Nairek L5-S1 ALIF Fusion January 2009

[Nairek]

Originally Posted by Kathy Earhart

Karin, Sounds like things are improving for you. Sucks you are having SI joint issues. Just wondering, where the heck are the SI joints? I have read alot about them; but no idea where they are.

Where in Florida are you looking to move to? I had my surgery in Aventura, right next to North Miami Beach. It is beautiful there. People honk too much though, light barely turns green and 3 horns go off. They honk just driving down the road, you do that in Dallas and you will end up shot They were also very rude, not near as friendly as people in Texas (aside from the crazy people that will shoot you for honking at them )

Hi Kathy,

Yeah, it does suck to have SI Joint issues. Especially when the doc presses over the joints & I about scream from the pain. Nice picture huh? The SI Joints are located basically at the end of the lower back & the beginning of the buttocks. Here is a link that I found that shows a picture where they are at: Google Image Result for http://www.vancouveryoga.com/assets/graphics/p_sacroiliac_anatomy.jpg

If it doesn't work, go to Google, type in SI Joint & then click on images in the upper left hand corner of the page. It will pull up pictures for you.

I have had 1 injection into each SI Joint. Each injection offered maybe a 20-30% decrease in my pain so basically we aren't going further with additional injections at this time.

We are buying a house in SW Florida about an hour north of Naples. We should be closing in a little over a week. Now the fun starts with trying to get our house in NY ready to put on the market. The real estate market here in NY is less than favorable. We sunk a lot of money into this house & it hurts to have to sell it. But we just can't afford to take a chance with layoffs looming in the future. I would do anything to take my kitchen with me but if I did that, there is no way this house will sell.....lol!

As for the honking Floridians, keep in mind that a lot of them are transplants from NY & NJ. Patience isn't one of our virtues. I spent 6 days in the hospital in NYC. Believe me when I tell you that I know what you mean about the honking! I'm shocked that Texans will shoot when honked at. I'll keep that in mind if I ever visit Texas again!!!

[Katie]

Originally Posted by Nairek

Hi Kathy,
As for the honking Floridians, keep in mind that a lot of them are transplants from NY & NJ. Patience isn't one of our virtues. I spent 6 days in the hospital in NYC. Believe me when I tell you that I know what you mean about the honking! I'm shocked that Texans will shoot when honked at. I'll keep that in mind if I ever visit Texas again!!!

I'm surprised you heard so much honking while in the NYC hospital! When we were there a few weeks ago, we were surprised how quiet the traffic was around the hospital...almost no honking at all. For our first time in the Big Apple we were amazed after all the stories we had heard about the nasty drivers.

Then we saw the posted signs warning of a $350 fine for honking

Honestly, I found the traffic there to be very easy to get through, and we drove right down to the Lennox Hill site to see Dr. Bitan. The cabbies even let us in when we needed to change lanes! Maybe they thought they needed to give us tourists a lot of room

[Nairek]

Originally Posted by Katie

I'm surprised you heard so much honking while in the NYC hospital! When we were there a few weeks ago, we were surprised how quiet the traffic was around the hospital...almost no honking at all. For our first time in the Big Apple we were amazed after all the stories we had heard about the nasty drivers.

Then we saw the posted signs warning of a $350 fine for honking

Honestly, I found the traffic there to be very easy to get through, and we drove right down to the Lennox Hill site to see Dr. Bitan. The cabbies even let us in when we needed to change lanes! Maybe they thought they needed to give us tourists a lot of room

I'm super sensitive to noise. I did hear honking at times but it wasn't all that horrible. The ambulance sirens in the middle of the night woke me up sometimes but it is a hospital after all

You are brave to drive down in the city! I've done it only a few times to Queens & that was more than enough for me. Of course that was before my car accident & not long after getting my driver's license so I was still brave....LOL!

[Katie]

Without my dear husband, I wouldn't be so brave He is a brilliant navigator, and I try not to backseat drive or freak out too much when there are sirens coming at us from both directions

And if I got too stressed, my dog would crawl up and give me a kiss...love my guys...two legged and four.

[Nairek]

I'm carrying this over from my "Another Year Older" thread. I should have posted it here but wasn't thinking last night.

Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! When I woke up that morning to get ready for work, I wanted to just take the day off from both of my jobs & enjoy the day. Sadly I didn't & wish I had.

One of my co-workers asked for help looking up something in the database. I was able to find what she was looking for within 10 seconds. Then my co-worker, for whatever reason, decides to grab me by my shoulders & shake me back & forth in my chair! The only thing I could do is grab my desk & say quite loudly "Don't EVER do that again" as I felt pain radiate from around my fusion.

So the rocket scientist says "OMG I forgot, I'm so sorry". So I tell her maybe I should get up, walk out to my truck & walk around with my cane for the rest of the day so she'll remember.

:::Sigh::: so the rest of my days was kind of shot after that. I wasn't in an incredible amount of pain, but there was more than there usually is. I made it through the rest of the day & went home. When my husband asked me how my day was & I told him what happened, he turned about 3 different shades of white & almost became ill. I had to explain to him that there is driftwood in the sea that has more brain cells than my co-worker.

Later on in the evening, I was walking around in the backyard & had a recurrence of the shooting pain down my right leg for a split second. That was the 1st time since surgery that it has happened. It kind of freaked me out.

So the next day, my co-worker comes up to me & asked me if I was OK. I told her about the shooting pain incident & told her that the new rule was to "Never touch the gimp again"!

Since then, I seem to be doing OK. No lasting effects from the shaking. Just PO'd that it happened.

[Jakea222]

I have not had surgery - I wear a brace - I hurt like a big dog and my co workers (cooks and the chef) all know not to touch me in a way that make me jerk or whatever because it just kills me - I cannot understand why someone would shake someone even in an office setting. I have to say that your "loud" voice --- well lets just say since I am a chef I probably would have had to throw something! Great job on that and I love when I am in a pain level 5 zone and the fact somebody knocks it up - well OW! Is all I can say - maybe we all should wear fluorescent arm bands like the medic alert - as far as the honking cars I am more sensitive to noise but it is due to drugs I think --- as far as NYC driving - give me in and around NYC and the Hudson Valley anyday compared to Atlanta! Horrible place - too many cell phone drivers!

[Nairek]

I don't think she really meant any harm but it just ticked me off that she didn't even think before doing it. I'm not mad at her, just can't believe that she did it.

I heard that the traffic in Atlanta is horrible. The beautiful Hudson Valley has become over run with the Westchester & City folk. It takes me 35-40 minutes just to drive 16 miles to work.

I use to love to drive until I was involved in an MVA. I should post the pictures of what my car looked like afterwards & then you would understand why I now hate to drive.