Back Off, Brother!

Between my two hip diagnoses, in the summer of 1994, I was in a car accident that totaled my Honda Civic. Similarly to my being hit by the truck as a kid, I walked away from the accident; in fact, I drove my totaled car home. I saw a chiropractor because of back and neck pains and after an X-Ray was taken of my spine, I was diagnosed with a potentially dangerous spinal condition. The technical definition is grade II spondylolisthesis L5 on S1 with partial degeneration of the L5 disc space. In lay terms the last vertebrae on my spine had slipped forward off my tailbone and there was degeneration of my lower spine. According to the chiropractor even the mildest of apparent falls or accidents to my lower back could damage my spinal cord.

Not good...

However, with the same gift for denial I displayed for my hip disability I ignored my spinal condition and continued to ignore my problems and press on engaging in activities that could very well worsen my hip condition and now my spine as well. Believe it or not, I buried this diagnosis and eventually forgot about it all together...until the summer of 2005.

Beginning in middle 2004, I began to suffer pain, again. At first I thought the pain was further arthritis, something connected to my osteoarthritis but now spreading to my feet and ankles when the pain was the worst. However, I was also experiencing radiating shooting pains up and own both legs as well as severe Charley Horses in both legs. I would wake in the middle of the night screaming and had severe bouts of insomnia. I returned to walking with a cane, which I used following my hip replacement. Other symptoms appeared different from anything I had experienced with my arthritis problems.

A series of X-rays were taken of my feet, where the pain was most severe, my artificial hip and my left hip. The X-rays revealed my feet were fine and so was my artificial hip. However, my left hip was showing signs of early osteoarthritis. There was mild degeneration and some malformation of the head, but it wasn't anything my doctors were concerned about.

Eventually, after seeing six different specialists and battling with my primary physician, I had an MRI taken of my lower spine. It revealed the spinal problem first diagnosed in 1994, as well as a further problem: bilateral foramnia stenosis. In lay terms, my spinal column was shrinking from both sides, resulting in possible pressure on my cord. There was also continued deterioration of the bone. This could easily explain the new pains and complications I was experiencing. The only solution to stopping the continued slippage of my spine was back surgery. It wouldn't necessarily help the shrinkage. Either way, I was looking at another major surgery.

What an idiot! I had ignored my spine and now it was cropping up, again! Which just goes to show the power of the mind when it's confronting a problem it doesn't want to recognize. As a result, I was looking at major structural problems. These problems were chronic, debilitating and I was never going to be able to ignore being disabled, again.