2 Down and 1 to Go

Today I had my 2nd epidural to attempt to stop the back pain I've been suffering from for the last 2 months. I've had buldging discs at L4/L5 and L5/S1 for nearly 20 years. Over the years, I've been blessed to avoid surgery by having epidurals, which have so far been successful. Now the doc says my L4/L5 vertabrae are "bone on bone" and the prognosis of the epidurals is not so good. But I'm hanging onto hope. The first treatment helped some - I'd say about 25% improvement. This treatment was done at a different facility (much better in my opinion), and I can already feel the improvement. I'm VERY hopeful for a positive outcome. I have an appointment already setup for my 3rd shot in 4 weeks at the same center. I really believe that after the 3rd shot I'll be much better and able to get around again. I learned a lesson about my oxygen - I've been leaving it at home if I "feel ok" and "think I can get by". When I got to the center, my o2 sat was 78%! They got me on oxygen right away. I hate it, but I just have to start being more consistant with it. When my back started hurting so bad, I sort of started getting lax because the weight of carrying it made my back hurt even more. But I can't go around with 78% sat (anything below 94% is considered low) !

We couldn't work out any arrangements for Will this morning, so he had to go to the Pain Clinic with us. It wasn't too bad, because as soon as I went back, Michael and Will went to McDonalds for breakfast. Shortly after they got back to the center, I was released. So Will didn't have too much time to climb the walls. I was hungry, so we took a quick stop by Waffle House for some comfort food - Cheese Eggs and Grits - for me. At the clinic, they gave me a 'feel good' shot to help me relax during the procedure, so I came home and slept until about 2PM. After that, I was up and around and had much less back pain than I've been having - I really think this doctor hit the right nerve! I got a package together for John and wrote him a letter and Michael took it to the Post Office for me.

Michael worked so hard cleaning the garage and washing John's car, and Will helped out. In the evening, they cleaned up and went to a Scout meeting where Will passed off some of his physical fitness activities. They came home with an extra boy - one of Will's friends came over to spend the night. Now the boys have had pizza and are downstairs playing pool, and Michael and I are upstairs getting ready to call it a day. There are plans to go to see fireworks at Wills park tomorrow night - Michael and Will always go. Then on Thursday they plan to go North for a guys-only trout fishing & camping trip. I love fresh trout. YUMMMM.