It has been a year and a day since I pinched a nerve in my back by squishing a disk. It was spectacular. I was unconscious for at least 10 days. I was in CNS shock for 3 weeks. I was in spasms for months. Today I installed a water heater. Yay! First paying job in a year! I'm so sore I had to lay down for 3 hours before I could eat supper, but I have no symptoms of a pinched nerve.

The news for all you is that a squished disk can heal by itself. The Pain Management doctor said so. Interesting conversation: "This will heal by itself in a year or two. In five years you won't be able to see any evidence of an injury with an MRI. I prescribe three weeks of injections that are so painful that I know I will have to wipe your memory before I start. You will be so debilitated that you will need a ride both to the office and back home."

You're fired.

So I went home and put myself on light duty for a year. Today, that year is finished and I am back to work. I made the customer do all the lifting. I did the rest. It felt like a very long day. You know how cranky water pipes can be.

Twenty years ago, I could have done one of these on Monday and another on Tuesday. It isn't going to turn out like that this time, but it feels like a milestone to me.
Look out world, I'm back.
I'm not as good as I was at 20, or 40, or even 60 years old, but I'm back and I'm getting better.

 

As a fellow back pain and damage suffer I can relate. I know the first, second, third time I did a disk in it was like I was cut in half and glued back together with habanero pepper based adhesives.

If anyone wants to know what that feels like try taking out your kidneys with nothing more than a red hot soldering iron and lemon juice soaked wipes.

 

Glad you're healing up and making good progress.

Let's not talk about kidneys right now. I've been going through tests to determine if I have kidney cancer and the answer appears to be no (thankfully), but the stint they put in has me bleeding like a stuck pig and feeling like someone's been kicking me in the balls nonstop since Friday. It gets pulled out on Thursday, so hopefully by the end of the weekend the worst will be over.

 

@#12 Holy crap. Glad you are back on your feet!
@WBahn Good luck with that, too. My PSA is a bit elevated and seeing urologist Thurs. He's not worried. Sux gettin' old but better than the alternative.
@tcmtech Ouch!
Best to all of you.

I'm not as good as I was at 20, or 40, or even 60 years old,

Or as I tell my wife "I'm not as good as I once was but I'm as good once as I always was."

 

While we're trading war stories, i got one:
today i had a hang nail. I ripped that sucker off with my teeth, and some blood came out.

 

While we're trading war stories, i got one:
today i had a hang nail. I ripped that sucker off with my teeth, and some blood came out.

Did you bleed until you fainted? Otherwise, too many people share the same story.

 

Otherwise, too many people share the same story.

Not me. I cried like a girl

 

I used to be somewhat afraid of getting hurt but to be honest once I rationalized common pain against the back pain I have been though I really cant justify being scared of much of any injuries any more.

Maybe getting a finger or two ripped off or a whole hand crushed but anything less than that so far has not came close including the time I got second and third degree burns on my left arm and hand from my elbow up to the tip of my thumb that left my skin looking like a boiled sausage wrapper.

 

Serious ouch!

 

I was a terrible coward as a child. I thought I'd just die if I ever had a broken bone. Then I got eight broken bones in less than one second, but I told the ambulance crew, "O positive". I was in a cast for 13 months. After 40 years of doing whatever I want, in spite of the crippling deformities and amputations, I was convinced: "You can not stop me with pain." Then I learned about back injuries.

I kept trying to stand up for nearly four hours with a squished disk. I thought passing out from pain would be a horrible electrical storm sort of event. It isn't. You endorphin yourself unconscious. I was leaning back, waiting for the pain to subside so I could try again, and the next thing I know, I'm being carried to an ambulance. Four or five moments of consciousness in the next two days and then I finally wake up continuously on the 14th day. Woah! What a creepy experience!

So, there you are. Broken arms or legs don't hold a candle to a CNS injury. I mean, most common burns hurt a lot...for about a day. A broken leg hurts pretty badly for about a week and it takes months to stop hurting completely. A broken arm or hand is merely a nuisance. After all, you have a spare and you don't walk on your hands. A couple of years ago, I had a tumor removed. Didn't even slow me down. Even with those beliefs, I was so frightened by a back injury that I didn't lift a tool box for a year. Seriously. When I hurt my back, there was a tool box on the floor in the shed. It's still on the floor.

