Even though I have very little to report...I just had to sit still long enough to check with ya'll.
At the risk of sounding like a whiner....I've had a rough time of it lately. Apparently, all those years of football, dirt bikes, car crashes and such have finally caught up with me. According to my doctors, my spine is pretty much screwed. At the tender age of 54, I can't stand, lay down, walk or do much of anything else for more than ten minutes at a time which is why I haven't been blogging. Hell....I haven't done much at all for the past few months except moan, groan and munch Oxycontin as though it were candy.
Man....I've never had many back problems in my life...knees, shoulders, hands, ankles yes but damn...this back shit is trying to lay me low! The pain and discomfort is all encompassing at times but I'm trying to fight through it.
If my darlin' Michelle can fight cancer, surely I can fight a little back problem.
Everyone is telling me that I need surgery immediatly but, I don't have insurance and quite frankly...even if I DID have insurance, I'm not sure I'd opt for surgery yet. I'm trying everything short of chiropractic before I try surgery.
We bought an Inversion Table and I'm trying that now. Boy...that's a strange and painful experience but...something is happening so...I'm gonna keep trying it for awhile. Michelle LOVES using the inversion thing but she's just a little thing. Me? I'm about 255 lbs and hanging upside down is a truly wierd and uncomfortable thing to do!
Michelle is doing really well. She's tending to her huge garden, canning beans and supplying half the state of NC with her harvests of broccoli, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, cabbage and oh yeah...a million or so potato's (oh hell, did I pull Dan Quayle? sp?)anyway...she is still going along like a machine. Next week she's leaving me for two weeks to go visit her Mother in California so....I'll be miserable but....she HAS to go if she's ever going to see her again. Her Mom has been pretty ill for awhile now.
Anyway, thanks to those of you who have emailed and/or left messages for me. It's amazing to me to I feel so close to some of ya'll whom I've never met. Sorry that I haven't been around much lately but, honestly, sitting in front of this computer is absolutely MURDER for my back and legs!
Take care and God bless you all.
Ron
At the risk of sounding like a whiner....I've had a rough time of it lately. Apparently, all those years of football, dirt bikes, car crashes and such have finally caught up with me. According to my doctors, my spine is pretty much screwed. At the tender age of 54, I can't stand, lay down, walk or do much of anything else for more than ten minutes at a time which is why I haven't been blogging. Hell....I haven't done much at all for the past few months except moan, groan and munch Oxycontin as though it were candy.
Man....I've never had many back problems in my life...knees, shoulders, hands, ankles yes but damn...this back shit is trying to lay me low! The pain and discomfort is all encompassing at times but I'm trying to fight through it.
If my darlin' Michelle can fight cancer, surely I can fight a little back problem.
Everyone is telling me that I need surgery immediatly but, I don't have insurance and quite frankly...even if I DID have insurance, I'm not sure I'd opt for surgery yet. I'm trying everything short of chiropractic before I try surgery.
We bought an Inversion Table and I'm trying that now. Boy...that's a strange and painful experience but...something is happening so...I'm gonna keep trying it for awhile. Michelle LOVES using the inversion thing but she's just a little thing. Me? I'm about 255 lbs and hanging upside down is a truly wierd and uncomfortable thing to do!
Michelle is doing really well. She's tending to her huge garden, canning beans and supplying half the state of NC with her harvests of broccoli, corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, cabbage and oh yeah...a million or so potato's (oh hell, did I pull Dan Quayle? sp?)anyway...she is still going along like a machine. Next week she's leaving me for two weeks to go visit her Mother in California so....I'll be miserable but....she HAS to go if she's ever going to see her again. Her Mom has been pretty ill for awhile now.
Anyway, thanks to those of you who have emailed and/or left messages for me. It's amazing to me to I feel so close to some of ya'll whom I've never met. Sorry that I haven't been around much lately but, honestly, sitting in front of this computer is absolutely MURDER for my back and legs!
Take care and God bless you all.
