My story after all these years/ update/02/03/18 back surgery yesterday

[Alchemist]

I don't have numb feet, I have extreme sensitivity in my feet! They cramp up, and feel like the toes belong to someone else! Sometimes it can feel like one foot is trying to touch my nose while the other is being twisted 180 degrees at the same time! Those feelings are none stop if I over extend myself by spending to much time on my feet! The problem being that there are no warning signs of what is to much time! One day could be less or longer then the next, no rhyme nor reason to it! It can be as little as walking to the end of my driveway 100 plus feet just once or the next time I can do it three or four times. On any day or every day, I should say they always have minor cramping, but the meds that I take help keep pain levels down.

Hi Bob,

I should have said the "return of more normal feeling".  I have had numb areas of various sizes and shapes.  I get extreme hypersensitivity on the way from numb to relatively normal. But first there are jolts of shooting pains, then painful tingling and then fading to tingling. It feels like I have wadded up socks under my toes.  Currently, and for the past 5 years, I have regained my sense of "where" my feet and lower legs are.  I can tell position so no more tripping over toes and foot drop.

Low potassium causes me terrible muscle cramping.  It is much reduced with adequate potassium.

[hammer]

I watch potassium levels very closely for that reason, still have cramps, called nerve cramps!

[hammer]

Here it is Friday and I had my first "once" a month acupuncture treatment as planed last Monday. I was due for it as my pain levels had been going up the last week, and I've been also babying myself as well. After the doctor was done, as usual getting up of the table was hard, but in time a felt good and went home.

On this day my wife and I were going to meet my oldest daughter too at the home that her and her husband are buying for the home inspection, as me being a retired builder she wanted to be sure he was doing a good job. I walked around the outside of the house with him and by the time we got half way I was ready to collapse, so I needed to go sit, however I could see that he really was worth every penny that she was paying him! We were there another three hours and that as been hard on me all week, but I would do it again, as I love my daughter, I  just wish I could have finish the inspection with him, however we went over it when he was done.

I've been wanting to build a "jack stand" for removing my wheelchair carrier off the back of my truck. I've got it all designed, metal all together, saw, cutting touch and welders all set up, but no energy! I've gone out for about 15min per day and cut 2 or 3 pieces of metal to at least get it started! Once I get this built I will be able to remove the carrier when it is up in the folded position and then pull the camper and have the ATV or the 3 wheel Moped in the back of the truck, or even the power wheelchair. The temp here also hasn't gone above 55 very much and that is hell on arthritis as well!

As of today, Friday, I can't say that Mondays acupuncture has done much good, or did I over do it to soon?

My wife's always says, that "when you got your health, you've got everything"! You know, that says a lot!

[igotum]

"My wife's always says, that "when you got your health, you've got everything"! You know, that says a lot!"

Amen to that brother. My arthritis med got cut to 1 a day from 2 a day because the blood test showed my kidney were crying for help. Mercy. If I just stand more than I should I pay for it. I understand your plight.

[hammer]

"My wife's always says, that "when you got your health, you've got everything"! You know, that says a lot!"

Amen to that brother. My arthritis med got cut to 1 a day from 2 a day because the blood test showed my kidney were crying for help. Mercy. If I just stand more than I should I pay for it. I understand your plight.

I don't know if you have read my story from the start, but I once was a very fit person, but not anymore!

They say that God never gives us more then we can handle. Well, I say as a follower of Jesus Christ, BRING IT ON! When I'm done here I'm going to the promise land!

[igotum]

I have not done a my story. I just keep putting more on here a little at a time. I once was a tough man work wise. I am sort of in your shoes. In 1990 I had back surgery. It was rough going. I stayed off work 6 months and went back to work but for 2 years I just went one day at a time like the song Christie Lane sings. In 2003 had a heart attack and 4 bypasses. Then A-fib starts up. My strength is gone. A 40# bag of fertilizer is about all I can pick up. I tried to pick up an 80# bag of Sackcrete the other day and couldn't. Very humbling. I was big and strong when I was a pup. I could press 470# at my peak in high school. Just memories............

[hammer]

Yep, your story is like mine, The names have been changed to protect the innocent!

The hardest part about going down hill so fast is acceptance! Compared to having breast, the breast are nothing more then a hang nail!

[Alchemist]

Hi Bob,

I found out decades ago how easy it is to over do things.  When I started rehabilitation after 20 years of deterioration I had to start by increasing my daily walk by one driveway distance a day, about 50-100 feet.  With upper body I had to start with empty hands working up about 8 ounces at a time for each hand's weight.  A little too much could cost me 2 weeks of setback.  The alternative is downhill.  I haven't found that a "holding" effort works.  It is either doing better or getting worse.  And when the most one can do doesn't even allow holding even, it's all downhill from there.

[Alchemist]

Hi Bob,

You appear to be about the only other person here who is as banged up as I am.  After a 30 year decline and 17 of them scraping the bottom, and every diagnosis and treatment completely wrong, hope and disappointment got very hard on me.  I have had 9 years of improvement with ups and downs, 2 years almost holding level and now clearly on the downswing again, I am depressed and upset.  And this is about what somebody with a twice or thrice botched surgery here might be going through.  It isn't item specific, it is repeated hope and dashed hope.  That and being in pain 24/7, "controlled" to a relatively large degree but lot's still present and getting worse again.  I find a likely wheelchair in my future quite scary.

How do you take the ups and downs over and over and maintain a good mood?

[hammer]

It isn't much of a secret at all my friend, it is love of family and a very strong faith in Jesus Christ as my Savior, and God the father! Knowing no matter how hard it is here on earth I can deal with it because my reward comes when I leave.