 

Glad to hear you're getting better #12. I count myself lucky to have never injured my back (or anything else major). The worst I've experienced is:

(twice) having an inch-deep cyst dug out with a serrated ice cream scoop, followed by several weeks of daily open wound gauze packing. I remember the itching being more intense than the pain.

a motorcycle accident involving having an appreciable amount of esthetic face covering (non vital facial flesh) removed by asphalt and gravel dug out of my knee/thigh.

Broke my chin in 8th grade gym class.

I would prefer any/all of those again, over a severe back injury.

 

I can (or can't, really) imagine what a serious back injury must be like. When I was in my early 20s I strained my back pretty good lifting a bomb jammer actuator and it took about a day for it to hit me. Walking across a shopping mall parking lot the next night I started out perfectly fine and by the time I was half way across I was on my knees whimpering. Took nearly two hours to get the rest of the way across the lot to my car and about a half hour to crawl into the car to get behind the wheel. And this was from something that healed in a few weeks!

 

@strantor
1) Sounds like military medicine.
2) Road rash.
3) Next time, duck!
4) So would I!

 

The worst I've experienced is: ...

Although it may sound wimpy, the worst pain I've experienced was from a muscle spasm. It lasted for about 10 minutes, by which time I had tears leaking out. The pain from the broken bones I had rate an 8 now.

 

good to hear the progress #12. It is the first of many accomplishments awaiting you.

 

Although it may sound wimpy, the worst pain I've experienced was from a muscle spasm. It lasted for about 10 minutes, by which time I had tears leaking out. The pain from the broken bones I had rate an 8 now.

No judgement here... After I posted, it occurred to me that the migraines I get on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis are sometimes bad enough to make that short list. But that's so commonplace to me that it didn't come to mind. I've had some muscle cramps too that I swear I was only moments away from my muscle separating from the bone. Getting kicked in the balls hurts pretty bad too.

 

@#12 Congratulations on your convalescence!

At risk of appearing a busybody, may I inquire as to the precipitating event?

Best regards and continued good health!
HP

 

I was so frightened by a back injury that I didn't lift a tool box for a year. Seriously. When I hurt my back, there was a tool box on the floor in the shed. It's still on the floor.

I know that thought process way too well. In past jobs I have cussed out co workers while refusing to help lift something heavy in what I saw would be a potentially awkward position and didn't even realize what I had said until everyone started looking at me a few seconds later.

Walking across a shopping mall parking lot the next night I started out perfectly fine and by the time I was half way across I was on my knees whimpering. Took nearly two hours to get the rest of the way across the lot to my car and about a half hour to crawl into the car to get behind the wheel.

That would be it!

I've had some muscle cramps too that I swear I was only moments away from my muscle separating from the bone.

Now have that happen every time you move a certain muscle or joint in your back for a week to a month or more followed by being afraid to make that movement for about 6 months to a year after that.

 

Now have that happen every time you move a certain muscle or joint in your back for a week to a month or more followed by being afraid to make that movement for about 6 months to a year after that.

No thank you!

 

I haven't directly mentioned it here before but last year I had major back surgery on L4 L4 and S1 (lower back) to not only snip back the disks but more importantly to cut away the bones in my spine as the openings were way too small to fit the nerves. If not for a very few days of major back pain I would never have figured out the tiredness in my legs was due to the motor nerves being squashed.

Now at about the 10 month mark my mobility is quite good as the nerves reconnect and the muscles learn to pull and move me once more. My left ankle is still weak though only an issue on soft surfaces; it no longer turns out when just walking on solid floors. Stairs are still an issue: I can go up on my own but it takes a lot of work.

Over all I am quite satisfied, mostly due to my father having the same condition but he was mis-diagnosed as having ALS and spent the end of his life bed bound.

I did have an issue with someone last night: when I move I do it at my own pace, and sometimes will stand still as I mentally rehearse some “tricky” move, like as was the case stepping off a boar to a dock. A long time acquaintance “commiserated” with me saying “I know, it’s a struggle.” No, it is not a struggle, it just takes some effort, maybe my complete effort to do something you find trivial, but I can do it and would prefer to do it without your commentary.

I’m not handicapped I’m handy-capable damn it.