The Pulse Of Things

Well I am finally back "home" in Green Park after a somewhat remarkably easy, double procedure. Of course I was going into this one with little faith in the ease of things, but was pleasantly surprised when the actually punctures came and went, headache-free and ready to rise.

After the initial insertion of the catheter in my spinal column, Dr. Ashish and his crew moved upwards from the L4-5 catheter site to a more anxiety-ridden T4 level-- a level at which I have complete sensation of all matters. Dr. Ashish promptly numbed the area, ironically using more shots, although that seemed to help some. I didn't feel near the pain nor the fright with this puncture as the last.

Dr. Ashish's precision is a thing to admire. He takes his time to locate specific markers that run, virtually impossibly detectable to you and me, until he hits the right spot. He may do this several times throughout the procedure, looking for what he only knows. After the injection into T4, he moved a bit lower to an area near T9 (where I have no feeling). I was eager to feel his poking move further downwards, and so was my pulse.

Here is where something quite strange to me occurred. As the needle was placed into my back, no awareness of the injection from my skin was noticed, until that needle hit my spinal cord. ZZZAAAPPPPP! I have never felt anything like this before and my body jolted in reaction. Had I been electrocuted? What is going on here?! My immediate reaction, of course, was more to the tune of, "I am sorry!" Dr. Ashish with slight excitement exclaims, "You felt that?" Naturally, to Dr. Ashish pain is always pleasant. But nonetheless, I felt it, I felt it like a jolt of 1000 volts entering straight into my spinal cord with no external indication from my integumentary system. Thanks a lot skin.

After the last injections were placed and the catheter flooded the outer layer of my spine, Dr. Ashish explained to me that the jolt that I felt at T9 shouldn't have happened. This makes perfect sense, as for all intents and purposes the spinal cord at that area should be dead. But dead, it was not. There is a lot of life there. I felt it screaming and sending its electrical signals like fireworks in celebration.

From then on it was a lot of rest, sleep, Yahtzee, South Park (sadly), and floods of stem cells.

It wasn't until this morning's injection that my body decided to let me know that there was really something happening. It is a normal parasympathetic response that the body reacts to with the influx of millions of stem cells at a time. As the cells glide into the perceived area, the pulse rate in anyone's body would surely decline. This is a good sign that Dr. Ashish notes that the cells are actually surging through to their destination.

This morning I received a double dosage so that I could make it back to Green Park by dinner. Sounds good to me. My body, however, was not quite ready for this. Almost immediately my pulse rate shot down to 50 beats per minute. I took note of Dr. Ashish's note of this as well. He slowed the progression of cells until my pulse made its way back to 60 or so. Dr. Ashish's goal is to get those cells right at my level of injury, T5, which just so happens to be the same place in which your heart is innervated. Lucky me.

By the end of the injection my pulse was down to about 45. With a little but if scare tactics for using additional medication to bring the pulse up, a little pinching in vulnerable arm areas by Graham, and a little leg massaging from Dr. Shroff, my pulse resurfaced to healthier zones until the frightening and pinching and massaging couldn't keep up. They ended up giving me an injection to release the contraction of my blood vessels to allow more blood to flow through. It worked within moments and all circulation was restored. Each doc spent some more time entertaining me and comforting me until one-by-one they exited to check on their other grateful patients.

Everyone feels fairly confident that I will really benefit from all of these new feelings. My body has never been so attuned to the pokes and prods and I suspect that is a good sign. Tomorrow my routine will return to normal and I should be able to start sensing those slight changes that have to potential to change everything.