Re: So here I am...
And another update....
The last spasm episode stopped two weeks after it started. To the day. I drove my daughter somewhere, got out and found that it did not hurt anymore. I had the rhizotomy done on the left side only in March. It did not seem to help much at the time. I graduated from the strider to walking 2.75 miles per day after I stretched and did core strengthening. As my back got better and I got stronger I started walking 4.5 miles a day as fast as I could. I wear a Heart Rate monitor and started using the walks to build up aerobic endurance. As I got in better shape I had to do push-ups, curls or squats to fatigue myself before my walks so I could get my HR up. I was up to 100 push-ups and 100 curls every other day and about 200 squats (no weights, just the squat motion) on the days I did not do push-ups.
One Friday in May my wife called me into our room and showed me the water on our floor that had leaked from our flotation bed, (Yes, I had one. It is what my wife wanted and we got it before my back problems). Anyhoo, we decided to get a new bed even though we could not really afford one.
We bought a Serta iComfort memory foam bed. Kinda like a Tempur Pedic but different memory foam. Within two weeks the back pain stopped being a distraction and became a sometime nuisance. I think it was a combination of the bed, exercise and the rhyzotomy.
A week before this last Monday I saw the doc and requested that my right side rhyzotomy be performed. The next day I drove to California's Gold Country to visit my mother. I had driven to Phoenix and back to SoCal twice in June ( to help my father who had some health issues) so the 500 mile drive to Penn Valley would be ok on my back.
Wednesday I took a walk at my mother's house and felt a twinge in my right hip. I knew it was my back acting up but I figured I would walk it out...
By The next Monday (this past Monday) I was in full-spasm. I was supposed to leave Tuesday and even got 30 miles away but had to turn around due to the pain. I could not handle 9 hours of driving home. I was stranded.
Fortunately my father had to fly to Sacramento on Wednesday to take care of some business. My younger brother suggested he take me home. I drove to Sacto in about an hour (Back was on fire when I got there and the right leg would not support weight for about ten minutes) and met my father. He drove me home in my car.
So...My back is hurting again and I have spent about five or six hours a a day doing stretches, core exercises, cold and heat therapy. I also was able to do the 2.75 mile loop walk at a much slower pace. I must say this truly sucks.
I have been playing as I feel better standing up than sitting. When I am not playing I am on the floor stretching, "coring" and whining.
I do have the right side rhyzotomy tomorrow at 1430 hours. At least that was approved with the initial request and could not come at a better time.
