My father had pretty serious back troubles when I was younger. I don’t remember him ‘throwing it out’ often (perhaps he did and I just don’t remember) but I do remember that it all came to a head sometime around my Jr. year of high school that involved ruptured discs, a hospital stay with 7 days in traction followed by surgery and several weeks of him working out of a home office that consisted of a rug on our living room floor that he would lie face down with papers spread about. I remember that getting in and out of the car was difficult, and that sitting in the car and driving was nearly impossible for a period of time. I remember his back stretches. I remember that it did get better.
Whether hereditary or not I too have had my share of back issues over the years mostly down to being out of shape and/or straining things too hard with yard work, marathon training, or other random stuff. This week what seemed like another in a “no big deal” string of inflammations delivered (via an MRI yesterday) the upsetting news that my back looks like one of an “aerobics instructor” in terms of the number of and the degree to which my discs are herniated. I’ll get more details today but basically it’s nearly all the discs from cervical on down with the worst being L4-5. Those little babies are bulging or whatever they do and are touching the nerve – likely causing lot of my pain. Yesterday was my first in what is meant to be a series of 3 cortisone shots – step number 1 to reducing inflammation to the point where I can move and sleep (would be nice) and then figure out what to do from here.
I can safely say that getting a shot in my spinal cord was the most scary thing I’ve had to experience so far in this life. The staff was wonderful and really did a great job keeping me calm and making me feel better but HOLY CRAP what they call “you’ll feel some pressure” has a whole different level of meaning when it’s pressure on your OH, spinal cord. Super duper mega thanks to colleague Stacia for driving my panicked ass to and from the loooooong appointment.
And a note: Yes, thank you, those who have said “you’ll wreck your body” about one of my crazy fitness exploits (marathon training, CrossFit, etc). I know you’re saying it out of love and you may well be totally and completely right. However, I LOVE doing those things and while they MIGHT have contributed to this back thing they have also made me much healthier in many other ways such as weight, flexibility, and most importantly mentally. There’s every possibility that this would be exactly the same had I never run a mile in my life.
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