Well, this morning I had an epidural injection of steroids in attempt to reduce swelling of my herniated disc. I can't tell you much about the procedure since I was laying on my belly for all of it but here's what I do know. I was first injected with a local anesthetic that numbed my whole lower back. A fluorescing dye was then injected to aid the doctor in finding the effected vertebrae. The doctor then worked a needle into the epidural space in the herniated disc and one in position, gave it a direct shot of steroids. The only parts that hurt at all were the first and the last. I give blood regularly and manage to do OK with needles; the anesthesia injection was fairly painless. When the steroids were actually administered, that was something else. It wasn't too painful, just very different. For about thirty seconds it felt as if my leg was being slowly inflated. And then it was done. The entire procedure took about ten minutes.
The coolest part: they used one of these. You can learn more about it here but let's just call it real-time X-ray amchine to keep things simple. Like I said, I didn't get a chance to see much of it in use but the one quick glance I saw really impressed me. It was this tool that allowed my vertebrae to make sure he got the drugs in the right disc.
As far as results from this treatment go, well, I'll have to wait a few days to see. I'll keep you posted, for sure.
Oh, and I didn't need a sedative of any kind; all the nurses were VERY impressed by this.
No seriously, they were. I could tell.
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