Ron
posted by Rantin' Ron | 11:01 PM
8 Comments:
Ohhhhhh, I really do feel your pain. I come from a whole family of bad backs, mine included. I throw mine out a couple of times a year and then it's vicodin, flexeril and searching for a position that will give me 5 mins of relief.
My brother did the inversion table but it didn't do much for him; he had the surgery finally. Our Dad's back looks like a railroad yard with all the old scars criss crossing it. They have been operating on him since I was a kid.
I don't have insurance right now either and if I did, I'd be trying everything to avoid surgery. I found that using nautilus equipment at the gym to strengthen muscles has helped me alot, although every time my back goes out, I'm out of gym for at least 3 months. It's always a struggle. Whatever you do, do it cautiously. At least now you have a good reason to hire some kid to keep up with Michelle's outdoor projects!
Glad to hear that Michelle is doing well. As a lifelong back injury and back pain sufferer, I will share the true words of my physician brother: "Leave the operation as a last resort until you can't barely walk anymore." Sounds like you are getting close, except... I have had excellent results using a (good) chiropractor to reduce the amount of "splinting" my muscles were doing. I've literally been carried in via an ambulance stretcher and walked out, albeit slowly and carefully, under my own power an hour or so later. My spine's xray used to be the scary "poster child" for my favorite back breaker's TV ads.
So, if you haven't given the chiropractor a try yet, I'd go that route before I allowed anyone to slice into my back.
Best regards, no matter what you choose to do.
My friend, you have been missed!
And, I'm so sorry you are in such pain. I hope you find something to help soon.
Wishing a safe journey for Michelle... and you be careful while she's gone!
Hugs to you both.
Back pain is the worst.
Feel better, hon.
Keep the faith, brother! Back pain is the worse you can have since it stops you from doing anything comfortably. Hope you get better, and wish Michelle a safe trip out to the Left Coast.
I also have chronic back pain. I've done the chiro route, didn't help. Drugs, nope. Exercise helps, just start slowely if you can.
Take care and know that you are missed
AC
I'm glad to hear your wife is doing good. I'm sorry you are having such trouble. I wish I could offer some suggestions in that area.
I've had chronic back pain for just over 20 years now thanks to three ruptured discs. I won't do the surgery thing either. I've seen too many folks that did it and regretted it. Things got better for a while for them all but got a lot worse later on.
I tried everything except chiropractors. I am a scientist and an engineer. I believe in facts and a proven methodology for treating someone. Chiropractors have nothing but mumbojumbo for answers and bullshit for treatment. I think they are all quacks and you'd do well to stay away from them.
I've known a couple of chiropractors personally and they have very little knowledge of human anatomy and physiology. They are all about business and keeping you coming back to make more money.
Don't believe me? Ask any school of chiropractic for a copy of their curriculum and have a look at the classes they take to become "doctors" of chiropractic. It's a joke. They are nothing more than charlatans and massage therapists with overinflated egos.
I find that a good pain management doctor is the best bet for me. I do physical therapy and take medicine as needed when I get laid up like you are now.
Getting old is rough on us buddy. Getting old after a life of hard work and being run over by a car in my own front yard is really rough but I manage.
I can tell from your character that you're made of good stock. You'll pull through. Be careful with that oxycontin. It's like a gold digging woman. Once it has it's claws in you, it is damn hard to get them out.
Joe
Hi Ron, Sorry to hear about your back. Inversion stretching is good, gradually lets the body realign.
To give a contrary view of chiropractic........in 1976 my back was so bad they wanted to fuse 4 vertebrae in my lower spine. I refused as I had a farm to work. Found an old Chiro who determined that my left leg was 3/4 in. shorter than other due to back and hip being out of place. I rode to his office lying in the back of a truck with a back brace on. I had been in traction 3 hours a day for 6 months. I walked out feeling better. Over the next few years got to the point where I would just go in a couple time a year or so when I knew I needed it. Some may be quacks......some are good.
Good luck with your back. Glad your wife is doing so well.
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