Once Upon a time...

Once upon a time (about 1 year ago) I was a carefee walker, leaper, hopper, jumper. I walked the dog, hopped over squashed bugs on the floor, leaped to avoid falling branches of trees. There was no end to my flexibility. To be honest, my first ballet teacher told me in a loud voice (that the whole class heard) "You vill never be good at ballet, you are too stiff and your back is too long" . That was when I was 10 years old. But no mind.

A year ago something happened and I was suddenly in pain... excruciating pain. It went from my back down my leg. I could not quite fathom that the outside of me looked fine because there was obviously something very wrong. I called my sometimes-go -to -but -never-again acupuncturist. I limped my way to the office. Was stuck with needles. And limped out. Still in pain. "Come back next week" She trilled. Never.

My regular Dr. sent me to a physical therapist. He had me do exercises of many kinds , none of which helped in the least . I went for 3 months though. Limping in and out. After that my Dr. sent me to an orthopaedic Dr. This quiet small man, told me that I needed an MRI and when he looked at it he said it was something with a disc and I should try epidural shots in my spine. So I did, 3 of them. They of course did not work  I went to a surgeon who told me quite abrubtly that there was nothing he could do for me. That I was the worst kind of patient.That surgery would be like sewing together 2 pieces of rotten cloth. There's a image for ya!

Finally, I went to a Pain Management Dr. This Dr. was very nice and spent a whole hour with me and for the first time in 9 months explained that I had a tear in my disc. That is would never heal on its own. That it was hellish pain and that no narcotic in the world would help. In fact he had over 100 patients with annular tears that he could do nothing for. Hmm! A lot to swallow.

So,  I went back to my faithful  regular Dr. and she perscribed some vicodan so I could actually go to work , walk the dog, and not be in constant agony. And here I am today.