Back From Philly---Again

I had a follow up appointment today with my doctor at the Jefferson Headache Clinic in Philly. My dad and my uncle rode with me up there, which provided for an exciting trip since neither had been to a BIG city (well, maybe my uncle had, but not my dad). We drove up Monday morning, and then spent the night in the city and got up this morning for my appointment.... then drove back home. Things got especially crazy when my GPS and the directions from Mapquest to our hotel led us into, shall we say... the ghetto. Luckily the hotel wasn't there, and was located in the middle of the city, so all in all, a good stay.

As for my appointment, things haven't changed much as far as my headaches are concerned, so they changed my medicine up a bit, and gave me another round of nerve blocks.... this time it was 3 shots in the back of my head and 2 above my left eye. We also discussed 2 alternative treatments that I'm going to persue. The first is called a cervical headache facet block, which will consist of shots going deep into my neck and trying to get to the cause there. They gave me the name of a doctor in New Jersey who does them, but I'm going to see if I can find one closer to home that will do the procedure. If I'm not a candidate for that, which they determine after looking at an MRI of my neck, then the next step may be an occipital nerve stimulator. This would be a device that is planted in the back of my head, right along the occipital nerve, and gives off electric shocks..... so yeah, kind of a big deal. It's a surgery, it's expensive(if insurance doesn't cover it), and then of course there's always the chance that it wouldn't work at all.

So that's where we stand as of now.... I'm calling tomorrow to see if the pain management centers in Roanoke can do the first procedure.... if not, I may be heading to Jersey. Also, I have to go back to Philly in 3 months, so if anyone has any airline miles they'd like to donate to me, that'd be super, cause I don't wanna make that drive again.