Hospital Gowns and Zumba

I had an epidural on Wednesday of last week. I donned that lovely paperfiber poufy surgical hat...the gown which leaves NOTHING to anyone's imagination; the sockie-things with the rubbery bottoms and was carted off, IV in tow, to the OR. This is the FIRST time I think, that I've ever gone there on my own two feet, lol. I walked into the room...faced the OR team and felt a bit daunted by the number of people in there...it's only an epidural after all. And there is something about wearing a backless gown...that just sort of puts you a bit on the defensive....

They asked me to climb onto the operating table and to lie on a series of pillows on my stomach. Well, that presented a twofold difficulty:

1. I was in so much pain I could barely walk....It hadn't been one of my better umm,... years. And
2. I can NEVER lie on my stomach...With as many metal pieces and fusions as I have in my back, it really is not optimal, to put it very mildly.... But, always being willing to oblige, I did my best and tried not to scream too loudly ( :) ).

Then the instructions got even scarier..."Just scoot yourself up to the end of the table and hang your head down off of it..."
WHAT??
ARE YOU KIDDING ME??
The problem was again twofold:

1. "Scoot" is not in my vocabulary. and
   
2. With the condition of my cervical spine, my head wanted to stay upright, vertical, rigid , and squarely over my shoulders, thank you!!

But being ever willing to oblige, I did my best...and after not being satisfied with my first try, the doctor asked me to readjust and "hang off a little more" ...so finally, I did so and was SO grateful that just about then, they must have put the beautiful knockout juice into my IV...because the next thing I knew when I opened my eyes was someone telling me "It's all done"

DONE??
YOU MEAN IT WORKED?? HE GOT THE NEEDLE IN??
yes. After five prior tries...this genius doctor whom I badly wanted to kiss just then, got it into my arthritic, degenerated spine.

And then I felt it.
No pain.

I need to say that again.

NO PAIN!!!

Well, sadly, I was informed that this was due to the local anesthesia they had also put into my back and it would wear off.

"Still," they told me, "some people DO get immediate relief...although you may be sore tomorrow. "
Well, yeah, I was sore. But believe me, SORE IS NOTHING!!
WOO-HOO!

BABY, TAKE ME DANCING!!!

LET'S DO ZUMBA!!!!

ROLLERBLADING ANYONE???

And best of all, when the 'soreness' left...I was great. Very minimal pain. Well, at least, minimal to me. I've lost all sense of what other people would think of it.
When the nurse asked me prior to the epidural, what level on a scale of 1-10 I could live and be happy with, I told her "6"...she looked surprised...but , hey, when every day is an 8 or 9; a 6 sounds heavenly.

And you know what??

It is.