Eddie G Prodisc L4-L5 October 2006

[Eddie G]

My pain is still really bad. I am able to tolerate walking more but I need to lay down immediately afterward. Yesterday I coiuld not get out of bed because the pain was so bad. It took an hour to get up because I felt very "compressed". I can't walk today because it's raining so I'm drinking more tea to increase my bathroom walks.
The stress from the insurance co's calling me for forms the doctor didn't fill out doesn't help either. Things are constantly lost or never received. Or it's the wrong form. Yadda Yadda Yadda...In this day & age, there is so much incompetency in the world that I need to micromanage my entire life! I need to hire someone to follow up on each and every paper I fill out, every follow up phone call, every tiny detail in my life because I can't rely on people to do their jobs anymore. I think it's just a breakdown in society and part of the dumbing down of America. Sad really...

Anyone want to micromanage my life? I'll pay $1 an hour. No Green Card required.

[mmglobal]

Eddie... looking for an update???

[Maria]

Eddie,
Just wondering if you're feeling better than poopy...not too many days has passed so maybe this will take a while yet can't help but wonder.

Sending along some well wishes and hope you'll have as painless a holiday as possible

[Eddie G]

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope Santa gave everyone happy backs for a day.
I finally got a physical therapist to come to my home after 3 weeks of nothing, nada, zilch, zero, goose egg, zippo. I had an evaluation last Thursday and someone was supposed to come Friday or Monday. Nobody showed up so I called on Monday and they said someone would come on Christmas Eve which he finally did. (I am like a month behind schedule and I wonder if that's the reason why I have such severe pain) So my therapist "Fausto" did some minor stretching with me in the bed, stretched my hamstring with my cane, showed me how to correctly get out of bed, reminded me to keep pillows under my knees, and we also did some walking. He was happy with my walking. We also exchanged tomato sauce recipes since he was Italian and I had some secrets too. Stuff like infusing garlic and frying the wine. (yum) Everybody that came to dinner loved the sauce BTW.

I always walked throughout this whole ordeal but since the fusion surgery, my vertical time is VERY limited to about 30-40 minutes on my feet before I have to lay down. I'm totally unable to drive or go to a restaurant. I tried going to a restaurant and I was unable to squat/stand at the dinner table so I went to lie down in the car while Sweety ate by herself for a minute before she got up and left early too. I didn't like all the people staring at me either. People were wondering why I'm standing for dinner. Then when I'm squatting at the dinner table I can only imagine what people think.

Mertle: "Hey Harriet, look at that young whippersnapper, he's under the table over there! What do you suppose he's doing?"

Harriet: "I dunno Mertle, we didn't do things like that when we were young! We respected our eating establishments!"

Mertle: "I can't see his head anymore, I think we should call the police."

Hortense: "Damn kids today! We could use a man like Herbert Hoover again!"

Mertle: "Didn't need no welfare state."

Harriet: "Everybody pulled his weight"

Mertle/Harriet/Hortense: "Gee our old LaSalle ran great" *PTUI!* "Ohhh Myyyy" (as Harriet's teeth fly out and hit me in the head)

Yeah, I'm sure this is happening to spineys all over the country who are squatting at tables. If this happens to you, keep the teeth as they can be traded in at a pawn shop for even nicer stuff.

So it's Christmas Eve's Eve and I needed to go Christmas shopping, so Sweety dropped me off at the mall. I recently found that walking with two canes is more comfortable for me, so I go off walking with my two fancy wooden looped canes with the zig zagged bottoms. Well that prompts even MORE looks from the Lookey-Loos. I just wore my cool shades and stared right back! Well anyway, after 40 minutes of staring back at the Lookey-Loos at the mall, I was calling for my ride. The pain was just unbearable. I was only able to carry 2 gifts so Christmas was light this year at my house. I had to lay down the rest of the night.

I'm glad Dr. Goldstein renovated his waiting room so when I lay on his floor, it's not too gross.

