and we wait

Greetings from Houston, TX! (Waiting for our connecting flight to TN.) I was really hoping for immediate relief after my pulsed RF nerve ablation on Thursday morning, so was envisioning this post-procedure update having lots of "!!!!!!!" and maybe even one of these guys ----> :)

So far, I haven't experienced any significant improvements, but we learned on Thursday that's to be expected. I may not have done such a stellar job at the expectation managing I mentioned in my last post. Craig actually had to call the doc to assure me that my unchanged pain levels were normal while I had a mini meltdown from the car upon leaving Biltmore Surgical Center. Unlike the diagnostic injections, which effectively numb the nerve, nerve ablations don't provide immediate relief. According to Dr. Schurgin, I should expect a reduction in my pain over the course of several days, or possibly even weeks. I'll liken my current state of impatience to sitting through a long flight in the very back of a plane, only to land and find that the last few stuffy, sweaty, I-have-to-pee-so-bad-and-how-is-everyone-taking-so-long-to-get-their-overhead-luggage-down-and-oh-wow-that-baby-sure-is-loud moments are the most unbearable. Haha...all joking aside, I'm just grateful that I was able to get the pulsed RF done. We ended up paying out of pocket for it because the pulsed version isn't covered by my insurance, but they billed them anyway just in case (fingers crossed that someone at United Healthcare is doing a half ass job reviewing claims). So I won't know what the final bill is until I hear from them, but Dr. Schurgin charged us $1,800, an 88% discount off his fees (and who says you can't get good deals right before Christmas?).

I do have a bit of increased pain/soreness today, due to inflammation from the procedure, but had some dry needling at PT yesterday to help resolve trigger point formation in the surrounding area. Now it's just a matter of waiting, and (lots) of positive thinking.