I went for my spinal tap the other day, or lumbar puncture - what ever you want to call it.

so I made a big to-do about how I could do this by myself and I did not need my parents to come with me but my dad insisted - and I am so glad that he did - I'm 23 and I actually cried all the way through and kept screaming for the woman to stop along with some obscenities that do not need repeating here.

I felt compelled to arrive late given the terrible reception I received last time I was on the ward and so I sat in the waiting area with my dad until the lady who professes to be a trained medical nurse turned up and took me through to an empty ward ... an eerily empty ward I might add

The woman (note I do not use the word nurse - I feel she was not actually qualified) talked me through the entire procedure and I have to say she made me feel better - until she got the needles out – she put in the anaesthetic which did numb the sharpness but I had specifically asked for sedation which she said she didn’t know about and so she did not give me any. I hate people touching my back – I know it sounds weird but when I was at college I got really bad depression – which was probably something to do with my N but I had no idea what that was at the time –anywho – they put me on Prozac and I got such bad spasms from it that from then on I can not abide people being near my back hence my desire for sedation.

So she stuck the needle into my back and hit the same damn nerve every time – I screamed – there was nothing for it – I was too polite to move so I stuck through it –every one of the four attempts she made until I finally screamed for her to stop and to get me some sedation – she then read through my notes and found that I was expecting to get Valium.

She gave me the Valium but did not give it enough time to work before she started randomly stabbing my back again at which point I fell asleep, two hours later I work up and a doctor came in and put me in a different position and did it straight away with out any problems – I am also under the vague impression that he took my blood as I have a bruise and a needle point there but I was out of it by this point.

To make matters worse – I have a minor op on my back and with all the messing around with the spinal tap – the stitches came undone and I now have an infected mess on my back – woohoo!!

The NHS rocks!!!