I sure hope the pain gets better because it's worse than ever. I feel very compressed with very sharp pains in my back, hips and legs. Horrible, hideous pain that just makes me flat out MAD! I dont regret any decision I made because I cant look back in a few years and say I didn't try everything. I tried every injection, every test, every procedure, got the best doctors, the best hardware, etc... so if I am stuck living like this the rest of my life, I can say "I tried"
I am nervous about these new issues that have popped up with my hands & feet being in pain when I get up. They are always falling asleep and I can't close my hands all the way. I am also very dehydrated. I need to see a rheumatologist because the foot doctor says I have plantar faschitis and the dermatologist doesnt know what the symetric legions on my feet are. I hope I dont have psioriac arthritis. I have enough issues to worry about but I hear psoriaic arthritis can be triggered by spine trauma or inflammation. Interesting huh? Never heard that one before! My foot doctor is going to take molds of my tootsies so I will have plates to wear in my feet. That may even help my back....

Happy Holidays All!!!!!!

[Maria]

Hey Eddie,
I make a mean sauce as well (gp's from Naples/Foggia) however this year I didn't make sauce, meatballs, lasagna etc.. my usual Christmas type food (along w/turkey if there's a crowd tho this year just myself and my father).

Re dining out.. Soup Plantation/Sweet Tomato is great in terms of getting up and down a million times to get different foods. That was tolerable for me until I progressed to actually being able to sit a half hour to hour which generally happens post ESIs for a few months.

I do remember post my 2nd discectomy not being able to sit to drive more than about 5 minutes, eating out was out, and really so was anything that could not be accomplished alone and horizontally.

Thankfully I've progressed. The only doctor's office I ever laid down in that I was not pretty rapidly rushed into a room (somewhere even if the backest room in the place) was Dr.Regan's office during a squeezed in consult thanks to Mark and that office had I think 4 different doctors in it and was full of people. It was a long wait but definately worth it and lying down didn't bother me as much as other people!

I think people around me felt badly for me and starting offering to do things for me like go up the receptionist and get me something to lie on. I was really in quite a bit of pain and actually I think their kindness or perhaps pity made me feel even more acutely saddened and worked up.

I can pretty much ignore myself if everyone else would

Here's hoping the therapy will be helpful to the point of making a diff re more time upright and mobile while enduring less pain

[Eddie G]

Nothing new or good to report. I still have a constant stabbing pain in the left side and last night the right side started screaming. My pain manager raised my meds and gave me TWO breakthroughs (Roxicodone & Percoset)but he put the wrong date on the breakthrough script so I cant fill it until next month. I still have enough breakthroughs stockpiled the past few years to make it through until then.
I have home therapy 2x a week and I think I'm making progress there. I can do the exercises, even though they are painful, I still do them.
My vertical time is still 1/2 hour so I spend all of my time in bed. My queen size electric bed was delivered but the guy came alone so he couldnt bring it upstairs. I am still living in the living room so I guess the room is being used for what was intended for.
I am getting really good at GTA4. I will be working on the Rugby08 game next.
I see Dr. Goldstein on Monday and he's has some splaining to do.

[Maria]

Hey Eddie,
I'm just wondering if you're a TV person? I wasn't much of late until my feet started to act up with this Posterior Tibial Tendonitis and whatever else they had/have going on. Round about the time I was still dealing with daily pain with little walking I came to Florida to visit my 87 y.o. father. Not much to do here but watch TV and read so I am passively getting into House again, and saw the very first episode of Grey's Anatomy last night. Wow... that was good.

At home I watch alot of news in Spanish and or movies in Spanish and some of the funny soaps as well. It's a kick ~ I love that I know what everyone is saying and it's no effort anymore. Even getting the humor now pretty much on a regular basis except some jokes are going to be beyond me no matter what.

I hope the good doc can *splain* whaz happenin' w/your back. Maybe some more diagnostics. Take care and hope the bed is comfty~ Maria