One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Monday morning just after breakfast the nurse knocked on my door and announced that I would be going to the other hospital for my first procedure. I felt my heart sink into my stomach and asked what procedure will I be having, she said not sure, 1 day procedure, back later today. I went down to physio and did a light session then at 10.15 we left. Driving there was definately an eye opener, i have to keep reminding myself we are in a 3rd world country, its difficult to explain, but there is just such a contrast here. We went down a small street which was a dead end, the van stopped, i looked around and thought to myself 'i'm choosing to have medical treatment here'! I couldnt see where the hospital was, there was a small alley way where a huge black cow was standing, the taxi driver pointed in that direction. Michelle pushed me quickly past, squeezing between cow and wall, worried it might move suddenly. We walked down, found a door with a ramp and the ward boys came out to help us. The entry was small and crowded, behind a glass screen sat a nurse and she handed me paper work to sign, i read it and it stated 'that I claire Anderson have been explained the procedure'....ummmm...nope...i asked the nurse to explain what i was having done, 'injections in back'...mmmmm...ok...so i just signed and thought lets just get this started. We went into a very narrow and long lift, the ward boy pulled the iron doors closed and we went up. The hospital reminded me of what it might have been like in war times, it was a time warp (either that or a scene out of a B grade horror movie) I was watching Nickis face and could tell her stress levels were rising. The nurse gave me a gown to put on and i could leave on my leggins, soon a stretcher came in. Now from what I'm told, patients can wait hours to go to theatre, we only waited 20 minutes. Before they wheeled me off i asked about pain medication, 'no pain' said the nurse.....mmmm...i doubted that. As they wheeled me off i could see tears in Michelles eyes. Back into the lift and down to theatre. The theatre made me giggle, there are so many exposed wires, i know i shouldn't be judgemental, but for a country that can use high tech sicence, this is a surprise. I was transferred onto the operating table, the nurse made general chit chat because she could see i was nervous. Soon Dr Ashish Verma (Dr Geetas partner) came into theatre, i felt reassured to see a smiling familiar face. 'How are you feeling Claire' he said, 'I'm nervous' I said, 'No problem'...I asked if it will be painful, 'not really, you'll feel a bit of heaviness, but it is tolerable'..ok...well i've just got to go with it. They rolled me onto my tummy, put a pillow under my hips then wound the bed so that my head was much lower and a clamp was put on my finger to measure my pulse, however it came loose and i flat lined ha ha, these things just made me laugh, hearing your own flat line. So with bum point up Dr Ashish basted it with a brown steralising solution. The he began injecting the cells at base of my spine or top of bum crack! When the solution started going in, let me just tell you, i knew i was alive. It took three pushes to empty the syringeand i felt every push. Its like the solution was trying to make a path up my spine where there wasn't one, it felt full and very heavy, i let out a little cry and tried to breathe, ok next syringe an he started, i held my breath, by the end tears were streaming down my cheeks, i asked him for 5 minutes before he began the third. He asked me where i could feel the solution, it was up the left side of my spine the slowly moving out towards my left hip and waist, he was happy with that response. So he began with the final syringe, i could feel my right leg twitching and the nurse had to hold it still. I normally have a hight pain threshold from pervious experiences of surgery and treatments, but this really hurt, after the second push i asked him to stop for a minute, i couldn't breath, the he finished it and he handed me a gause to wipe my tears. All the time i layed there, i prayed for this treatment to help me, i'll suck up the pain, i'll do it again if i have to, but please make it work for me. The table was tilted so that the cells would move a little to the right side of my body but i couldnt feel anything, but the heaviness eased slightly. I lay there for about another 10 minutes then they transferred me back to the stretcher, my body felt fragile and i was nervous to be touched near my lower back.
As they wheeled back into the room i could see Michelle and Nicki's faces, they looked like expectant fathers. i was transferred onto my bed, then the ward boys came back with two bricks to elevate the end of the bed, we laughed! I had to lay still for 4 hours, at 4pm i was allowed to roll on my side for 30 minutes then i could sit up.
The girls sat, looked at my face and saw my tears, they had tears too, i can't actually share with you the words i used to express the pain, not language becoming of such a fine young lady! Nicki decided she'd had enough, she lay down on the spare bed, pulled the blanket over her head and mumbled something like, MD's ok, can we go home now! Then she went to sleep for 2 hours. I slept for about an hour, then woke to see lunch had arrived. Have you ever tired eating rice while laying on your back! Michelle gave me a few spoon fools but it rolled off the spoon to easily, so i decided to eat Nicki's LeSnack cheese and crackers, museli bar and then bit later some chocolate. The girls took turns rubbing my lower legs and feet because the ached, i kept asking the time, waiting to roll over. Finally 4pm came, Michelle helped me to roll and i lay there until 4.30, sat up and Nicki started packing our things and saying we're leaving now. She helped me change back into my t-shirt quicker than ever, she made me laugh. Finally at 5pm we were allowed to go home.
The day felt long and was emotionally draining. Dr Ashish will give me a week to see how i'm feeling then consider doing the injections again, but maybe this time from the top of my spine. I'm going to ask for something for the pain, i'm not sure how lucky i'll be because the opinion is that this procedure doesn't warrant it, its only minor....mmmmm....see how i go.