My second procedure of this third trip and all went well at least my back seems to think so. It was just an epidural on my lower back.
This procedure was different from what I’m used to. It was later in the day when I was wheeled into the OT at the Gathum Nager Hospital. I was one of the last patients of the day, from the other hospital, so the room was quieter. Dr. Ashish and his staff were on the ball, just not a chatty as usual. For me, I like them chatty, it’s a distraction from the needle being poked into my spine. But this time the distracting was up to me. I thought of happy things that made me smile and envisioned I was being given a big warm hug. The kind of comforting hug where in that moment anything you feel doesn’t matter, all you feel is love.
See as the patient, a big part of the experience during procedures is how prepared you are mentally. Before my very first procedure I only knew what I read from Amy’s blog, what the doctors explained to me, and what the other patients told me. I was only the second patient with Lyme getting the treatment and the other patients in the hospital at the time were mostly spinal cord injury patients who couldn’t feel the procedures. I had no idea what it would be like. Amy told me it wouldn’t hurt too badly and I trusted that. My friends there said it didn’t hurt and not to worry about it, but they couldn’t feel at the level of the procedure. Looking back it was probably the best thing to be told. I knew it would probably hurt but the only thing I went into the OT at Gathum Nager thinking was what does the hallway going to the OT really look like? My friends were discussing it one day and they said it was like a movie scene. All you really see is the lights and the ceiling as you are wheeled down the hall on the gurney.
Now with Dr. Geeta taking more patients with Lyme as well as patients with many other conditions, more people are feeling and telling what the felt during procedures. This is hard, it is good but at the same time patients, especially the new ones are easily psyched out hearing that the procedures are painful. Even patients who can’t feel were telling me they were freaking out going into the OT. What if they did feel the procedure and it was painful? If you ask those same patients what progress came after their procedure and was it worth it?
After procedures Dr. Ashish tells me I was a great patient. He always tells me that, but this procedure he was more enthusiastic. You didn’t yell or move, or anything. This puzzled me and I questioned him once. He told me patients had been jumpy on the table and would yell, particularly the Lyme patients. Hell, I don’t blame anyone for yelling! I want to yell too on that table and run out of the room. Don’t look at those needles, I did once and have to chase it out of my head every time. But STOP!
YOU MADE THE JOURNEY FOR HEALTH. You are in the right place, so yell all you want to on that table (sorry Dr. Ashish’s ears). It will hurt but not for long, and that pain is different if you feel it, you will see it is, that pain it worth it. It has stem cells, the possibility for less or no pain in your tomorrows. So what if you hurt a little more today?
Patients with Lyme and some with other conditions are in massive amounts of pain going into the procedure. Besides that everyone has a different pain tolerance and different way of reacting to pain. This I know. I also know that if you think it will hurt, it will hurt, and hurt more.
So to any patients getting procedures do yourself a favor and think about this before you start getting all worked up. Go into the OT happy and smiling to accept your new baby stem cells. Talk to the nurses, the OT staff, and Dr. Ashish too. Let them distract you, or distract yourself. Have a positive attitude and relax. Just like tensing up during a blood draw, it hurts more and stress’ the body more if you tense, so relax your muscles and your mind.
It is hard. It can be scary. It feels different. It hurts. It is worth it.
The first thing my baby stem cells got when Dr. Ashish injected them into me, this last procedure, was the feeling of a big warm hug. The greatest hug and I have to say it’s the best procedure I’ve had. The hardest thing about the procedure was staying in bed for hours after and not running out to get ice cream or something. I think I’m feeling better.
Elaine In India 