Here's What's Needling Me

Tonight I did something I've never done before: I asked my doctor to photograph me. I guess I should explain. First, the back story. In 1993, I watched my then husband, Mike, get a spinal tap. I didn't see the needle go in but when he was done, the neurologist held the enormous syringe up and said this, "before they see it, some people think spinal fluid will be bloody or cloudy, but it isn't! It's as clear as water.". I looked at the needle and at the fluid and the floor beneath my feet started to feel spongy. I felt the room start to spin, and in a second, the doctor and nurse were on either side of me, escorting me to a table in the room next door where I (thankfully) did not actually pass out. Poor hubby was in the other room; he'd just had the spinal tap, but I was the one stealing the attention of his health care providers.

A few short months later, I was sitting on an exam table in a doctor's office. I'd had a stabbing pain in my foot that wouldn't go away: a neuroma. "a steroid shot will fix that," the orthopedist said. I agreed, and for the first and last time in my life I watched. He hit the nerve in my foot like hitting a bull's eye, HOLY CATS that hurt, and then he kind of jiggled the needle around in there for a few seconds. Sometime at the start of this procedure, I stopped breathing, and by the time he finished, I had turned green and felt the room start to sway. For the second time, I was escorted to a small exam room and made to lie down until I recovered.

These two episodes triggered my needle phobia. I can still get shots and have blood drawn, but I'm a nervous nelly about it, and every single time, I'm asked, "are you okay?" or "are you breathing?". I must have the look of terror on my face. Today, though, I looked my fear in the face: I had acupuncture. I'm going to try a few weeks of treatment to see if it helps my knee and hip pain. Even if it doesn't, the good news is that the room didn't spin today. Of course, I think my doctor thought it was hilarious when I asked him to photograph my knee, but I was feeling pretty proud of myself. I think I've reached some new blogging low point by posting photos of a medical procedure, but what the heck.






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