Physical therapy...almost done

First off - yeah it's July 29.  I hate this day.  I hate it enough not to give it any special treatment other than to say I hate it...so that's that.

I had my 3 month assessment at PT yesterday and I met all my goals.  Most of my walking test are in the normal range.  This means my speed is ok (still way too slow for me and for my normal) but much better.  I can step over things and turn around and walk backwards.  I can get from seated to standing in a normal amount of time.  I go tomorrow and we will talk about my home and gym program and then I will be done for now.  There are plenty of things I can't do well but I will need to redefine them and go back for specifics later if I can.

I still have a pretty noticeable limp - especially at the end of the day. My right hip really hurts quite a bit as of late and weight bearing doesn't help.  I had some x-rays done but haven't heard the results.  I did see the xray and then use doctor google at home and to my untrained eye didn't see structural problems anyway...there could kinds of muscular or other stuff I wouldn't have a clue about but the space between my ball and socket looked good.  I was concerned about this since I had underdeveloped hip sockets as a baby and had to wear a brace.

I talked to the therapist about my weakness/numbness.  The chiropractor thinks perhaps I should be more proactive about it.  She was very helpful and we put the electrodes on the muscle (hadn't done that in a month or more) and I let her turn it WAY up.  The result was absolutely nothing.  No hint of any sort of movement.  In her opinion/experience she thinks it is unlikely to come back at this point.  The chiropractor thinks I should see a physiatrist (rehab MD) and I may for a second opinion but I am also OK if this is the way things will be.

So - I will replace my twice weekly visits to PT with the gym.  I'll try to put in on my schedule the same way so I keep to it.  The gym is only a few minutes away instead of 25 so it will be much more convenient.

Back images

I finally got all my medical records and my MRI.  The three of you who read hear may not be interested but I'm posting them here for posterity.

This image shows the disk between the L4 and L5 vertebra pushed out into the spinal canal and pushing in the nerves (the dark line). You can also see the vertebra above and below are bulging as well.  They are still like that and may cause me further issue.

Next is a level of my spine above the injury which shows a normal disk and the white area that has the black dots.  Those black dots are the nerve roots.  The picture after that shows the level of the extruded disc - completely displacing the nerve roots...can't see them.  I think...I have been shown these with an explanation so trying to recreate that from my memory.

I'm a data person...I like having a visual representation of what happened.  I've still been asking many questions of my physical therapist.  More on that next post.

Health update - 10 weeks out (or so)

Most things are coming along very well.  I am walking without a cane 95% now.   There was a big test for me this morning when we went to a picnic at someone's home in the country where there was a lot of uneven ground/grass/slope walking.  I was able to do it all without a cane.  A few weeks ago I started going up and down stairs with one foot per step.  It is challenging and sometimes slow but I can tell it is great exercise for me.

I have been on a few trips and managed to navigate anything that came my way well.

My back is getting more sore.  I'm using it a ton more now.  I saw the surgeon 4 weeks ago and he reminded me of the two disks I have (one above and one below) that are bulging.  So - back problems are always going to be in my future.  I will permanently now lift heavy things and will use the grabber for things on the floor pretty much always to try to save my back.  We had a really hard landing on one of my flights on Thursday and that really hurt my back.  I was also on a small boat recently and the wake wasn't the best thing for it.  I need to just be careful about what I do.  The surgeon said I need to live life and it would be good if I didn't need to do physical labor to support myself.  Being an accountant is a good job for my issues.  He told me not to horseback ride and that is pretty  much the only thing he would rule out.

At the end of the appointment I asked the doctor about my residual numbness and muscle paralysis.  He was kind of surprised I still had some (not the best response I suppose) and talked about the three things that can happen to nerves.  They can be trapped and then released via surgery and recover (nope) they can be severed during a surgery and then reconnect (nope not severed) or they can be crushed and they may or may not ever recover (yep).  He said that at the 6 month mark I may get the nerves back.  It would be sudden. However - with the crushing thing I am wondering how realistic that is.  

The bottom line is that I can walk and drive with my current level of numbness and paralysis and so if this is my end point I can totally live with it.  I think I had written before that there appears to be 3 main muscles that won't activate and my calf and foot are numb.

I'm still in physical therapy and still have goals to attain there.  With my increased back back we will have to see what I should do and what I should avoid.  I had told her I wanted to eventually be able to get down on the floor.  She had be get down to one knee and back up but I hurt after that.  I can't imagine getting all the way up off the floor.  My right leg isn't quite there and my back might hate me.

As far as pain other that the back I do have weird nerve pain.  Sometimes it literally feels like someone is stabbing my foot with a knife but it doesn't last very long so that's ok.  If I wake up in the night often I find that my muscles are spasming and forcing my toes to curl.  However - it doesn't wake me up.  It can be annoying but that's about it.

So - that's my current state.  All very positive.