What a glorious day! Ok, not really. I had an appointment at the pain clinic at St. Catharines General Hospital first thing this morning. I have TMJ issues, which includes a wonky disc that causes me quite a bit of jaw pain. In January of this year, I underwent arthroscopic surgery on my joint. It made it a bit better for a couple weeks, but then the pain returned. The surgeon suggested I give the pain clinic a whirl before considering a second surgery, which would involve splicing open my face and creating a new disc out of a chunk of muscle (hopefully my own!) Anyway, I arrived at the clinic for my 7:00 appointment. The nurse there was so nice! She called us in from the waiting room and we all hopped into (separate!) beds in the treatment room. She asked me where my pain was and she cringed when I said my jaw. I guess she knew the treatment wasn’t going to be too pleasant. The doctor arrived around 7:10 and came to me first. He did his little history review and then said he would inject my TMJ joint with cortisone and some nerve blocking agent. He asked the nurse for a small sized needle, but the smallest they had was a big honkin’ thing! It looked like an IV needle! The look on the nurse’s face matched the reaction she had earlier to me telling her it was my jaw that was the issue. The doctor had another nurse come over to assist – essentially she was there to help hold me down. He asked her to pour some of the sterilizing liquid on his gauze so he could swab the area. She put some on and he said “Don’t be so stingy!” So she poured on a ton more. He brought it over to my face and when he did, the mass quantity of excess fluid flew everywhere, including down my top! The very cold liquid ran under my bra and I yelped from the chill! He then slapped the gauze on my face and the fluid sloshed all over the place. I told him he could begin the procedure, considering my entire body was now sterile. He hoisted the massive needle over to my face and stuck it right into my joint. The pain was unbelievable! He had to move it around quite a bit and took it out and stuck it back in a few times. By the time he was done, I was clenched into such a tight ball, my knees were touching my chin. I said to the doctor “Good thing I’m flexible or you would be putting me in traction right now!” He said to call him if I experienced any pain later. About half an hour after I got back to work, the pain started. I couldn’t believe how intense it became within an hour. I called the clinic back and was told the doctor would call me back. It’s almost 9:00pm right now, so I don’t think I’ll be speaking with him today. Thank goodness for 222’s!
Today’s symptoms: Great news! My jaw hurt so much, I didn’t even notice any MS symptoms! Yea!
Today’s symptoms: Great news! My jaw hurt so much, I didn’t even notice any MS symptoms! Yea!
Posted by Lizzy McFly at 5/6/2009 7:52 PM
Lizzy McFly 