Phillip Sherwood

Yesterday I had my first surgical procedure to check my candidacy for a baclofen pump implant and it was quite a bit different than I had imagined. I took my 6am anti-spaz meds but skipped the noon dose so I can evaluate the effectiveness of the new stuff I was to be given later that afternoon. At 3pm on Tuesday, I was prepped and brought into the HSV Spine & Neuro Center’s surgical room quickly remembering how cold it is in these places. I transferred from the gurney onto the operating table then over onto my belly. The site right above my left rear hip bone was cleaned then the doctor explained how he was going to numb the insertion point first then insert the long sharp needle directly into the lumbar section of my spinal cavity and inject a trial pain medication then close up and also that it may hurt a bit. I told him I won’t feel any pain but my lower body will and it will react proportionate to the pain stimulus and somebody better be ready to hold me down. With that, the first needle went in and it went deep. My left leg jumped violently and everything from my mid-section down felt as it was electrocuted. Again it didn’t physically hurt but remember nerves work off of electric activity and it seemed as if I was given a jolt of 89 gigavolts!

Within minutes afterwards I was wheeled into the recovery room and was connected to more monitoring equipment with the same eerie beeps and tones I hoped to never again hear in my life. Shortly after, I began to feel the euphoric onset of narcotics bring about and my rigor-mortis spasms that I’d been fighting with for the past six hours were gone. The strange thing was that I could feel the electrical agitation in my legs welling up like I do before a spasm explodes but the spasm never came. It was like when you have the hiccups and right before it hits, you can feel it building to a crescendo right before it busts loose… but it doesn’t. Entering my tiny little recovery area a familiar angel appeared with a big giant beautifully warm smile. It was my favorite NICU nurse Stephanie from when I was her patient nearly two years ago when all this began. She gave me a big giant bear hug and told my attending nurses they better take good care of me. About a year ago, she and some of her colleagues transferred over from the Neuro ICU to the Tennessee Valley Pain Center located in the new Neuro & Spine Center building. I was asked if I’d like anything to drink but I wasn’t thirsty when the nurse rephrased the question and said I had to show I could drink liquids. When she offered me a Mountain Dew, the deal was done.

The doctor came in and we discussed the procedure and what I was feeling. He instructed me to take note of the effect over the next 24-hours then released me to go home. Curtis dropped off his wife Melisa to drive me home and we talked about the progress of my home the entire way. I have to go back in a week for a follow-up and discuss the next step. Later last night the pain in my back by the fracture site began coming back but the spasms were still quiet. I went to bed not taking my evening anti-spaz meds and fell asleep quickly. I woke up about 2:30am having to pee then watched a little late night news. I fell back asleep somewhere shortly after 3:00am. It wasn’t long after that I was woken up by a serious of bad leg spasms requiring an immediate dose of anti-spaz meds. I fought them for another hour while sweating and writhing like I was going through detox or something so I took a Vicodan tablet that helped me get the last few hours of sleep I had left. Luckily today was a work from home day because I was in no shape to be able to get it together enough leave the house. I started feeling better by later in the afternoon so I went to the gym and had a killer workout. Time to go to bed… phillip