So, I've been having issues with my
neck and back for a few years now. Basically, I have arthritis in my
neck joints, and muscle and nerve related problems in my neck due to
a cervical fusion I had when I was younger.
Why did I have cervical fusion? Well,
when I was first diagnosed with
SED at 15, the doctors took x-rays of
my entire body and concentrated on my neck and spine since it's
common to have spine related problems caused by my disease. And I was
a winner (go me!) with a little bone chip that was floating in my
spinal column high up in the C1-C2 area. Looking back, there were
some signs that we should have recognized. I remember as a child
going on bumper cars and getting bumped a certain way and having my
entire body go numb. Not good. I also did a gymnastics class once
and was doing somersaults and had my body go numb there as well.
The doctors told me that I was very
lucky (I would say it's a miracle) that I hadn't been paralyzed (they said I would have been
paralyzed to the extent that
Christopher Reeve was) and sent me home
in a cervical collar and I had surgery scheduled for 3 weeks later.
I had a
halo put on about a week before my fusion and was in
that for over four months. I missed half of my sophomore year in
high school.
Skip to 20 years later and my fusion has
“settled”...like how a new house will settle after a few years.
Mine has settled and gone crooked. If you know anything about how
bones and muscles work together, than you know that your muscles try
to protect your bones...and mine were getting very angry with my neck
bones being crooked! I constantly get knots in my neck and suffer
from tension headaches. It had gotten so bad that about 7 years ago
I went to a neuro doc to see what was wrong. It was him that told me
that it was very common to see these fusions settle and get crooked,
and the best thing for me to do was try to keep the muscles loose. He
recommended physical therapy and acupuncture (it was only
years later that I finally started
acupuncture). I went to physical
therapy for a few months and was able to get the muscles to a calm
enough level and continued on with therapeutic massage after that
about every 6 weeks (would have went longer, except that's a total
out of pocket cost).
This kept things at bay until about 2
years ago when my symptoms worsened and I was now also having
constant burning down the side of my neck that would radiate to the
entire side of my head into my ear and side of my face. I went to a whole slew
of new doctors and was really terrified that they were going to tell
me that I needed to have my fusion redone. Thank God that wasn't the
case (seriously--THANK YOU GOD. Thank you, thank you, thank you!). I
was diagnosed with
occipital neuralgia and started getting injections
into my greater and lesser occipital nerves. After my
ankle surgery 5 months ago, my neck was flaring up again. The doc who
was doing my injections moved away and the new doc who replaced him
wanted to try some new things that would hopefully last longer than
the occipital injections. I tried an
epidural shot about 3 weeks ago
that was supposed to help my neck and my back pain (yeah, I have some back issues too). Not only did that not help, it was pretty
painful for a few days.
And that brings me to today. I called
my doctors office to beg them to see me earlier than the appointment
that I had already lined up for the end of November...I didn't want
anything to interfere with my ankle surgery coming up. They
said they could see me this afternoon. Woot! The procedure I had
done is called
facet joint injections. It was a bit painful
at times and lasted about 10-15 minutes. Most of the time
the pain was about a 3 out of 10, with the worst of the procedure
being about a 6-7. They said that I should be mostly numb for about
2-3 hours and then I should ice it. Well, it's been about 1.5 hours
and I'm starting to feel sore and I have a very slight eyeball
headache.
I was nervous about the procedure,
having the epidural shot only weeks before, but I held it together
pretty well. I had a friend drive me (thanks Joan!) and I was glad
that she was there in the room with me because after the procedure
was over, I felt very anxious and thought I may have a panic attack.
I don't like needles in my neck!! After a few tears, and a
strawberry kiwi juice box (I guess that's what they give their
nervous patients), I did my 15 minute wait in the office before I was
okay'd to be released into the wild.
Now it's a wait and see if this works. Fingers crossed...good vibes and prayers welcomed!
Anyone else ever had these procedures
done? Have they worked for you? If so, how long did you find relief for?
It's Friday and I'm Celebrating The Small Things! The brainchild of Viklit, Celebrate The Small Things is a weekly celebration where some bloggers have decided to post about something worth celebrating...no matter how big or small it is. 
