Since memoirs are personal accounts of the author, I thought that an appropriate name for this category. I’ve not posted in MONTHS. I’ve been dealing with chronic back pain and all the “crap” that goes along with chronic pain. Decided to try writing some short memoir type posts.
Other than work, my life has become comsumed with pain and the cause of it. Short answer is scoliosis. According to orthopaedics, it is too mild to even talk about. I wholeheartedly agree it is nothing that needs any type of surgery. Where I disagree is that it is not the cause of my herniated and degenerated discs. You cannot have a curved and rotated spine and over time not think it will cause other problems that in turn cause pain, motion limitation, etc.
The bigger issue for my life is that the pain and now needles and numbing has made my love in life – dance – not possible. The pain is not so great that I can’t tolerate at this point. Last Aug I was out of my mind with it. Now my calf and foot feel like they are in icy water with needles or are mostly numb. There is also some loss of strength, maybe function. I am doing everything known to man to avoid surgery. It’s not that I don’t “believe” in surgery. It’s more that I believe in it being the last resort.
I’m on an exhaustive regime currently. I am going for decompression therapy 3x/week. I have strengthing exercises that I do 4-5 times a week. I have a few exercises and stretches that I do 2x/day, every day. This and work make up 90% of my waking time. I am mentally and physically worn out. Oh yea, I didn’t also mention the various heating packs, ice and muscle rubs that I must regularly use. sigh…
I am trying to be very grateful for the health I do have. I lost a friend last week to cancer. In the light of that, my back problems seem so minor. So, I am also aggressively seeking to change my default mental state and way of thinking. I have always loved Louise Hay’s work. I’ve started listening to her on my iPod on the way to work as a way to start my day in a better state of mind.
I hope to be back sooner rather than later this time.
new to this site. . . .I’d twitter follow this thread if I could. . . feel better