Between mom’s successful move and our trip to Sweden you might think it was a rewarding summer but there was, and continues to be, a major health challenge in the mix. Earlier this summer I wrote about my spine surgery in the spring with recovery and rehabilitation continuing through the summer. Things were progressing pretty well until the later part of our international travels when I had a relapse that required an early return followed by six weeks of misery.
This required re-entering the healthcare system to get to the bottom of what happened and what to do about it. I became a weekly regular at the clinic getting x-rays and a spine CT along with both spine and hip MRI’s. Both symptoms and results led to a round of steroids along with a sacroiliac joint injection, a hip injection and even a Friday night visit to the ER. I could no longer sit comfortably in my easy chair so I took to the floor to ease my pain. Sleeping became a challenge and I toggled between heat and ice all day and night continually surfing the web looking for answers.
I mastered two system’s patient portals, had a remote visit with my surgeon’s PA and sent image disks through snail mail. Technology is a beautiful thing but all systems aren’t seamless for data sharing yet. I finally saw my local clinic system’s pain management provider and have a sciatic/piriformis injection scheduled in a couple weeks. I temporarily opted out of exercise based physical therapy substituting dry needling for trigger point pain. I did continue my stretching program on the floor at home every evening.
Some interventions worked, others didn’t but I have returned to and have stayed at a pain level of 0-3 for the past 10 days. I think the passage of time along with the bolus of meds I got in the ER somehow broke my pain cycle. In addition to the radiologist reads, I have had a half a dozen medical providers, including three orthopedic specialists, review my images and determine my hardware is intact and there are no other red flags on the images, although I still have questions about a couple things reported.
I have concluded that the walking and weaving I did during my travels somehow set off some body parts that weren’t/aren’t yet fully healed from the surgery. I am continually being reminded that it takes a year to fully heal from surgery, especially one as complicated as mine. So, for the rest of the year my plan is to get this final injection before we return to Flagstaff, continue my home stretching program, schedule an in-person visit with my surgeon’s PA, request a PT referral to continue dry needling, re-start my walking program and join a Pilates studio to continue building core strength under proper guidance.
Needless to say, there were a lot of concessions this summer/fall associated with my continuing health saga the least of which was “no canning,” unless of course you count the 16 jars of spiced apple jelly we made today and the four containers of new tomato sauce in the freezer. On the bright side, my mom has peacefully settled into her new home in Milbank so I get to see her several times a week and I have a lovely handwoven Swedish rug to look at every day plus, I cut 22 towels/napkins off the loom last week. Somehow, life goes on in spite of our human frailties.