Spinal Tap (and not the movie)
By Amber
@AmbiePam (92789)
United States
September 30, 2007 9:05pm CST
I was going to PM some of the people on my friend list to tell them about this situation, but I thought I could send a PM to more than one person at a time. Apparently that isn't possible, so I thought I'd go ahead and post about it.
My mom is having a spinal tap this Tuesday, and it's very serious. I've had one before, and so has she, and we both know it's like the closest thing to hell on earth. I'm sure some of you have had them. Mine went fine, but it was a week of just pure agony. My mom's first spinal tap LEAKED, and she had two weeks of even more exaggerated pain. So it's not fun. I've had second and third degree burns that were less painful.
So I ask that you maybe think about her, and those who pray, please include her in your prayers. She's 48, but we all know sickness is not specific to age. I won't go into more detail about her past health or anything, but it's a big deal. And even though she has insurance, it's not good insurance, and my parents will be paying a lot out of pocket.
So my question is what is the worst medical procedure you ever had? Obviously, mine is a spinal tap, but the second worst was when I had a liver biopsy, they forgot to numb the area where they inserted the 'rod', which is the only way I can think of to describe it. It has a thing on the end that would catch part of the liver, so when it was pulled out, they could retrieve it. I wondered why it hurt so bad until one of the them said to the other, "Did you numb her already?" NOT a good sign, LOL.
So even if you just hate getting blood drawn, I'd be interested in your answer. : )
5 people like this
17 responses
@Yestheypayme2dothis (7874)
• United States
1 Oct 07
I am sorry to hear about your mom, and I will pray for her. What I have had to go through is nothing compared to what you and your mom have one through...the ones I really did not like were EKG, CAT scan, MRI and colonoscopy. With the colonoscopy it was the prep work that was horrible...not the colonoscopy.
1 person likes this
@Yestheypayme2dothis (7874)
• United States
1 Oct 07
But knowing your sister, that sounds about right. She is a bit agressive.
1 person likes this
@Flight84 (3048)
• United States
2 Oct 07
First of all, my thougts are with your mother. I've never had a spinal tap, but I've heard they are not pleasant. I kinda feel silly answering this because I've never had anything major done to me before. I'm honestly just terrified of needles and that's bad enough for me. I couldn't imagine having to have something really major done. I have had fluid on the knee before, and that hurt pretty bad for about a week or two and then I had Bell's Palsey in 2002. That was the worst and most scary and terrifying thing I've ever been through. I woke up one day and literally out of nowhere the right side of my face was paralyzed. It was so scary. I was rushed to the emergency room and I had to be on a high dosage of steroids for a week. There was the chance of my face never getting better. I had to tape my eye shut at night and when I washed my face and I couldn't eat well because I couldn't feel the right side of my face. It was just a terrible experience. I remember not being able to talk well either. Anyway, my thoughts are with your family. I hope all goes well.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (92789)
• United States
2 Oct 07
Bell's Palsey DOES sounds terrifying. My aunt had that once, although I wasn't old enough to remember everything about it. Did you gain weight with your steroids? When they put me on steroids, I ballooned up. It was so hard to get the weight off again.
@TerryZ (22076)
• United States
1 Oct 07
Im so sorry to hear your mom has to have that. I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers for sure. The most painful thing was my last two surgeries on my neck. And now Im looking at probably another one. I go back to my surgeon in 2 weeks. YIKES! Please keep us posted how your mom made out. Hugs to you my friend!
@sherrir101 (3670)
• Malinta, Ohio
1 Oct 07
I had a spinal tap. It was horrible. I ended up getting the migraine headache that they warn you about after. You aren't supposed to move around for 8 hours after the spinal tap (I went to work LOL). I went to the emergency room twice for that headache. It lasted for 4 days. But in the end, 2 weeks later it was what brought the final diagnosis of my Multiple Sclerosis.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (92789)
• United States
1 Oct 07
I'm glad they found out what was wrong with your body. An accurate diagnosis saves a lot of people a lot of heartache. I too got the migraine headache, and threw up everything, even dry heaving. My mom got the migraine headache as well, but her spinal tap leaked, so hers last 2 weeks. I don't know how she managed. My spinal tap didn't tell the doctors anything. Neither did my mom's first spinal tap. That's why I really don't think they will find anything this time.
