Since Last Post

I've been on a very difficult journey since October. We arrived back in La Paz on October 19th, I went back to work on the 20th but that was the last time I could work until this past Tuesday.

What started as a sore back in late September sharply worsened by the 20th and then by early November was unbearable. Initially I thought it was a displaced rib, something I had had in the past. When the local physical therapist was able to relocate the two ribs, the pain only got worse but higher in my shoulder and down my arm.

In the first week of November I was sleeping a few hours each night and counting the minutes before I could take more pain pills. On November 8th, I flew to Miami as a medevac (medical evacuation) patient. Luckily I was able to be seen at the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, FL, just north of Miami. My mom drove down from Orlando to help plus John's parents were there to offer a home and some TLC.

An MRI showed three herniated discs in the cervical area of my neck. One or two of the discs were irritating a nerve root which was causing all of my pain. As a nurse, I've always known that back pain can be really bad, let me tell you, it can be horrific. On a pain scale of 0-10, I was regularly at an 8.

John flew up for the first of three epidural steroid shots, the first one took away about a third of the pain. We flew the kids up for Thanksgiving, which we spent in Georgia with Lisette and much of John's family. Thanks to Vicodin, it was a great holiday. The week after Thanksgiving, I had my second shot which took away another quarter to a third of the pain but it also gave me an epidural headache. Nothing like compounding one's misery.

I flew back to La Paz for Christmas which was wonderful but still pretty uncomfortable. We managed to throw two parties in the space of the three weeks I was home. Quickly found out that I was best to do absolutely nothing of the prep work for the parties if I wanted to have any enjoyment of the actual party as well as the day after. In January 5th, John and I flew back for my third shot. On January 6th, I slept in a bed for the first time in a month (I'd been sleeping in a recliner beside our bed in La Paz or in John's parents' living room). On the 7th of January, we celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary with a trip to the clinic for my third shot. I figured it was a lucky day!

The third shot helped immediately as opposed to the first two. While I'm not yet painfree, I was able to return to work on over-the-counter anti-inflammatories. I can have another epidural shot in July so I'm hoping this pain goes away or atleast doesn't worsen between now and then. If the pain does continue or worsens or the shot in July doesn't take it away completely, surgery is the only other option. And it's a nasty surgery. For now, I'm so grateful that I'm as comfortable as I am.