Following the four totally pain-free days, each day a little more has crept back. Not quite as bad as before, and there are still occasional pain-free moments, but still . . .
The next step, says physiatrist Dr. Deviren, is to repeat the cortisone injections into the three branches of the sciatic nerve. This will be done as soon as her schedule permits. Cortisone can be cumulative, as we learn at the Barry Bonds/Mark McGuire Institute, so there is always hope that the next one will do better.
One doesn't want to overdo it, however, so if one (or possibly two) more don't do the job, then there is the prospect of more surgery, this time to enlarge the little holes at the base of the spine where L-3, 4 and 5 pass through.
Could this have been done during the original surgeries, if anyone had noticed then what the neuroradiologist (I get to type "Dr. Hogooghi" again) noticed after the fact, that the holes are too small? We probably shouldn't go there.
Meanwhile, Marina is generally of good spirit. She has been coming to our regular Friday circle dance evenings for a short visit, 2 or 3 dances. A lifetime of living with pain has few advantages, but this is one. And unlike the previous 40-something years, there is no back pain whatsoever since the operations.
Posted by John Bear
at 5:38 PM PDT
