my procedure and thankful thursday...

Thought I'd share my tiny little boo boo with you. I had no idea he was going to use my tramp stamp as a compass... it's yellow partly because it's nigh on impossible to take a photo of your own back so the light isn't great... and partly because I'm stained with betadine.

Things went well. Pam and her kids are precious people and I was so glad they were with me. The people at the doctor's office were kind and professional. I got to watch Good Morning America and Live with Regis and Kelly while waiting... they didn't do an IV, they just gave me a shot of demerol and visteril... so it knocked the edge of the pain and gave me a case of the "i don't cares". They took me into the little procedure room, laid me face down on a very comfy table... hooked up a blood pressure monitor and a pulse thingy... tucked my shirt up... exposed my lower back... draped me... hosed me down with betadine ... gave me a few painful sticks of lidocaine and... then started the injection which took less than five minutes. It didn't HURT like you would imagine but there was an awful lot of pressure and then he hit a nerve that set my right side on fire. I'm told that means he was in the right place... we'll see. They wiped off the betadine and I guess blood... and stuck a bandaid on me. Put me in a little recliner for about fifteen minutes and monitored my bp and pulse (my blood pressure stayed high throughout the process).... made sure I had my sea legs back and then sent me on my way. Pam took me to Panera bread and got me a pecan danish and cup of coffee (not weight watchers friendly but I needed to pump up the blood sugar quickly) and then she stopped in at the mall to exchange some things (can't waste a trip into civilization)her sweet son, Ben, stayed in the car to babysit me and we had a nice chat about old movies. He's quite knowledgeable, as it turns out... then we made our way back to the hills. All the way home I was fine, a little sore but not really in pain because the numbing meds were all still full force and I was still slighly high on demerol. I'm told that I will becoming increasingly uncomfortable as the day goes by... probably pretty sore tonight and tomorrow... but within a day or two, should be feeling much better. I can tell that the numbing meds are wearing off... starting to feel a little pain... and also getting a little bit of a headache, which I understand can be a side effect since they were tap dancing on my spinal cord with a needle... but I'm settled in for the day and will judge tomorrow morning whether or not I'm able to be productive at work... gonna just enjoy the nest today. I've promised Austin pizza for dinner. And... that's the haps.

It's Thankful Thursday... so here goes:

I'm thankful for the ability to access good medical care. I'm thankful that I'm finally receiving the right kind of treatment and hopefully, will be feeling much better soon. I'm thankful for Christian friends... for a loving church family that takes good care of me. I'm thankful that Olivia and Ben were such good sports about hanging out in a doctors office waiting room for so long this morning... I'm thankful for the fellowship with Pam and her babies. Being single can be so lonely, this has been a great reminder of how beautifully God provides everything we need. I'm thankful that this was a 12 day pay period so that I could take a day off and not devastate my budget. I'm thankful for the NCAA basketball tournament starting. (whatever, I love bball!) I'm thankful for the opportunity to rest.

Whatever circumstances you're living with today... I hope you'll find your own reasons to be thankful. God bless!