Back to Work

I headed back to the office today after six weeks. The first two weeks off were spent at a conference for work and a week with family in California. The last four weeks were spent recovering from the slightly herniated disk in my back.

Today was good, but I was there only for a half day. Two more days of half-days and if all goes well, back to full-time on Friday.

I tell ya, I have a renewed appreciation for the little things like:

• Turning my head without pain
• Putting on a pair of socks without pain
• Getting up out of a chair without pain

OK, I could go on and on, but let's just say that pain teaches appreciation of things big and small.

If all goes well this week, I can start working on core exercises next week and then on to the stationery bike. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Getting better and better

I'm feeling better and better. While sitting continues to be uncomfortable sometimes, I can stand to put my pants on rather than sit on the bed and putting on my socks is getting easier and easier. I can even walk short distances without any trouble.

The key, though, is not overdoing it. So based on doctor's orders, I'm still icing and heating and relaxing as much as possible in the recliner.I saw my M.D. to share my MRI results that the chiropractor ordered. He had some interesting things to say like some research indicates that I may have been born with the herniated disc rather than having "done" something to cause it.

He said several other things but I can't remember (I should have blogged about this the same day). He did say sitting is the worst position for me and encouraged me to stand at work as often as possible when I return. And he, like the chiropractor, assured me I'd run again.

Went to a girls basketball game at my alma mater today. They recognized all the alumni players. Now I'm headed to a family reunion for Christmas. We have such a large family, we rent out part of a building at the local university. I doubt we'll stay as long as usual. Don't want to overdo it, yet I need to start going out to I can get enough strength to to go back to work. I could probably make it back to work later this week, but since I'll get two days off for Christmas, there's no reason to rush back.

Real progress

This will be fairly short because I've been up longer than I should be and am starting to feel it. That's one of my challenges is to not get ahead of myself when I start to feel better.

After a horrible day emotionally yesterday, today has been a good day both physically and emotionally. Physically, I've been feeling better bit by bit, but today I saw big improvements. Today was the first day I woke up and wasn't really hurting from the get-go. Later in the day, I actually got up and down off the toilet without holding on to the adjacent towel bar for support. Woo-hoo! That's big. I didn't really plan not to use the bar, it just happened.

Finally, a few minutes ago, I was able to reach for the front of the arms on the recliner (while fully reclined) and pull myself up to the sitting position without pain. First time since this whole thting started.

I slept really well last night, although I'm still on the air mattress because our bed aggravates my back right now. It was interesting learning how to get up and down off the floor without screaming out. Sometimes it was so tough, but it felt so much better to be on the air mattress -- with pillows under my knees -- than on our bed.

One last note, my husband (whom I lovingly have been calling "Fred" as in Fred, not Florence, Nightingale) has cooked, cleaned, looked after me, bought me gifts, made sure I take my meds, and been so supportive. I'm one lucky girl.

Not good news but it could be worse

Let's cut to the chase. The MRI showed a herniated disc at L5/S1. The good news though is no surgery, there is no nerve involvement, the herniation is in a "good" spot and my doc says she expected the MRI to show more damage. Treatment will probably be "decompression" -- I'll learn more about that on Monday and then PT.

I've been off work for two weeks (and out for four weeks because I was at a conference in California and then tacked on a week of vacation so we could spend Thanksgiving with my husband's brother's family. This happened on the trip). Now, it looks like I'll be out another two weeks. Six weeks off from work would normally sound great but this is definitely not the way to make it happen. I stopped the pain meds the other day and was fine, but had to start them again today.


So bottom line is no yoga running for who knows how long. Good news is the doc says I'll be able to do everything I did before this happened. She says most physical injuries/illnesses are either physical, chemical or emotionally based. So I just need to start paying attention to my nutrition a lot more and try to reduce the stress in my life. I don't want to go into details but it's been a tough 18 months. I talk to someone regularly about it all, but guess I need to do more(meditation, etc.)


I know no one really reads this thing but me, but if anyone out there catches this and knows of anyone who has come back to running following disc herniation, I sure could use some encouragement. If you only know of horror stories, please don't bother. You'd think I wouldn't have to write that but how many times haven't people told pregnant women all kinds of horrible things that happened during delivery or someone heading into surgery some tragic story.


OK, so that's the end of my whining, I hope. I'll try to be more positive from here. I have no idea how this thing happened since I just woke up with it, but I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure I never see a repeat. I know others have experienced things far worse like Frayed Laces who broke her pelvis in a marathon a year ago and just qualified for Boston. I just have to be patient -- and smart.