@carmelanirel (20942)
• United States
1 Oct 07
Oh wow AmbiePam, Are you serious, they didn't numb you? Oh, they would have heard some screaming from me..
I will pray for your mom..
If you really want to know the worse medical procedure? I don't think it counts when I gave birth to my firstborn and they decided to give me something for the pain that all it did was knock me out in between contractions and I woke up at the peak of a contraction. So the worse I have had is the epidural when I had my last child. They did it differently than when I had my second one, with that one they just gave me a shot in the spine. This last time, it was more of them sticking a tube into my spine and I felt where that tube went into my spine and it burned. After it was in, I was fine, but didn't know that it would burn when they put it in, so that surprised me.
So, compared to you and your mom, my experiences are not bad..
@kathisharpe (140)
• United States
1 Oct 07
Having a dislocated hip put back into place.
I've had a spinal tap twice, that ranks as a VERY close second. The first time, the stupid nurse said, "we are numbing you - you won't feel a thing."
I nearly broke the needle in my spine coming up off the table. Yikes!
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (160697)
• United States
1 Oct 07
I would probably say it was a forceps delivery of a ten pound baby after 23 and a half hours of labor. Plus the episiotomy. It was not enough to keep me from having a second child, though. I just have not had many medical problems, and the surgeries I have had have been actually relief. I would put an apicoectomy (dental surgery where they cut through the bone to the root to remove it.) ranks right up there, though.
1 person likes this
@AmberNormandin (883)
• United States
1 Oct 07
Amber, im sorry to hear that your mom is going to have that done! I hope it goes smooth w/no problems! Please keep me updated on her and ill definately be praying for her, as well as all of you. *hugs*
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (92789)
• United States
1 Oct 07
Thanks, Amber. I only found out about it today. She found out Friday night, but yesterday she went to Tulsa because she was supposed to present an award for my grandpa. So I had no clue until I went to her house this morning and saw she hadn't gone to church. I started asking specific questions after that.
@sacmom (14192)
• United States
1 Oct 07
I'm pretty sure I had a spinal tap when I was a baby, though hell if I can remember the experience! I don't doubt the doctor had to give me one to find out that I did indeed have spinal meningitis.
My youngest son (my 7 year old) had a spinal tap when was not quite 2 months old. I was in the room with him when the doctor did it and I had to look away as it happened as I couldn't bear my baby going through such an ordeal. Once he had a hospital room I overheard that his roommate, a 17 day old baby girl, had to have 2 spinal taps done as the doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong with her with the first one (the second one didn't do much good as they still couldn't figure out what was wrong with her). Poor little thing.
The worst thing that I can remember going through was having urine taken from me through a catheter. My mom had taken me to the ER one day as I wasn't feeling well and the doctor of course wanted a urine sample. I didn't have to go at that time so they gave me a few extra minutes to try and go. Well that didn't help and this nurse came in with a long @$$ needle and ended up drawing the urine that was needed. Talk about painful! I don't see why the doctor couldn't wait for me to go on my own...after all these d@mn doctors make us patients wait in the waiting room when we have an appointment. (Gee, can you tell I just LOVE doctors??? :P)
I don't envy your mom having to go through having a spinal tap. I will keep her in my thoughts.
