I CAN........

[EdKaz]

 .......DANCE!

Well kinda,........sorta...........oh hell..truth is I cant dance for crap

But I sure do feel damn good (so far) after I Saw Doc today for a second round of  epidural injections this morning.

  HE HIT EXACTLY THE RIGHT SPOT THIS TIME!!!!!!

After the La La meds wore off and I woke from my nap at 3-4 oclock this afternoon...Ive been UP on my feet  and moving CONSTANTLY until now....my legs are WORE OUT...but Ive been runnin round for HOURS, virtually PAIN FREE for the first time in YEARS!.

"Crabby Patty" has left the building.

Hoping this lasts for more than a day or 5.......and that if it does wear off, doc can hit the same spot again, and again... and ....again and again...............................

Of course doc has already informed me he can only do 3 sets per year, and the injections dont really "fix" anything, but for Now............ THIS Song keeps running through my still somewhat foggy Noggin

[JR]

Thats great Ed. Being in pain all the time sucks. I can't dance ay all myself. I have two left feet.

[Mugwump]

Dance??....that's great!!!...I'm glad for you, Ed....back pain's a bitch... .....

[Ron Sower]

Dude!  That video was showing how I dance WITHOUT my back pain!  Fun vid. Thanks!
And I'm really happy you're free of pain and hope it lasts a long time.  Did you ever have any surgery?

I'm dreading the day they tell me to get it. That's why I'm doing the PT and trying to stay on track with the exercises, although I hate to exercise just for the sake of exercising.  But Mt. Rainier trail is waiting for me!! (No not a summit hike, just around the lower park area!).

[EdKaz]

Did you ever have any surgery?

3 so far, including a three level lumbar fusion, with failure to fuse at the lowest level.

Here is a picture of SOME of the hardware they removed, and replaced last surgery


Talk is needing to go in and now fuse one more level higher. That disc has taken a beating/ruptured/disintegrated from the lowest levels being fused/tied together with hardware. Fragments of it, and the instability caused by its destruction are thought to be my leg nerve pain generator.

The ongoing back pains I can and have dealt with to a large degree.......the leg pain caused by irritating the nerve, is unbearable at times. It feels like scalding hot coffee poured down the thigh, or someone trying to cut off my leg with a dull butter knife.

This round of injections was more or less simply to help confirm what they have suspected via a battery of other tests, before they go cutting me open again.

Mine has been a helluva a road with many twists, turns, dead ends and LOTS of learning in the process.

MY experience, as well as the shared experiences during many Dr visits with others, would have me telling you or anyone else considering back surgery to RUN, or walk and take frequent breaks, but do whatever you can possibly do to avoid surgery at all costs......... unless  you have exhausted ABSOLUTELY EVERY other option....Including seeing an assortment of Drs. and getting as many opinions as possible.

A Mt. Rainier trail hike (even the lower park area) and picture taking excursion sounds like a great way to spend some time. Keep up on the exercises.

Im sure I speak for many here when I say .......WE WANT PICTURES!

[Ron Sower]

Ed, your chronicle of your back surgeries is mostly what I hear from PTs and Docs and lay people as well. The surgery to fix one disc/vertebra area leads to the adjacent ones carrying the load and they then begin to disintegrate. I've told my docs that I don't want surgery, but they tell me I have a different thing. Yet your description of the pain is so similar to mine. 

I already have some pretty neat pics of Rainier from last year.  I just need to spend the time to learn how to upload them here!!!!!

[PaulineMi]

Ed thanks for confirming what I believe to be true.  I've been to physical therapy, pain management, yoga, chiropractors, massage therapists, physiatrists, general practitioner and an orthopedic surgeon.  The pain management docs have been the best for me.  I have no desire to take narcotics or have surgery...they respect that and have helped immensely using other options. 

Whew...you certainly have gone through a lot with surgery on your spine. That piece of "hardware" is something else. Sorry to hear you will have to have more surgery. I'm amazed that you are able to keep up with all you are doing with your fish and tanks.

Ron...do you use "Photobucket"?  That's what I use to get photos on the forum.

[wsantia1]

Ed sorry to hear about all of those surgeries.  I have no desire to have any surgeries on my back and your illustration has reinforced that for me.   

[EdKaz]

 Been the narcotics route.....quickly learned thats NOT for me..... so I wound up taking LOTS of naps
Previous Drs prescribed Neurontin...basically a seizure medication to numb the nerve pain......that worked for a lil while. Problem was, it also numbed the thing the nerves feed.......the gray matter between my ears. I used to have to read something 4-5 times a snetence at a time to even begin to remember and or comprehend what it was I read. Walk up the stairs with an empty coffee cup to get a fresh cup.....and even with the cup in my hand I forgot what I went upstairs for. Short term memory went right out the window.

We had things pretty much under control until a year and a half ago when a relatively minor trip up, sent things down the crapper again.
  Doing the fish thing now, keeps me moving. Takes me WAY longer to do things because I take LOTS of sit down or laydown breaks... but If it wasnt for the fish keeping thing,  I would just be sitting around doing nothing, and THAT simply locks me up.

This round of injections have given me at least a few days of feeling somewhat normal. While my back still feels great, I can already feel the leg starting to screw with me. No where near what it was and certainly bearable, so Im going to take advantage of it while I can.

If ya ever need to talk... or just vent frustrations about your back issues feel free to PM me.

Good luck  in YOUR struggles to regain some sense of "normalcy".....and remember to KEEP MOVING the best you can, doing so will more often than not help you more than any knife is likely to.