Quote from dangovt:

[FONT=Comic Sans MS]I have had this done. Not to worry. I guess it's considered an o/p "surgery". Really it's a lot MORE like getting injections in your back and ALL of the literature you can find will tell you that there's NO recovery time (i.e. you should be back to work the next day). I would not go so far as to say that. I got mine done on a Wed. and had my PM doc write me a note to be off work Thurs/Fri (so it wouldn't count against my vaca/personal time--that was our policy). That way I had the weekend too. So it's variously call Radio Frequency Denervation/Ablation/Rhizotomy. Why so many names? You got me. I had 7 on one side and 5 one the other b/c of the extent of my degenerative disc disease. They just use local anesesthia (you have to be able to talk to them)and put in this really thin needle and the tip of it heats up and melts the myelin sheath off the nerve that goes to an area affected by a bulging/herniated disc or entrapped nerve root. They usually use IV Fentanyl for pain as it's somewhat more painful than the test procedure they do ahead of time--or so they say. Neither one struck me as particularly painful in contrast to what I go through every day. The minute I got up and walked away from where they had done the procedure--"Wha-lah--no pain in those areas!" OH! AND THERE'S NO NUMBNESS ON THE OUTSIDE. You wouldn't know you'd gotten the thing done--except that the pain is gone. I turned out NOT to need the time off either. I wasn't sore at all. I'd imagined a more grim procedure. Maybe if I had gone to work I would have regretted it. It would have been different than lounging around, drinking coffee and reading that's for sure! Unfortunately for me, I'm one of those "fast healers" so my myelin has regrown and my pain is back 5 months post-procedure. They say after you have it done a couple of times it becomes permanent. We can only hope.[/FONT]

:angel: thank you so VERY VERY MUCH for the input but maybe I didn't read what your injury was ?but I AM VERY THANKFUL that you shared your feelings /soul to me . my surgery "rfa" is on the 26th of this month .The injections I had WOW ..JUST thinking about that ..it gives me chills down the spine .I do hope we can REALLY become freinds .. I am also taking the ACTIQ LOLLYPOPS. .. ARE Fentanyl 1600 mcg . i had to have an extra thru the injections but as I sit here now .. 5 days after the injections . they are beginning to wear off.but come hell or high water bring the RF on . if I gone thru the terrible stabbing pain bring it on surgery wise please tell me all about your back injury
godbless .....tc