Laying Low

  October was a busy month. We went to Los Angeles to see The Director of The Pain Clinic Dr. G-R. He is from South Africa, I like their accents. But he ran through the visit and said that I should have the Root Canal done and then come back for another SPG Block. The one I had before was done trans nasally. In his research he has found that that does not work. So that would make sense why the last one failed. He said that from all that I have gone through, it looks as if no matter what I have done it will cause nerve pain. So not only on my left side but my right side as well. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? This could happen with something even as small as a cold, ear or sinus infection. This is not good. So we came back and I had the Root Canal started. Thank goodness I see such a phenomenal Endodontist because that went horribly. I was in tears and my pulse was higher than the normal 110 range at 119. He kept numbing me and numbing me, but I kept getting sharp nerve pains. There was only so much that he wanted to do since this was bad for everyone. I made an appointment to come back to finish it.

We went back to Cedar-Sinai to have the SPG Block done again with Dr. Z. (He is the doctor for Dancing With The Stars). It was bad. I woke up in so much pain, burning pain and no amount of medication with make it go away. They discharged me and we left to return to the hotel. I'm glad that we stayed there because I felt and looked bad. My face was swollen as you can tell. With this procedure they put you out and with a needle go into my face. They use an x-ray (fluoroscopy) guidance to go into the ganglion. As you can see in the picture at the top, how far into the face the needle actually goes.

So we came back and I called Dr. G-R on Monday after we faxed over my pain diary. He said "Since it doesn't look like it worked, I'd like to have you fill out a questionnaire and come back to meet with me and a physcotherapist. It looks like we will have to treat you pharmaceutical." No Way!!! I'm done. I don't think he listened when I told him that I have doctors here. And that I have already tried so many things. Really!

As of right now the pain has not stopped and I am looking at possibly have to get another root canal. I told the dentist that just because my teeth are ultra-sensitive I don't want to get root canals in all of my teeth. But I physically and mentally can't tolerate any big changes.