It has been nine days since I had a cervical epidural steroid injection procedure at the Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Hospital in Houston. Today I am feeling about the same as before surgery, which is a good thing because I have generally felt worse since having the injection.
Literature and health professionals say that it takes from up to three-to-10 days to feel improvements after the cortisone is shot into a spinal epidural space. They — yes, the same “they” — also say this surgical-like procedure helps about 50 percent of the patients who get the injection for pain relief. I was told that if this shot didn’t work, they would try another and another and if those don’t work, it’s off to Plan B. We’ll see what happens. In the meantime, I have a thought about going through any kind of surgical procedure.
It is my opinion that the worst question a doctor or other medical professional can ask a patient before surgery is: “How are you doing?” If you were doing all spiffy you wouldn’t likely be going into a surgical suite, unless you were getting cosmetic surgery or something of the sort. I liken such a question to a reporter asking someone whose home is demolished and their family killed in a tornado, “How do you feel?” Pretty crappy, I would bet. Such questions just don’t make sense, kind of like the Chewbacca Defense.
It’s time for me to find out what is going on in the larger world — that outside my brain — so I bid you adieu. Or a don’t.