snowrider27

I got home from visiting family in Louisville on October 2nd last year. The following afternoon I headed to the gym. I’d really been making some good progress at that point in time. I was beginning to actually enjoy my workouts. On this particular day I was pretty sore from my workout the previous day with my super fit brother-in-law. So I decided to spend the day focusing on stretching and flexibility. I’ll start with some light yoga. As I was moving into my third position, or stance or whatever the technical term is I got a very strange sensation in my lower back. I stopped. I remained still for a moment making sure I felt ok. Everything seemed fine until I tried to stand up. The pain was so intense I immediately vomited and passed out. I know what you’re wondering. The answer is “yes”. Yes, I absolutely did manage to I severely injure my back while doing YOGA! I wasn’t doing anything cool like moving huge weight. I literally did it doing yoga. Not even advanced yoga. Like the most basic beginner yoga imaginable. I’m that awesome. Anyway... For three months I was seen by multiple doctors. I can not express how much I love being treated like a drug addict looking for a score. I especially enjoyed the doctor that shot me full of morphine without explaining what I was getting. He didn’t understand why I became incredibly hostile. Until I explained that in my profession we are subject to random drug testing and because he was an asshole I would now have to spend the next 6-7 days off work. But I digress. The doctors all kept telling me the same thing. “Your X-rays look perfectly normal. You probably just pulled a muscle.” Or “Chances are you just strained your back. Here’s a prescription for muscle relaxers. Make sure you keep heat on it. And enjoy your coma.” (That last part was implied.) On January 13th (100 days after it happened) I finally got a referral for an MRI. However on January 1st my insurance deductible had reset for 2018. As a result I got to pay for the entire $2782.57 MRI out of pocket. At least the results were helpful. The MRI showed I had severely herniated my L4-L5 disk as well as causing my L3-L4 and L5-S1 disks to bulge. Apparently the herniation was very very serious. The doctor (not a nurse or receptionist) himself called me around 7:00 that night. He told me what the MRI showed. Explained the severity. Then he instructed me to stop any and all physically strenuous activities at once. He wanted to put me on disability. At that point I’d lived with the shit for over 3 months. I didn’t need to take off work up to that point. I wasn’t about to start now if I could end up needing surgery. I happened to be having a couple beers with a friend of mine at the time. That’s when told me that he had herniated 2 disks roughly 3 years prior. He then told me about the treatment he had gotten and how he hadn’t had any problems since. The place he told me about is a 70 mile drive from my house. But I figured WTH I’ll go check it out. So I scheduled an initial assessment for the following day. After seeing me and reviewing the MRI the doctor explained how the traction therapy, electro therapy, laser therapy, and physical therapy would work. The alternative being surgery. I decided to give it a shot. The next day I found out my insurance company requires 4 weeks of physical therapy before approving any “alternative treatments”. Yes that was even after the doctor explained that a mishap during physical therapy could result in permanent damage and the need for emergency surgery. So again I was looking at covering the full $4465.86 cost out of pocket. I figured I’ll just pay for it and if it didn’t seem to be working in a few weeks I’ll get a refund for the remainder and be on my way. I talked to my friend about it. He convinced me (on multiple occasions actually) to see it through to the end. Even if it didn’t seem like I was getting better. There were days I felt worse when I was leaving than I did when I arrived. One time in fact I ended up going to the ER because I was in so much pain. I was getting close to the end of the sessions I had paid for. I was still in pain almost every minute of the day. Certain things had improved. I could now drive for more than 15 minutes without have to get out of the car and walk around. My wife no longer had to help me dress myself. Overall the constant pain was just as intense though. On Thursday when I left my final session for the week. I had made up my mind that I wasn’t coming back. I had slipped into a horrible depression at that point. I was in pain all the time. I was drinking way too much. I was driving 3 hours a day going to and from the treatment center 4 days a week. I had no life. I would get home and have 1 hour to see my wife, eat, shower, and drink enough so I could fall asleep. I figured I’d at least save some money out of the deal by canceling a few weeks. When I got home that evening I told my wife I was done with it. She was very supportive just like she had been through the whole ordeal. The following day I started filling out the extended leave paperwork for my job. I figured out how much sick and vacation time I had available. On Saturday my wife and I started figuring out what we needed to do financially so that I could afford the time off work to recover from surgery. According to our figuring if we really tightened our budget I had to work 8 weeks to cover my leave. The only problem would be if my recovery took longer than 10 weeks. Then we’d be in trouble. We decided that on Monday to look into an equity line just in case. I fell asleep that night from pure mental exhaustion. I had no idea if this was the right plan or not. Part of me hoped I didn’t wake up in the morning. That following morning as I reached to silence my alarm I noticed something strange. When I rolled onto my side I didn’t get a shot of intense pain. As my senses came to me I noticed that there wasn’t any pain. I laid there for about 45 minutes and did not move a muscle. Enjoying the first relief I had felt in almost 6 months. Finally I came to terms with the fact that all good things come to an end. As good as I felt it was time to get up. I knew as soon as I stood up the pain would greet me. So I rolled over and slowly lifted myself off the mattress. Just waiting for that moment when it all came rushing back. Then I was standing. I still wasn’t in pain. That’s when I thought “Holy shit! I actually fucking died!” I hadn’t died though. I was up out of bed and headed to the shower in a state of shock and confusion. For the rest of the day I was just waiting for the dream to come to an end. When I got ready for bed that evening I thought. “Well This has been great today. But I know it’ll all be over in the morning.” When I woke up that Monday the pain hadn’t returned. That was almost 3 weeks ago. Yesterday I had my final assessment. The doctor wants to see me for a check up in a month. Until then I’m supposed to continue my physical therapy exercises, and I’m even allowed to do some light workouts. I got my first chance to workout today. MAN IT FELT GREAT! I’m a little sore. Nothing hurts though. It feels so good to becoming out of the dark dark place I just spent the last 4-5 months in. I’m still struggling a little bit. But I can finally see light ahead of me.