and

my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I

tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the

injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was

going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the

coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl

of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you

had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and

I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure. I

don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they

can't give me an IV

> for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they

could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before

giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my

mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off

work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the

longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I

got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed

shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure

was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to

120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass out, so I

could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there

at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the

hospital like I said

> so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have

to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital

at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I

totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I

had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12

noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more

nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate

me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad

back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2

outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit

straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can

watch the entire procedure done

> on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2

procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the

table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine

since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see

the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after

she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to

give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will

be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and

soreness for a week when I get home. NNNOOOTTTTT! !!

> >

> > This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully

awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my

stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy

style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my

bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc

gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned

out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor

and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury

my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She

said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good.

Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart

started racing so fast, I was just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me.

I am a goner!! Then he

> says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my

head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and

he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst

into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and

injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the

recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children

if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery

room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she

leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare

providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a

nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your nurse. Why are you

crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful

than I thought it was going

> to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's

patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told

the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which

would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs

(which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal

hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got

what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse

when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in

about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my

whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like

that (it didnt' the first 2 times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject

your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back

downstairs and I get down there and my BP

> is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a

little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right

thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I

could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is

throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am

okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt'

want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!)

Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt

like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she

looks at my mom and says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I

will wheel her out and she can go home.

> >

> > That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my

life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER,

EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely

walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend,

, called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an

ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for

anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night

and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I

doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to

be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I

am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions

said to follow up with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going

to find another

> pain physician and I won't be back.

> >

> > I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to

vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even

knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock

me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just

reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a

physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared

to this!!

> >

> > Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without

you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely

thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

> >

> > Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have

had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the

storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day,

but am still in too much pain to sleep.

> >

> > Caro

> >

> > OSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/ DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF

UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09

> > Mississippi

> >

>

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Caro

sorry to read about your terrible experience

Pink Joyce IPF 3/06 Pennsylvania

Donate Life Listed 1/09 inactive 4/09

www.transplantfund.org---

Subject: Re: LSEI on FridayTo: Breathe-Support Date: Sunday, May 3, 2009, 2:03 PM

Caro,

I'm certainly glad that horror show is over for you. What a nightmare. Hopefully things will settle down in your life. You could use some peace and quiet for awhile couldn't you?

Hugs,

Beth

Moderator

Fibrotic NSIP 06/06 Dermatomyositis 11/08

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 12:36:14 PMSubject: LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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i had the opposite reaction to epidural steriod shots -- they turned out to be wonderful -- unfortunately, they only masked the pain for about 2 weeks each time and i needed surgery, but for 2 weeks, i had no pain in my back, it was great

Pink Joyce IPF 3/06 Pennsylvania

Donate Life Listed 1/09 inactive 4/09

www.transplantfund.org---

Subject: Re: LSEI on FridayTo: Breathe-Support Date: Sunday, May 3, 2009, 2:36 PM

OMG Caro...what can I write that would be of any help whatsoever!

I can imagine what you went through because I was with my daughter when she was going to give birth....long story short, what you describe, for her too. She let out a scream that I'm sure could be heard outdoors. That poor kid cried and begged him to stop...it was awful and mama stood there, frozen with fear for my child.

I'm so glad that is over for you Caro. Lysa says she too, will NEVER have another epidural!

I sent you big mamasher hugs and pray for your complete recovery from this ordeal.

MamaSher; 70, IPF 3-06, OR. NasturtiumsDon't fret about tomorrow, God is already there!

LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT! !!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/ DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Thanks Pink. I am glad it is over, too. Well, tomorrow is another day and maybe it will be a better one. At least I am not in tears for the moment, so that is a good thing!!! CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 6:35:57 PMSubject: Re: LSEI on Friday

Caro

sorry to read about your terrible experience

Pink Joyce IPF 3/06 Pennsylvania

Donate Life Listed 1/09 inactive 4/09

www.transplantfund.org---

Subject: Re: LSEI on FridayTo: Breathe-Support Date: Sunday, May 3, 2009, 2:03 PM

Caro,

I'm certainly glad that horror show is over for you. What a nightmare. Hopefully things will settle down in your life. You could use some peace and quiet for awhile couldn't you?

Hugs,

Beth

Moderator

Fibrotic NSIP 06/06 Dermatomyositis 11/08

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 12:36:14 PMSubject: LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Thanks Pink. I am glad it is over, too. Well, tomorrow is another day and maybe it will be a better one. At least I am not in tears for the moment, so that is a good thing!!! CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 6:35:57 PMSubject: Re: LSEI on Friday

Caro

sorry to read about your terrible experience

Pink Joyce IPF 3/06 Pennsylvania

Donate Life Listed 1/09 inactive 4/09

www.transplantfund.org---

Subject: Re: LSEI on FridayTo: Breathe-Support Date: Sunday, May 3, 2009, 2:03 PM

Caro,

I'm certainly glad that horror show is over for you. What a nightmare. Hopefully things will settle down in your life. You could use some peace and quiet for awhile couldn't you?

