The Sciatica Saga Continues

The sciatica remains and probably will continue as a part of my life if not for years to come at least for weeks or months ahead.

At this point the worst seems to have passed – for now. Still, this has been the most challenging malady I have encountered in my life.

My wife, Kerry, says she cannot imagine what I’m going through. She is sympathetic and believes I’m in agony because she has seen me endure pain without complaint in the past. This pain is beyond anything from the past.

I feel old and I’m not old. I also feel betrayed by my body. I think that this may be a time for a major lifestyle change and I’m researching my options.

My chiropractor is optimistic that it will continue to get better. Yet, each day is different. I can go a day or two without taking more than one or two pain killers. Then I have a day and night like last Tuesday when I took four pain pills through the night just to get through.

As for my physician, I’ll just say that she is close to useless. I’ve firmly told her that I won’t consider surgery unless something more serious is found. An X-Ray and MRI only point to disk protrusions. So that rules out surgery in my book. About the only thing my physician is good for is prescribing my pain medication.

The pain medication helps with some of my agony but nothing seems to help when the nerve gets fired up and starts aching so intensely that the only thing I can do is walk around the living room. Lying in bed is agonizing and sitting isn’t much better. Walking seems to provide some relief.

All of this has put a serious crimp in some of my former activities. If I hadn’t folded the band last December I’d probably be forced to now. The weight of a bass around my neck is unfathomable. And I can’t imagine loading/unloading all of my gear, let alone setting it up and tearing it down for each gig.

My sister-in-law, Kim, also a chiropractor, encourages me that “this will pass.” She’s treated a number of similar patients in her career. I trust her and take her at her word.

Nonetheless, when things are the most painful I start to wonder if it ever will end. Sometimes I feel myself at the point of tears – not just from the pain but also from the frustration I feel.

I’ve set up my laptop in the living room so I can start blogging again. At least I can sit somewhat comfortably with my heating pad helping to ease the pain in my back. An external keyboards rests on my lap making it a lot easier to write.

So consider me back. I’ll touch on this malady from time to time but there are many other things I want to focus on in this blog.