1 person likes this
@PurpleTeddyBear (6685)
• Canada
1 Oct 07
Hi AmbiePam,
I will definitely have your mother in my heart and thoughts on Tuesday! The worst thing I have gone through wasn't a procedure, but it was very painful and it was called child birth lol. I was in labour for about 8 hours, HARD labour for 10 hours, pushed for 3 hours, and then when that didn't work I went to the Operating room for a c-section. I then had to recover from the c-section! My daughter was SOOOOOOO worth it though :)
Love & Hugzz, Your Friend, PurpleTeddyBear ;)
1 person likes this
@KarenO52 (2950)
• United States
1 Oct 07
I'll be thinking of your mom, and I'll include her in my prayers. Maybe this time it won't be so bad. I've never had a spinal tap, but I went in with a friend of mine when she had one. She had a doctor who was really cute, and she was more worried about him seeing her bare behind than about the pain of the spinal tap. She went through it fine, and said it didn't hurt much. I was more nervous than she was. After the procedure, we went out for lunch, just as if it were an ordinary day.
The worst medical procedure I've had was not giving birth, but all of the embarrassing things they do to prep you while you're in labor. After the first one, I always tried to wait for the last minute before going to the hospital so they wouldn't have time to do those things.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (92789)
• United States
1 Oct 07
LOL, you are so funny! Your friend took a chance there. Doctors always tell their patients to lie flat for the rest of the day before they try anything. I'm glad she didn't suffer because of it. I too hated to bare my rear end. But after countless injections in my back and neck, I wasn't as worried when I had the spinal tap.
1 person likes this
@thefortunes (2367)
• Netherlands
1 Oct 07
Hi AmbiePam, sorry to hear your mum has to go through such ordeal and I will pray for her that she has no complications and everyting goes smooth and with as little pain and suffering as possible. And I've had some bad exams taken, but don't want to really talk about it, nor remember any of it, sorry about that :)
TheFortunes
1 person likes this
@theprogamer (10534)
• United States
1 Oct 07
I don't wanna talk about me, I want to wish your mom well with this. Spinal taps really arent that great. I had one to in order to drain out excess fluid, plus they had to go into my back pelvic area as well. That...sure...was...uh...fun...
The other worse thing might be a botched blood give. They didn't get the vain right multiple times and I was not happy about it.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (92789)
• United States
1 Oct 07
Thanks for the good wishes. When I was in the hospital and had the spinal tap, they were drawing blood from me three times a day. Well, they couldn't get any more blood out of my arms. They had even used my thigh. Finally, they said, well, we're just going to have to get blood from her neck. I said, no way. You better find a different way because that is NOT going into my neck. So they tried my feet. I don't see how anybody who is conscious would let them go in their neck! Ouch!
@aduck06 (19)
• United States
1 Oct 07
I will be praying for your mom that everything goes well and she doesn't have as much pain this time. I can't even imagine what that would be like. The worst thing I have had done is oral surgery to remove my wisdom teeth when I was about 15. That and child birth, but thanks to an epidural, I was spared much of the pain there. I'm currently pregnant with my second child, and I found out last week I will probably have to have a c-section in about 4 weeks. The thought of that really scared me at first, but thanks to your post I realize that things could be much worse. Again, I will pray that everything goes well.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (92789)
• United States
1 Oct 07
Thank you for your prayers. The unknown is always scary, and especially when you are having a baby. Congratulations by the way. That is so exciting! I had my wisdom teeth out a couple years ago, and at first I wondered what the big deal was. The day after, I quickly realized why they gave me pain medication! LOL
@jHoEn16 (2043)
• Australia
1 Oct 07
hello there pal.... i will include your mom on my prayers and hope that she will be okay soon...
well the worst medical procedure i have experienced was when i gave birth...ceasarian... i hate that injection on my spinal... after bending with your big tummy then you will feel the needle outch... its the worst thing for me
@3lilangels (4639)
• United States
2 Oct 07
well my friend i hope you mom will be ok and my prayers will be with her.i will light a candle for her and make sure all goes well hon.i had one of those spinal taps done years ago when i ended up being very sick and when i saw the size of that needle i also fainted.i had to squeeze my moms hand so tight that i almost made her pass out.they had to take fluid out of my spine.hope all goes well hon.xo.pattie
1 person likes this