Hugs,

Beth

Moderator

Fibrotic NSIP 06/06 Dermatomyositis 11/08

To: Breathe-Support Sent: Sunday, May 3, 2009 12:36:14 PMSubject: LSEI on Friday

Hi all,

I want to tell you all what happened to me on Friday when I went for my 3rd lumbar steroid epidural injection. First of all, my mom was coming to drive me home and spend the night to make sure I was okay before leaving on Saturday and my dad was driving through on Friday, so on Thursday (the day I told you all I tried to be superwoman), I had made lunch for us all so we could eat after the injection was done. Well, I got up on Friday morning thinking that I knew I was going to have a big lunch so I would eat a small breakfast. Went straight the coffee maker just like everyday, drank my 2 cups of coffee and ate a half a bowl of Special K. Get to the pain clinic and the first thing they ask me is have you had anything to eat? WHAT WAS I THINKING? This IS the 3rd one I was getting and I KNEW you are not supposed to eat or drink 6 hours before the procedure.

I don't know where my mind was when I got up on Friday. Well, they tell me they can't give me an IV for sedation since I ate at 6 a.m. (It was 10 a.m. then). Ok, they said they could do it under local and he would rub something on my back to numb it before giving the injection. I told them I would try. Either that or reschedule and my mom had to drive nearly an hour to get there plus I had to take another day off work for the procedure and I am really running out of paid time off. Well, the longer I sat on the table waiting for him to get in the room, the more nervous I got. By the time they got in there to do the procedure, I was sitting on the bed shaking and they asked me was I cold? I said no, I am nervous. Blood pressure was 145/90 (not too high, but high for me. Mine is usually around 118 to 120/60). He said if he gave me injection in this shape, I would pass

out, so I could either reschedule or I could go to the hospital and he would be over there at 1 p.m. and he could do it there as outpatient surgery. Ok, I opted for the hospital like I said so my mom would not have driven all the way for nothing and I wouldn't have to miss another day of work, which would be without pay. I get to the hospital at 11 a.m. They put me in the preop suite and immediately start an IV (which I totally have ANOTHER huge bruise from). After about 1/2 bag of normal saline, I had to make 3 or visits to the restroom and by then it was 12 noon. Between 12 noon and 1 p.m, I started watching the clock on the TV again, getting more nervous by the minute, as the last injection I had in the office they did sedate me, but there was a lot of pressure and I had about 4 or 5 days of really bad back pain after it was over and I wasn't looking forward to it. At 1 p.m., they

wheel me up to the OR and put me in a holding area. Turns out, he only has 2 outpatient epidurals that day. Lucky for me (HA!!), I get to actually sit straight across from the OR suite with actual WINDOWS on the door and I can watch the entire procedure done on the lady who went in before me. First thing I notice is that the first 2 procedures I had in the office were done with me sitting on the edge of the table with my back exposed. This one he was going to use the fluoroscopy machine since I was going to the hospital and he could get a deeper injection so I see the lady before me is lying on her stomach. Well, seemed like 5 minutes after she went in there, she gets wheeled out and asks the nurse, When is he going to give my injection? I am thinking, great this is going to be a breeze. Ok, I will be alright then, sedated, in and out and I can deal with the stiff back and soreness for a week when I get

home. NNNOOOTTTTT!!!

This is how my procedure went: They wheel me into the OR suite. I am fully awake. They ask me to get on the procedure table with 2 pilllows underneath my stomach, kind of in a jack-knife position (they said). Felt more like doggy style to me!! They (before any sedative), they throw my gown up exposing my bohunkus to everyone in the room which was about 4 or 5 people). Then the doc gives me another pillow and says I can hug it if I want, which actually turned out my head was buried in it and I couldn't breathe. I look over at the monitor and by now, my BP is up to 156/110. Then I see the doc pick up a vial and I bury my head in the pillow again and I hear him ask the nurse, do you see that? She said, yeah, looks like the seal is broken. He said, well I guess it is good. Then he say to me, here is your first sedative. As you he gave it to me my heart started racing so fast, I was

just thinking, this is it. This is the end for me. I am a goner!! Then he says, here is the second sedative. As soon as he gave me the second one, my head pops straight up and I am EVEN MORE WIDE AWAKE, looking around the room and he starts shoving a needle in my back which I felt every inch of and I burst into tears, then he starts yelling, picture, picture, give me a picture, and injects me another time, then says ok, I am done. They wheel me out into the recovery suite and I promise you I had less pain delivering all 3 of my children if you added all the pain together from the 3 of them. We get in the recovery room, and the attendant who wheeled me in there says, there is no nurse. So, she leaves me there crying with no one in the room (I mean no one, no healthcare providers and no patients, just me with pain and tears). Finally she brings in a nurse and she says, Hi I am I am going to be your

