Let’s start with November and work to today.
November
So, I’ve always dealt with my back folding occasionally, for whatever reason, I still don’t know, but this time was quite different.
One Sunday in November, I started to notice my back hurting, though I just thought it was my normal scoliosis issues I’ve dealt with, so I just rested, like I usually do when these happen. Got up on Monday morning, realizing I could no longer sit up, except with support. I still thought, ok, maybe my back is just being “paperback” as I’ve called it many times before. I waited the whole day, and it didn’t get better. If I had to use the washroom, I had to be held up as I got there, but fearing with every step that my back would buckle. Ouch!!!
Fast forward to early Tuesday morning… I was waiting on an ambulance to take me to the hospital to get this looked at. The doctor who saw me just thought it was pain related, so he got me pumped up with drugs, which, of course, like I knew, didn’t help the back folding situation any. The emergency doctor got me to walk, after all the meds, and finally he realized that pain wasn’t the issue. So, I was admitted.
Fast forward to when I actually got a room. The medicine doctor anted to get a CT and x ray of my back so they knew what they were dealing with. They didn’t tell me at first what the diagnosis was though, which is what upset me somewhat.
Physiotherapy came to see me and wanted to see me sit up on the side of the bed. I told them I couldn’t, without my back folding, but I did it just to show them… and it did. Both my physiotherapist and my nurse saw it. So, since I couldn’t get up on my own, PT wanted the nurses to use the tack lift to get me up, which is what they did.
The next day I went to the PT room and with two therapists, I attempted to stand using the parallel bars they had. That didn’t work so well. My back folded as soon as I stood up. Mel, who was the official PT suggested lowering my center of gravity by bending over slightly. That worked for my back, but put tremendous pressure on my right hip, which pain already radiated to anyway, but this made it worse. Then came the idea of the platform walker they had! I’ll tell you right now… genius!!
The platform walker started off on its lowest setting, which enabled me to have a lower center of gravity.
The walker was on this setting for approximately two days The next two levels don’t have a ton of difference visually, but each setting had my back straighter and straighter.
Since I was doing so well with the platform walker, PT thought I’d be strong enough now to use a two-wheeled walker. I, of course, was nervous at first, or shall we say “cautiously optimistic.”
Doesn’t that look like success to you? It sure does to me. Now, it had been two weeks, almost three that I’d been there. The final step before actually going home to heal the rest of the way on my own was my crutches!
After that weekend on crutches, my own crutches, I was discharged home. Oh, and I finally got told within this time period what was wrong… I had a herniated disc… that’s a first for me… a Faithful first. Now, fast forward to:
February – Family Day of all days….
So, here we are again… there’s a lot to tell that got me here, specifically, but this time was also very puzzling, since I don’t know when it all started. There was a winter storm in January, and I was traveling from Blair station, heading to what I call my second home. Once I got there, I took the side path to the apartment door, but since it was snowing rather bad, I tripped on the edge of the pathway, and my hip gave out, my right hip to be exact.
It took me a few days to recover from that fall, but then I went back and did my normal, as close to it as I could manage. Then, at the start of February, my friends and I went to winterlude, which was so much fun. Unfortunately though, I had to walk too far for my hip at that moment, since we got on what was the last shuttle bus to where we were going to, but we didn’t know this until later.
Fast forward to Family Day weekend. On Thursday of that weekend, my back gave out again, but with crutches, I was able to mobilize around the apartment, and still visit my friends’ apartment. That was until Sunday…
I was laying down, and as I tried to turn over, my back gave out again. That was when the possibility of my herniated disc being aggravated again came more into view, but still didn’t know for sure… keep in mind, even though I went into hospital again, I never truly knew for sure… once admitted, they just followed the same treatment as in November. Great, but I still would’ve wanted to know for sure.
Back to the lift, and platform walker…
Used this until I was discharged on Tuesday. This round, I had to experiment a lot on my own, since people really didn’t keep an eye on me or anything. Not much, anyway. But now I’m home, and on the road to recovery again. Because I had to use my last week of leave from Academic Upgrading this time when I was in hospital, when it expired, I would’ve been still in hospital, which meant, for now, I had to withdraw. This does give me time to recover though, as long as I return within six months.
This book can close anytime now though… yay woo it’s a Faithful first, but not a fun or exciting one. I took my time writing this blog for that very reason.
