Good morning! With finally a full night's rest and waking up remotely pain free, I am feeling pretty good. The past few days... well, not so much. I know that I have back issues. This started years ago. I have a few ideas where this issue started, but I still go back to blaming a more recent incident for making my back spasm so much.... Here is the story that I have been sticking to.....
My first recollection of when I injured my back was when I was 16. I was fighting with a person I was dating and it became violent. That person wanted my attention regarding his jealous rage and slammed the middle of my back over the top of the car I was driving (my mom's old 1979 Chevy Nova). There was a raised edge of trim over the door windows that my back managed to hit. Being lifted by my arms and pushed into the car was not fun, nor appreciated. I broke up with that guy faster than the fight we had. I really did not have that many issues following that incident, but injuries like that never are forgotten.
Fast forward to 2007... After a few rear-end accidents that caused some whiplash, I figured that my back issues would remain random. After seeing a chiropractor for the last accident, I started to feel more in control of the random (and I mean very random with large gaps of being pain free) spasms. But in 2007, I started having some issues that created a band of pain so intense that it felt like I was wearing a belt made of fire and spikes which ended up being a gall bladder issue. Trying my hardest to be active during a vacation to Disney World was hard. Spending the day feeling fine and writhing in pain every night. Curiosity got the best of me and saw the doctor. When I was to go in for yet another test that would rule out gall bladder as the issue, I crumbled to the floor and ended up in the hospital. Got that test a few days earlier than scheduled and found out that I had sand in my gall bladder. SAND??? I never knew you can have sand... stones maybe, but not sand. Well, that is what I had... sand that shifted every time I laid down to sleep to cause the agonizing pain and randomly shifted throughout the day to make me miserable. Knowing that getting rid of this thing would be the solution and to get back to being "pain free". I was thrilled!! After the surgery, I had a solid week of being free from the agonizing band of hellish pain. I am cured, right? Nope.
Over the past 5 years (it will be 5 years in May), I have been having issues with my back at a random, but more frequent rate. Pain in varying places along my spine that radiate to the front of my body. The most prevalent area of pain is that hellish band of misery that still wakes me in the middle of the night. Between using ice packs, Tylenol, Advil or Aleve pain relievers with stretches and a well placed heating pad... I was able to manage okay. When things got bad I would visit the chiropractor, get adjusted and be fine for a week or so. I have ended up in the emergency room a few times over the course of the past 5 years (most of them in the first year after my surgery) to be told that those pains that mimic gall bladder issues are just "phantom pains". PHANTOM?? They sure are not made up in my head because I would never wish this type of misery upon my worst enemy (if I ever had one), but these doctors play it off as something I will to have happen. What a crock of B.S., if you ask me. After looking it up, it is possible to have pain where something once was, but no longer is there. I also learned that a person's diet needs to change when the gall bladder is removed. Thinking back to when I am having these issues... I look at what I eat, what I have done for the days prior, and even if there is some reason for this to happen that can be considered a milestone to something else (aka a woman's monthly "visitor"). Still there is not rhyme or reason that I can peg this pain from, but have to deal with it the best I can. I was told that back issues that stem from nerve damage from surgery can play a big role in frequent flare ups... This has been my final findings to why I am having issues with my back. Jabbing tools in my body to remove a gall bladder probably damaged some nerves that can cause radial pain at random times. There is no cure for that... just learning to deal with it is a lifelong journey.
Well, this past Friday I was having some back issues. I figured it was from the coughing and sneezing from a major hit in allergies. Add a little stress from an upcoming event and BAM... poor sleeping from my back issues. I figured that once everything settled down, I would be fine. Apparently not. The pain got worse and worse. The chiropractor's office was to open on Monday and if I could get there... everything would be back to manageable.... My body did not want to wait and sent me into a tirade of spasms and pain that washed over me in waves. I tried my full arsenal of "what to do" and it was failing miserably. The thermostat in the house was on the fritz and it was 84 degrees. Uncomfortably warm and melting my only reusable ice pack far too fast was not going to work. After seeing the thermostat on the fritz, I shut the thing off with hopes things would cool off. Sweating profusely, I thought I was having a heart attack. The pain was more intense than I ever experienced. Hyperventilating to control the pain, my mouth got painfully dry. No tears left to shed for release of the pain, I woke up DH to inform him that I have to call 9-1-1 and get an ambulance to pick me up. Crawling down the stairs, waiting for the ambulance to arrive, DH turns on the lights, unlocks the front door for me and watches me get hauled off to the hospital. Yep, the "woman of steel" that tolerates just about everything has fallen victim to pain so immense that she is screaming in a very strained voice for help. He asked for me to call him to pick me up when I get released since I refused to have him drive me. I was barely able to move to get myself in the truck to be driven.
After getting into the ambulance, I was given a pain killer via I.V. before leaving the front of my home. The roads are miserable on the way to the hospital with all those potholes that the driver could not miss, the lack of good suspension in the truck reverberated every jolt to my already aching spine. First dose of pain killer did not work. Got 5 more while spending the next 5 hours in the E.R.. Each one feeling more and more like a fast spin in a hot room. Not liking this feeling one bit. When things finally started to settle down, I was given one more dose for the road and released. Groggy, dizzy, nauseated, dying of thirst, and in need of something to eat, I call DH to pick me up. The nurse hands me the forms to sign for release, quickly explains what I need to do, hands me some papers with a prescription and lets me walk out of the E.R.. What is that all about? Still riddled with questions, but so out of it... I wait for DH to arrive and take me home. I call the hospital with my questions once I got home, call my mother to come over and watch over me because I was terrified having so much pain killer/muscle relaxer in my system and no food in it. My mom, that wonderful woman came over and took care of me. DH helped me with taking out the garbage for the night and did the dishes. He even offered to make dinner, but I felt coherent enough to boil some water to make a pot of pasta.
I did sleep most of yesterday away and even had a full night of sleep overnight. Awake with a slight headache today, I am thankful that I am not hurting anymore. My Uncle gave my mom some homeopathic stuff for back pain that works well for him and worked for my mom. I took one after eating dinner and went to bed after a short nap on the couch. I think this stuff has some serious potential since I was feeling like I was sunburned after getting the muscles to relax from those pain meds the hospital and ambulance gave me, but feel so much better today. I figured that the sensitive feeling I had all over my body was from tense muscles relaxing and would feel that residual pain for at least a few more days, but here I am... facing a new day and feeling just fine. Thanks mom! And be sure to thank my Uncle Bob, too!
Well, back to normal is what I need to be treating this day. I will take it easy, but I have way too much stuff to do. Have a good one everybody!!
No comments:
Post a Comment