Hi Kathi,
It sounds like you did the conservative route as long as you could, which is the smart thing to do and then had the surgery. Did the surgery help you? Are you glad you did it?

I did have the Facet injections yesterday. The doc gave me 15 mg of Valium to take 30 min before and I was pretty loopy before I got on the table....after so much pain it felt good to be that relaxed. I do think the shots helped...He injected into 3 sets of facets joints and said I may be sore for a couple days.

In two weeks I have the ablation. Since you have had the ablation, even though it was lumbar, Could you explain your experience in a bit more detail if you recall it. The lit the doc gave me says:

"Since nerves cannot be seen on x-ray,the needles are positioned using bony landmarks that indicate where the nerves usually are. fluoroscopy x-ray is used to identify those bony landmarks. a local anesthetic like a lidocaine is injected to minimize the discomfort after confirmation of the needle tip position, a special needle tip is inserted. when the needle is in good position, as confirmed by x-ray electrical stimulation is done before any ablation. this stimulation may produce a tingling or pressure sensation Or may be like hitting your funny bone. you may also feel your muscles jump. you need to be awake during this procedure so you can report what you're feeling. the tissue surrounding the needle tip Are then heated when electric current is passed using the radiofrequency machine for, a few seconds this numbs the nerves semi-permanently."

The facet joint injections, were not painful, not much more than a flu shot. However this sounds much more painful if they are running electrical stimulation into a nerve to test for correct position and then a heated electric current zaps the nerve. Did you experience much pain?

Would love to hear your thoughts or anyone who has had the ablation. Thanks, Diandra

p.s. wanted to recommend the "Dragon" dictation app. I use it on my Ipad. I talk my "post" into the app and then copy and paste into this thread....it saves me SO much typing.