I'm sorry to hear you have to have surgery on your rsd leg and I understand your apprehension and concerns expressed here. I just went through a surgery in August, mine was on my rsd foot. I flew to Germany to have some metal screws removed from my foot and my husband handled all of the arrangements and translated everything for me, it was difficult to not have complete control over what decisions were being made. I just kept telling myself that everyone was doing their very best to help me, and that was very true. I did not have a block before the surgery because of the circumstances with travelling. We had in-depth discussions about whether or not I should have a regional or general anesthesia during the procedure. Ultimately I decided to go with the regional anaesthesia because it is believed to have better effects overall. The day after surgery I was given a 7 day continuous "peridural" anesthesia with Bupivacaine and an opiate. They don't seem to know what a peridural is here in North America. It is similar to an epidural but the catheter is a little bent and it gave them direct access to the sympathetic nerves of my left leg. There is the risk of losing control of bladder and bowel functions so they carefully increased the dosage until I was pain free. I was not allowed to get out of bed on my own even though I could walk.

It was hell when the catheter was removed, but I am now much better. I have been having weekly IV lidocaine infusions since I returned home.

I highly recommend that you read up about what you can do to help your body heal naturally and start implementing some of those measures before the surgery. I made a lot of changes to my diet and have been using supplements too. My goal has been to control the inflammation. I believed that that would will help to lessen the pain. I have been taking high doses of vitamin B & C as well as Omega 3 fish oil along with other vitamins. I am following an anti- inflammatory diet avoiding red meat, coffee, sugars, fatty foods... eating lots more fresh fruits, vegetables, ginger, green tea. I don't eat fish so I'm trying to get more Omega 3's with walnuts and ground flax seeds

Three weeks ago I started taking an enzyme called Serrapetase and I believe this has has helped me to turn the corner. In fact I was feeling so well this week that I cancelled my lumbar sympathetic block that I had been waiting a month for. I have much better range of motion in my foot now and way less pain. What pain I do have comes and goes and is relatively mild in comparison to my pre-surgery state. I was even out in the garden raking leaves last week. There is not enough research evidence to support any claims of pain relief by using this enzyme, but I thought since it didn't have any known side effects it couldn't hurt to try. My doctor had no issues with me taking this either, I just wish I started to take it sooner. Here is a link to the info on wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serrapeptase

Clearly my IV lidocaines have had a significant effect on my rsd, helping to calm my sympathetic nerves down. That being said I think there are many great benefits in doing all we can do to help support the healing process. I can't take many medications used for nuropathic pain because of severe reactions. Overall I feel much healthier now.

Good luck with all your pre-surgery meetings and especially with the surgery and recovery time.