Only 2 more days to go until injection day... this will be my 5th injection in less than a year. The days, hours, and minutes before my injection I feel like a child at Christmas time, eagerly awaiting Santa and the gifts he brings for the New Year. My gifts are in the form of lidocaine and steroids in an epidural needle and the gentleman that delivers them is far from looking like Santa Claus. Still those feelings of excitement, nervousness, and hope flood over me and no matter how fast the time passes, it never seems quite fast enough. As of right now I am going into this injection in "better shape" then I have in the past. If you gave me the VAS (visual analog scale) I would rate my pain at a 6 to 7/10. Not bad considering usually at this point I am a definite 8 and escalating to a 9.
It is amazing how much bargaining and negotiating the human brain can do... most people would choose to live life at a 0/10. I have negotiated and re-negotiated my number time after time. Depending on what I am doing, how long its been since my last injection I live on a sliding scale of acceptance. Knowing that I have only a few days left to go, I will take that 6 to 7/10.
So much like the countdown to New Year's when everyone places their hopes and excitement for the New Year in those final moments of the past 5...4...3...2...1... here's hoping that this next injection in combination with the medication brings results, as good as, if not better than the injection before.
