The Bilateral Sympathetic Block

Its the 9th June 2003 and this is the morning of the Sympathetic Block.

Although we are very Excited at the thought of Natalie having no more pain in her foot or leg, there is always a part of you that thinks the worst might happen and I think every parent of a child having surgery, no matter how Minor thinks (what if ?)
but you push it to the back of your mind knowing deep down your being stupid and everything will be fine.....I mean the Doctors are experts at what they do and these operations are done on a daily basis.
So off I went downstairs to the hospital shop to find something nice for her when she returned from Theatre.....I bought a nice card, and this lovely soft toy dog he was so cute, he almost looked like a real puppy...she will love it I thought.

I came back to her room worried that she might be back in the room before me but she wasnt so I sat there in this empty room and just for a second that worried feeling came over me again, but it went as quickly as it came.Then I heard the nurses say that Natalie was on her way back from Theatre, I couldnt wait for her to say that she couldnt feel any pain in her leg, the Doctor had told us that usually when a child comes back from Theatre and he asks about how their leg feels ....they usually dont know because the Anasthetic has made it feel kind of warm and pain free (the limb of someone with rsd is usually ice cold because of the condition although they do experience burning type pain)

Im sure you can imagine how confused and scared I was to see Natalie being brought into the ward trying to sit up in her bed which was being wheeled in to the side room we were staying in and she was also very upset and crying.
I could see her trying to grab hold of her leg...mostly her knee, and she kept saying it's sore' its hurting' I didn't understand what was happening I remember saying to the Nurse...' why is her leg hurting her, she shouldnt be feeling any pain? she has just had Anasthetic put into it? whats wrong with it?'

The nurse said 'dont worry she is just coming round from the Anasthetic give her time to wake up' 'we will se how she is in 10mins or so, then if she is still in pain I will page the Doctor'
I said to the nurse ' look she is fully awake and the tears are running down her face can you get the doctor and ask him whats wrong, I mean she isnt meant to feel her leg but she is rolling around in pain'

The Doctor popped in and look as puzzled as we were, the pain in her knee had calmed down a little because the nurse had given her some painkillers, but her leg was more painful now than before she had the procedure done.
All the Doctor could say was 'Im not sure why your in so much pain Natalie,Im wondering if it might be the nerves deeper inside your leg thats causing the problems and not the Sympathetic nerves?, however we will leave you to settle and I will come back in and see you before I go home'.

Natalie lay down and tried to get some sleep, I remember sitting there and thinking I hope we havent made things worse by having this Block done, I also remember feeling guilty for coming to the hospital and telling her the Epidural would be fine,
'nothing to it I said'. I felt really bad .....she was in so much pain, not only that but her hopes of being back to normal had just been crushed, and so had mine'.

The Rollercoaster is dropping very very fast now and Im getting more than a little bit scared.