Hi everybody,

I hope that you all are doing well and your pain is not too bad. You guys were so supportive and helpful to me that I wanted to check in and let you know what was going on.

I found a very compassionate pain management Dr. and went to him with my story. He ordered a new MRI of my lumbar spine which the results of are not encouraging. There has been quite a progression of my spinal problems since my last MRI 18 months ago. I have severe spinal stenosis both central and foraminal and severe facet arthropathy in a few places. So he definitely confirmed that the pains I'm having in my legs are nerve pain from the spinal problems.

Five days ago I had six transforaminal nerve blocks done with the cortisone. I was so very hopeful that this would help, but it has actually escalated my pain back to the unbearable level that it was at a couple of months ago. And the tramadol and Tylenol are no longer taking care of the pain like it did previously. I knew that there was a chance that the first injection would not help, but I had no idea it could escalate my pain this badly. All the progress I have made over the last eight weeks by being on anti-inflammatories, icing, resting, I have lost that progress and am now back to ground zero with pretty terrible pain. I have left a message in the doctor's office expressing my concern about this increased level of pain after the injection but they have not called me back yet. It is only Monday, so if I don't hear from them tomorrow I will call back. I don't think I want to get the second injection in this series if it's going to increase my pain even more. I've also decided to be proactive and see a neurosurgeon to get my back evaluated in that regard.

I thank you all for your encouragement and help and continue to pray that we all can manage our pain and live our lives, if not the pain-free.

Kindly,

Sharon