Cassettes or Facets

Rewind to... wait maybe you don't know what it means to rewind. Umm, ok well if you were around in the 90s think back to scrunchies, hammer pants, ska, and discovering the internet. Yes. I said DISCOVERING the internet (it's really not that long ago that it came into our homes). Then think back to cassette tapes. Glorious, memorable, and personal mix tapes. Maybe a little NKOTB, Backstreet Boys, or O.C. Supertones? Yes, now you're on the right track (track... haha... get it?). Oh the 90s! So now that we've reminisced about some of the highlights of the 90s, I want you to focus on cassettes. Now switch the C in cassettes with an F and what do you have.... FACETS. Awesome! Wait, what?


Facets are specialized joints that connect the vertebrae of the spine to one another. When someone has facet joint pain and inflammation it can be misinterpreted as a herniated disc, a fracture, or a torn muscle in the low back. The pain is local but also can radiate down, up, and out. According to a spine health website, facet joint pain "episodes can be frequent and quite unpredictable in both timing and extent. Patients are often left with the notion that this is a psychosomatic problem, and it may even be implied that "it’s all in your head."(http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/arthritis/symptoms-and-diagnosis-facet-joint-problems) 


If you read my last blog then you know I sometimes struggle with feeling like people- anyone from doctors to people I know- don't believe me and tell me it's all in my head but I know it's not. My last blog wasn't aimed at anyone in particular but at this mysterious pain that I feel but others can't see. So many doctors have told me it's my endo, but deep down I knew it had to be more than that. Now it looks like the problem is deep down- in my spine. 


I saw a new doctor today and we're setting up an appointment to inject me with 6 shots. Using a live x-ray, he will inject them into the facets and nerves, and then we will wait a week and see if the pain cleared at all or not. The pain clearing (for any amount of time) helps to diagnose that the pain is indeed coming from the faces, however, the injections will not keep the pain away. It is only to diagnose. So if it works we will need to look at possible surgeries, shots, or therapies to try. If it doesn't work, then we will have to come back to the table and reexamine other issues and options. But it's a starting point. 


And right now, that littlest bit of hope is all I need. 




Well, and maybe some NKOTB.