If you need or just want to vent, I'll me more then happy to PM my phone number to you, or if you don't have long distance coverage I do have unlimited so I can do the calling, or we can Skype! I'm also a good listener as we are in the same boat as far as being the most banged up.

I do get down sometimes but I think of the little ones at Saint Jude's, or at the VA yesterday as I wheeled my manual wheelchair into the front door of the VA there was a young man, probably a vet from one of the golf wars. He had NO legs and only ONE arm, the other arm was a claw! I really felt very good after I saw him!

As we tell these young guys on the forum, having breast isn't the worst thing that can happen to a guy, well truth be told, nether is having to use the wheelchair! I always try to look at the glass half full. In the wheelchair I can still go places, see things, if I was confined to a bed, then what?

God bless and I'm only a phone call away if you want to talk, as we do have a lot in common, and sometimes a leaning post can come in handy.


Bob

[hammer]

This last Thursday I went for my monthly acupuncture poceedure, but before we even started I asked if we could have a good sit down talk, even if we didn't do the acupuncture and we did both.

I asked if we could take another good look at everything with the eyes of my pain clinic doctor because I've been going down hill since I've had the SI joint fused back in December and my back doctor who did that surgery and my 9 hour back fusion in 2009 was just fixated on everything being related to the SI joint!

I can no longer stand for more then 5 min without the lower back going into extremely bad pain and giving out as well as walking from the house to the garage more then once. I have constant pain in the left buttocks like there is one of those alligator clips on it as well as constant pain around the left hip. I also have pain going down the back of the left leg, and with the standing or walking it increases dramatically!

My falling or I should say my near falls has gotten much worse! I've gotten very good at stopping the falls due to the fact that they happen daily, and I do use the wheelchair away from home, and my power chair working around the outside of the home.

We are going to do full exams next Thursday and then do CT scans or MRI's as needed from there. He said that he does feel that I still do had SI joint issues and hip joint problems but I may have some new back issues as well giving the fact that I have degenerative disk disorder and arthritis in the back.

I told him if we find the problems and there is nothing that can be done, I can accept that, but I can't accept not doing anything from the start and just assuming it's still an old problem, and he agreed!

[hammer]

Yesterday I had my back pain reevaluation, and it turns out that the problem is still the SI joint and the fusion did nothing to help in fact it may have made the problem worse! We knew going into the surgery that it may not help, but not that it would make things worse!

We decided yesterday that I would go back to acupuncture once a week and go through the nerve blocks to find the right nerve and have it burnt. This will stop the pain 9-18 months at a time and can be re-done as needed because it is drug free. This will help the back pain, nothing can be done for the legs and feet but I'll take what ever I can get!

After this the doctor got a SI belt out and put it on me, and Debbie said the color in my face even change and she could see it helped reduced the pain! Doc said I could get the belt for free from the VA, but that isn't as good as the one he used on me, so I ordered the same one that he tried on me from Amazon.

Debbie asked him, "why didn't the surgeon suggest the belt or nerve block before the surgery"? His first response was "I'm going to keep my mouth shut, but then said, Jonathan, is a great surgeon but to fast to go into surgery!

All I will say is ill do what I need to do to try to have less chronic pain! Since Debbie fell down the stairs, now 8 weeks ago, she has said that she has no idea how I've done it all these years! I sure wish she would start showing signs of improvement, but she isn't, but her doctor says it could take a lot more time yet! If I could I would take her pain too!

[igotum]

Bob I sure hope you get some relief. I had back problems for 18 years. The drs couldn't find anything wrong. I lived in misery....then along come the wonderful MRI. Ran it in 1990 and found it first time! They fused a joint above my hip bone. I am not sure which one but the scar is just above my "crack". That disc had sawed on my spinal cord so long that I have permanent nerve damage. It took about 18 months to get over that. I am not pain free but thank God I do pretty good. My prayers are with you.

[hammer]

Thank you! Sadly I'll never be pain free because of nerve damage from diabetes and a body full of arthritis and you know those Ritis brothers they are bad and Arthur is the worst!

I had 9 hours of back surgery in 2009 they fuzed L4/L5  and scraped arthritis off all the joints and trimmed bulged disks. I also found out then that I have degenerative disc disorder then as well.

2006/07 I had both knees replaced, full replacement. They are much better then the ones that I had at the time of removal, but not as good as they were when I was a young man, and they can predict the weather change better then a meteorologist!

Oh well, we do what we can to still enjoy life, family and friends and thank God for all we have because no matter what, it could be a lot worse then it is!


Bob

[hammer]

Yesterday 8/13/14 I had nerve blocks done to isolate the nerves that tell me that I have pain in my back mostly caused by my bad SI joint. What was used was similar to what the dentist uses to numb your mouth to drill your teeth, so my nerves would only be numb for a short time, but I could then be tested by the doctor that had been doing my acupuncture to see if the pain would be reduced.

The chiropractor then put my body through the six point test to see if I would have any of the SI joint pain, and I had none! Debbie said (she was there as my driver) as she watched to testing she flinched because he was doing things that she thought I would be screaming in pain, but I didn't hurt at all!

I'll tell you that because of the testing I hurt like HELL once the numbing medicine wore off and I sill am today! I can hardly move!

I'm scheduled for the nerve burning in Sept. They use radio frequency to do this. It is drug free, will last 9-15 months and can be repeated as needed, with no side effects.

Yesterday only took care of the lower back pain in the buttock area! My hip pain was not helped. The leg pain or foot pain that is from my neuropathy was not helped. I still have to deal with the upper back pain as well as the hands, neck and other areas the have been cursed with arthritis.

When it comes to chronic pain, if you can reduce some of it, you take what you can!