A member of our staff will review your procedure and answer any questions you may have. You will be asked to sign a consent form giving us permission to perform your procedure. An IV will be started which will be used to administer fluids and a mild anesthetic which will minimize any discomfort you might experience during the procedure.

     You will be taken to the procedure suite where Dr. Varley will perform your procedure. Your family must wait in the waiting room due to recent government privacy regulations. When your procedure is finished you will go to the recovery area where we will monitor your vital signs, your response to the procedure and make sure no complications occur. You will be in recovery about 30 minutes.

     The average time from admission to discharge is approximately 2 to 3 hours, however there are exceptions. Although we try very hard to stay on schedule, each patient is very important to us and when doing procedures we want to do all we can to decrease each of our patient's pain. This can sometimes take longer than initially anticipated. We ask that you please be patient if your time here is longer than expected. We will do all we can to make your procedure day as comfortable as possible.

     After you have recovered from the procedure you will be discharged home. Prior to being released a nurse will make sure you can walk without difficulty.

     It is normal to be sore at the site of the procedure for several days. You may notice that the pain you were having gets worse for 5-7 days after the procedure. Until the medications have time to decrease the inflammation in the tissue and nerve, the pain may seem somewhat worse. The medicines that are placed around your pain generators are local anesthetics and steroids. The local anesthetic causes the immediate pain relief most patients experience for 4-6 hours after the procedure. The medication generally wears off within 8 hours. It is also the cause of the temporary numbness you may notice after the procedure. The steroids utilized start acting very slowly. They are designed to last longer in order to decrease the areas of inflammation more effectively.