Waiting

Unfortunately, things haven't gotten any better with my back. I had an MRI yesterday and get the results back tomorrow. The MRI was a real challenge for me. I am extremely claustrophobic and while it was an "open" MRI with the sides open, the machine is still only 17 inches at the most from the face. It was a long 28 minutes.

They had me lie down with my feet propped up with a pillow under my knees. Then then moved the table into the machine. My husband had warned me how loud an MRI is (think jackhammer noises). The tech gave me headphones and played music, but I couldn't even make out the words part of the time because the machine was so loud. Luckily, the extremely loud part comes and goes.

The tech also gave me a panic button if I needed it. The first two minutes, I was really tempted not only because of the anxiety but because I wanted to make sure it worked. But I didn't. I also wanted to have asked him to count down in 5-min increments so I'd know how much time was left. Too late for that question too.

I decided I would figure out the timing on my own. I'd asked for the local station that plays Christmas music. I figured that each song lasts 2 to 3 minutes. So surely after 10 songs, the test would be over. I tried to do deep breathing to relax, let my mind wander to my favorite beach (Destin, FL) and count songs. Sure enough, after roughly 7 songs and several commercials, it was over.

My back actually felt better during the test than any other time in the last several days. So now I'm spending a good portion of my day on the family room floor and pillows under my knees. It is actually the only time I am almost painfree.

If this is a bulging disc, looks like no running for a few months while I do therapy and focus on strengthening my core, etc. Thank goodness it's winter here in Ohio. I don't know what I'd do if I lost my favorite running months of the year.

OK, I've been sitting at the computer for 10 minutes or so and the pain is saying "time's up." That's it for now.

12 days of...back pain

So much for the 12 days of Christmas. I have had the 12 worst days of back pain of my life. I am getting better but it is such a slow process. We still don't know what caused the sacrum/tailbone pain, but let's just say at it's worst, I walked an awful lot like my 90-something uncle when he was alive.

I know I'm improving because the drugs are finally having an effect. For the first two days, they didn't even touch the pain. Case in point: I confused my meds and took a double dose of the painkiller three times instead of the muscle relaxant and I was still in horrible pain. Now it's just much more nagging pain but it can still take my breath away every once in a while. I can, occasionally, sit or stand for a few minutes without much discomfort. So we're making progress.

When this first happened, all I could think of was when would I be able to run again? Maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow, maybe tomorrow became my mantra. After that, it was maybe next week. Now I'm at maybe at the beginning of the year. It would be a good way to begin 2009 being able to run again. Here's hoping -- and no more whining.

I'm still home from work (6 days and counting). Looks like I'll be out most if not all of the rest of the week and then head back half-days for a bit. I wasn't looking forward to running in the cold after our two weeks in CA, but now I'd welcome a cold-weather run.

Back to (in)action

OK, so that little back trouble I mentioned in the last post has turned into the worst back problem of my life. (And, of course, it happens when I just had my best run in a year.) I have suffered from back trouble since I fell off a bunkbed and on to my tailbone when I was 11 or so. Plus, I was in a couple of car accidents that caused undiagnosed -- for 20 years -- whiplash. So I have been prone to minor aches and pains. But this, this is a whole new place and I don't ever want to visit it again.

I have seen the crancial-sacral doc and the chiropractor. Both said the same thing "It seems like a tailbone injury." But I didn't fall on my tailbone. I didn't do anything. I just woke up with the pain one morning. After missing the last four days of work -- I can't stand, sit, lie down for any length of time and I'm in pain almost every minute and sometimes it's been so bad I can barely roll over. Other times, I can't walk without my knees buckling.

So today I finally caved and called the M.D. Seems he can't see me until next week -- and neither can any of the other four docs in the practice. What the hell? Are that many people really sick?

I told the nurse I didn't really care about seeing a doc as long as he'd just give me some drugs. I finally just took the first pain killer about 45 minutes ago and nothing yet. Boy, I'll be glad when these things kick in.

I see the chiropractor again tomorrow. Looks like no yoga this weekend and several more days before I can run again. I've already gone without running for 8 days and I'm going a little batty.

It seems there might be a chance the back problem is the result of the old injury "unraveling" and going back to the correct position. I guess I should expect some nasty discomfort when ligaments, tendons and muscles could be moving to new positions after being stuck in the wrong spot for 35 years.

I'll just have to be patient. Not one of my greatest virtues, but I'm learning.