nurse. Why are you crying? The attendant tells her I just had an epidural and it was more painful than I thought it was going to be. The nurse says, HUM??, we usually don't have to give Dr. Aziz's patients a sedative!! Going back to my first injection in the office, I was told the 3 main side effects to watch for are sudden excruciating headache (which would mean spinal fluid leak), numbness in the back or radiating down the legs (which could indicate possible paralysis), or blood leakage (internal hemorrhage). No more than 5 minutes after I was given the second sedative, I got what felt like the worst migraine I have ever had in my life. Told the nurse when she finally got there, and she says, ok, we are going to let you go in about 20 minutes!!! Then 5 minutes later, my back starts getting numb and my whole right side goes numb. I asked her was my side supposed to go numb like that (it didnt' the first 2

times). She sayt, well it might cuz he did inject your spine!! Still, they don't call the doctor or anything. They wheeled me back downstairs and I get down there and my BP is still 136/90, still have a headache pounding, but the numbness was a little better. It had gone from being on the entire right side to just my right thigh and calf. They said if I could wiggle my toes and stand on my foot, I could go home. Still no one calls the doctor. I am still in tears and my mom is throwing a fit saying she is not letting me leave there until she knows I am okay. Then the nurse comes in insisting I drink something. I told her I didnt' want anything. (I was actually just thinking, ge me the hell outa here!!) Finally I gave in and she brought me some water. As soon as I drank a sip I felt like I was going to throw up. The nurse says, oh, that's not good. Then she looks at my mom and

says, well, you can go get the car and drive around and I will wheel her out and she can go home.

That was it. My third and last epidural injection I will EVER have in my life!! I don't care if I have to take 50 pain pills a day. I will NEVER, EVER, EVER go through that again. I have cried the entire weekend. I can still barely walk and can't bend over much at all. My back is still throbbing. My boyfriend, , called last night and I was still crying with pain. He told me to call an ambulance or go to the ER, but I didn't want to go back to that hospital for anything, so I just doubled up on my Lorcet to try and make it through the night and slept on a heating pad. I have probably slept maybe 5 hours all weekend (I doubt it) and I am totally miserable. said I thought they were supposed to be giving you something to help you not make you worse. Yeah, me, too. I think I am going to call the pain clinic in the morning (as my discharge instructions said to follow up

with the pain clinic), and I am going to tell them I am going to find another pain physician and I won't be back.

I am sorry this is so long. You all are my best friends and I just had to vent!! I felt like he didn't give me any sedative at all for this procedure even knowing how nervous I was about the procedure anyway. Why didn't he just knock me out and then do it? I am still sitting here in tears even as I type this just reliving it on the PC. I have never in my life had so little faith in a physician. I thought my lung biopsy was a nightmare but it was a party compared to this!!

Thank you all so much for listening and I don't know what I would do without you!! I am so happy I am still here to even be typing this cuz I definitely thought Friday was going to be my last day anywhere!!

Love you all and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the weekend. We have had tornado warnings all night last night and all day today. Hopefully the storms will ease up soon. It is definitely a day I feel like sleeping all day, but am still in too much pain to sleep.

CaroOSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS 03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09Mississippi

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Caro

From what you describe it sounds much like a typical pressure change

from a spinal tap or, in this case, injection. If thats the case, moving

and doing the least possible until the headaches clear would probably be

wise. I'd encourage you to call his office and discuss what's going on

and get advice. The last time I was with someone who experienced this it

took her nearly a week. I know the headaches can be quite severe.

>

> Thanks Marcia. I am beginning to be able to move a little faster

today, but I am still getting really bad headaches off and on and hot

flushes that just make me pour sweat for no reason and then a few

seconds later it is over. They were really horrible all day Friday,

Saturday, and Sunday. They started spacing out a bit yesterday and

today so far I have had about 4 episodes all day so is getting better.

I am wanting to clean the house but I have to keep telling myself that I

will regret it if I don't give myself a few more days to recoup. I am

still getting sharp burning numbing pain in my lower back that shoots

down my leg and they are off and on, too. I didn't have any of this

with the first 2 injections. I don't know if it is happening this time

because he said he did it under fluoro to get a deeper injection into

the nerves or not. I swore Friday I would never get another one and I

still may not, but IF or when I ever

> do, I will be totally asleep before he touches me!!

> Caro

>

> OSTEOARTHRITIS 2002, COPD 02/06, IPF 08/07, UIP 01/08, RHEUMATOID

ARTHRITIS 03/08 SJOGREN SYNDROME 07/08 POLYMYOSITIS/DERMATOMYOSITIS

03/09 CANCER OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN 03/09

> Mississippi

>

>

>

>

> ________________________________

> From: " Chatty_katt3@... " chatty_katt3@...

> To: Breathe-Support

> Sent: Tuesday, May 5, 2009 4:04:08 AM

> Subject: Re: LSEI on Friday

>

>

>

>

>

> Caro, That is terrible. I hope you feel better. Marcia

>

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