You’ve heard me whining about my back and hip problems — well, maybe not that much as I don’t like to whine in public. Turns out I have a herniated disc and an inflamed piriformis muscle. Let’s just say together they make one big “OUCH!” The doctor recommended an epidural steroid injection (ESI).

Since all this happened on Friday and the doctor does injections only on Fridays, I managed to get an appointment for the injection late Friday. But I had no idea it was more involved than a standard cortisone injection, which happens in the doctor’s office. I went home and researched ESI on what little information I had.

I realized it was as much work as an endoscopy. No eating or drinking, involves anesthesia through sedation, and an xray to ensure the doctor inserts the needle in precisely the right place between L4 and L5 (bottom two lumbar vertebrae). He had to do it twice because of the thinning disc between the two vertebrae.

Had to show up 1 1/2 hour early (yuck) to register. Well, I limped and followed the signs to registration only to find I went to the wrong desk. I needed to go to outpatient registration. Never saw separate signs for that. A worker retrieved a wheelchair and took me to the right desk.

The woman at the registration desk was a delight and worked smoothly through the paperwork. As soon as we finished, she called the patient area and the nurse arrived within five minutes — wow! No long wait. The long waiting came in the preparation and going into the surgical room — but that was expected.

In the prep room armed with a bag full of magazines, I looked around the room reading the signs on the wall. The first one I noticed asked, “Tired of us asking the same questions over and over?” “Good! That means we’re doing our job!” The gist of the sign was that asking repeatedly questions wasn’t a sign of one hand not knowing what the other was doing — but to make sure they had the right patient, the right procedures, and the right notes such as what medicines was the patient allergic to.

That sign earned my respect and provided comfort. Instead of aggravation when asked the same question, I felt safe and secure. Several other signs posted on the wall had similar information. What a great way to to be proactive with patients already grumpy from not eating and drinking and having to wait.

The nurse updated me throughout my process in the prep room. She also announced whenever she was about to do something such as take my vitals and put in the I.V. Ack! I saw the I.V. was going into my hand. Arm — no problem. Hand and wrist area… problem due to bad experience when I was 14 (let’s just say both wrists turned into pincushions).

She talked through the I.V. insertion process including cleaning it and verifying I wasn’t allergic to latex or iodine (another safety check). She did a beautiful job with the needle that I barely felt it. Bless her.

The procedure was supposed to be at 4:30pm, but I didn’t go in until 5:00pm. I knew it wasn’t the doctors’ fault because they were in the staff area. They were probably waiting on the surgical room’s availability — something I wish someone had let me know about. The was the only complaint about the whole service — not bad!

My husband had to chauffeur our kids after dropping me off, so he couldn’t get there until near the end of my stay. The staff had no problem reaching him and bringing him to where I was after the procedure.

I have to go through this again in two weeks. I can only hope the staff I get will be as wonderful as this one especially the nurse who will insert the I.V. (the hardest part about the whole thing). I share this because it shows great customer service is possible even in an industry bogged down with paperwork, strict procedures, and insurance pains.

My back problems started in high school while playing volleyball. I tossed the ball in the air and motioned my left arm to slap it with my hand and send it flying over the net and within the boundaries. As soon as the hand gave a high five to the ball, my lower back on the right side (me lefty) gave out.

Since then, back pain plagued me. I learned all the tricks for dealing with it, preventing it, and coping with it. My back thought it needed to give me a new challenge and add a new chapter to the back saga.

It woke me up two nights in a row and hurt so much that a slight movement forced me to muffle a scream to avoid waking up the whole household. Obviously, this problem won’t go away in one or two days yet I need to keep the work going.

Of course, you must take care of yourself or else the problem drags on and the work piles. So work with the problem rather than against it. First, I made an appointment to get pain relief solutions while attacking the problem head on. After all, medicine only offers temporary relief.

Freelancers should have a laptop in addition to their desktop so they can work anywhere. When illness or pain sneaks in, they can say, “HA! I can just move to the sofa or bed to get more comfortable and get my work done. Nice try!”

This may not work when the pain comes from the flu. That just plain knocks out the biggest and healthiest athlete. At least, with the flu — you know the worst will pass within a couple of days. Just sleep and take care of yourself. Email your clients — one word should be enough if you can barely type: “Flu.” I think we all know that means a person will be out at least a day or two and understand. Speaking of flu, got my flu shot today while at the doctor’s.

Ack. my back took a turn when I tripped. Time to pull out the big guns (my laptop) and get comfy. How do you deal with situations when it makes it harder to get work done?

As previously reported, I went back in the hospital on Friday due to severe bleeding. Had to go to the OR for stitches to stop it since other measures did not work. Apparently, a blood vessel had broken open and sprung a leak. Stayed over on Fri and Sat nights. They wanted to watch me to see if I needed a transfusion.

My hematocrit count was 40 before surgery (36 – 44 is normal in women), 30 when admitted to ER, 27 three hours later in ER prior to an attempt to stop the bleeding, and then 22 on Saturday (before and after the surgery). I would’ve had a blood transfusion at 18 or earlier depending on how I was behaving.
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