Well this week is almost over and I have carried you both in my thougts and prayers... so EE and PG how did things go ?
PG :hug:i hope that link i sent you in message did not upset you or anything it was only ment to help thought maybe you could share it with doc or others who just dont get it. forgive me if it offended wasnt ment to.
hope to hear from you ladies soon ..and i hope it all good news.
EE the weather is yulk sending low pain to you.:hug:
PEACE
BMW

BMW, thanks for asking. I've meant to respond, but I've been having a bad week and you can imagine the rest. Apparently the RFA worked to some degree, but not for the ON. My pain doc was hopful, but it was in vain. He intends to do another round of diagnostic blocks below where this was done as I have several issues he is dealing with, all coming from the same area. He isn't writing me off which I really appreciate and he intends to keep at this with me. I just don't know how we'll deal with the ON and where I'll get any relief from. Its a real downer as I'm continuously getting beat up by these $&^#&*@$$ conditions. So, I'm not doing to well at keeping my spirits up these days.

PG, sorry to highjack your thread, but my response seemed more appropriate here. I also hope your doing well and that you're having better luck than I. Please post an update when you can.

I thought I should add that the RFA wasn't done directly to the occipital nerve, only to the cervical vertebrae. Apparently sometimes doing the RFA to the facets yeilds some benefit to the O nerve, but not in my case.

Hi Ladies,
No worries-not upset with you or anything. I was offline for a few days. Let's see...well, the last few weeks have een really tough. I have ended one part of my job because the stress it was causing me was just too much. (I am self employed.) I am not terribly sad about it-I had a good run and it was time, I was just on the verge of burning out, so the timing was okay.

I had a P/t job, just for my amusement really and perhaps to ease some of my guilt about contributing to the family coffers, but alas, that too ended, rather unexpectedly. The company was seized and shut down and that's that. Nothing like having the rug pulled out from under ya. I was glad I wasn't working the day it happened.

In the meantime, I have seen my pain specialist about a week or so ago and she did another round of shots in my head. It had been awhile since I'd had them and OWOWOWOW!! Horrifically painful. But it does work to some degree, so I put up with it.

I also saw my MS specialist and I am not in a good place with my MS. THe headaches (ON) is from the MS and I am not responding to the MS drugs like we'd hoped. I have had to make the difficult decision to opt for chemo. They are setting up the pre-chemo workup and I will likely being treatment about Mid-April. I am devistated that this is where I am at less than a year after my diagnosis of MS. Nothing I can do about it though.

The chemo will be less than if I had cancer, but the risks are the same-risk of cardio toxicity-damage to the heart muscle if I have too much and the risk of developing a type of leukemia. There's no way to know if the chemo will work, no way to know how long I will be doing it (but it's a max. of 2 years worth of treament for a lifetime. This chemo is once every 3 months.) I am scared out of my wits, but what other choice do I have?

So yeah, alot on my plate and none of it good. Oh and for extra fun, it looks like I've developed some sort of infection. The smart money's on kidneys, but I am waiting on lab results. I am on cipro though. Yes, just a whole lot of joy in this camp!

I am supposed to have a cervical medial branch block done next Friday, but I think I am going to cancel. I don't think it's going to help. I see the pain specialist on Thursday so we'll discuss it. I don't think my poor bosy can take any more stress right now.

Still no appetite and I've dropped a bit of weight, but nothing I can't afford to lose. I'm good for about another 40 lbs. before it becomes an issue.

Okay, enough about me. I am going to go read and catch up with you gals. Thanks for checking in on me and sorry for being so quiet.

Oh EE, so sorry to hear you are not getting any relief. :( Don't you wish you had never even heard of the O nerve?

Hugs to you.

:hug:PG, you really have your hands full:hug:. I do hope that there is a good probability that you'll see some improvement with all of the treatments you'll be having. I bet the ON shots really hurt because your nerve is really angry. My pain doc always numbs me before any of the blocks and I assume its standard practice. At least I hope its standard for your sake. I don't blame you for wanting to hold off on the medial branch block. I'm scheduled for one in another week and they always leave me with some residual pain from the needles, but your schedule is somewhat overbooked, IMHO. I find that I just can't take too many different procedures back to back. It wears me down.

You've had to make so many decisions in a short time. I wish I knew more, but I don't have any experience with MS. I hope you find some time to do something for yourself. A little pampering can do wonders for the spirit. Take good care:hug:

THanks EE. I was able to talk to someone in my MS group about the chemo-she had the same chemo I will have. It made me feel better because she said it wasn't as bad as she thought it might be.

I am feeling pretty fragile right now with this Kidney infection. (Assuming it's kidney-still waiting on my labs) I am suppsed to go back in if I don't feel better by tomorrow. (I am on Cipro) RIght now I feel, like I got run over by a mac truck. I don't think I would be able to handle surgery right now. My headache is trying to flare right now too, so I am having to take the breakthrough pain morphine to stay ahead of it.

Can't remember if I said or not, but my MS doc also gave me a script for torridol in case I get the headache at the front of my head so I don't have to go into the ER. THANK GOD. I never want to go through that again.

On a happier note, rent Secret Life of Bees. If you likie Fried Green Tomatoes, you will like this one. It's a beautiful adaptation of the book (which I've read-I am a big Sue Monk Kidd fan) and the cinematography is gorgeous. The soundtrack is also artfully melded to the story. I can see why it got so many nominations. Dakota Fanning was excellent in it, as was Queen Latifa. I watched it last night in bed on my portable DVD player.

I'm going to have to pick up that movie this week as I could use something really good to watch. I'm glad they gave you a RX for torridol. I had that once in the ER and that stuff works wonders and doesn't mess with your head. I'm glad you have a group to knock around treatment options with. Sadly, my groups are online, but at least by having them online, I have something, lol, otherwise I wouldn't have anyone to bounce this stuff off of. I'll reach out to you mid week to check up on you. I hope the cipro does something for your kidneys and you start feeling some relief. Hang in there and take good care!

*Laughs* I am a movie junkie. If it's new, I've more than likely seen it. I will tell you right now DO NOT rent Miracle at St. Ana. The subtitles almost killed me. They were tiny, printed in white and moved at lightening speed. I could barely make them out and ended up with a headache from trying. It was the most annoying and pointless movie I have seen in awhile. And long-almost 3 hours long!

PG, how are things going with you? I'm still the same so nothing new here. My ON was really bad yesterday. I felt like curling up into a ball and staying hidden from the world, which is about all I did. I hope your doing well. Post when you can :)

I have something to share, but I am not going to post it to the board. I will email you and T about it privately tomorrow when I get a spare minute.

It's been a rough week.