What do you do when your car suddenly starts shifting erratically, and the transmission light and check engine lights both come on?
Well, if you're me, you break out your PalmPilot with OBDII data cable and connect to the car's computer to find out what's wrong. Then you go buy a replacement Transmission Speed Sensor and replace it.
That's all fine and good, but what do you do if you're me, with a herniated disk? You flip a switch to fire up the air compressor while your wife jacks up the car, you hand your wife the 1/2" drive impact gun, watch her take the wheel off, and then you hand her tools and verbally direct her while she replaces the sensor.
Yes, my wife is that fucking awesome.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Pain in the...
I've suffered from lower back pain much of my adult life. I always attributed it to automobile accidents I'd been in as a teenager, or improper lifting during my career as an automotive technician, but in 2008, after a particularly bad bout of back pain, a trip to the doctor resulted in some alarming news.
Based on Xray and MRI results, I was diagnosed with degenerative disk disease, and advised that I had a bulging disk at L5/S1. This condition basically meant that the disks between my vertebrae were aging at a faster than normal rate, were more susceptible to injury, and that one was already starting to pinch the nerve bundle coming off my spinal cord.
I did 6 months of physical therapy, learned how to lift and move safely and how to manage the pain that I had. I learned over time that this pain was something that would never go away, but that with care, and a bit of luck, I'd have good days more often than not, and pain that could be managed with a couple of Advil now and again.
When I started riding motorcycles a few years ago, I rapidly discovered that riding cruisers or aggressive supersport bikes were out of the question - the "feet forward" position on cruisers sent too much shock up into my spine, and the "upward and to the rear" foot pegs on supersports put too much strain on my back for me to be comfortable for more than about 30 minutes.
Oddly enough, the riding ergonomics of many sport touring bikes - the FJR, the Concours, the big BMWs, the Honda ST1100 and ST1300 turned out to be perfect for me. The ST1300 was one of the most comfortable seating positions I'd ever tried, and I experienced no additional back pain from riding the big Honda, even after riding for days on end.
My back injury suddenly became *much* worse this February after my 37th birthday. After suffering through the worst pain I'd ever experienced for a week, I went to the emergency room because it was getting worse, not better.
I was referred to an orthopedic doctor for follow up, and given a shot of Dilaudid. When this shot, combined with Norco and Flexeril, only took some of the pain away, I knew it had to be bad. Xrays showed severe disk degeneration at L5/S1, and moderate to heavy degeneration at L4/L5. A few days later, MRI imaging revealed a massive disk herniation at L5/S1. The disk material is protruding so badly into the nerve channel that the nerve bundle can't even be seen in the images.
I'm now seeing a pain management physician, will be receiving epidural steroid injections, and am on such heavy dosages of painkillers that I can't fully remember what I did yesterday. I will be starting physical therapy as well, but my orthopedic doctor has already warned me that if things are not improving in about 30 days, surgery is the next step. I can't put into words how much it hurts, even with the medication. The only thing that doesn't hurt is sleeping.
Sitting on the bike now is painful, and I don't trust myself to ride on the medication I'm taking, anyway. My left leg randomly goes numb, and I couldn't pick the bike up if I dropped it.
So obviously, I'm off the bike, and will be for quite some time...
Of course, as luck would have it, it's springtime, and riding weather doesn't get much better than this here in Central Texas. Making my way through the garage, past the bike, to the car, is maddening. Plans for out of state trips in the next few months have been cancelled, as I don't know when I'll be fit to ride again.
Based on Xray and MRI results, I was diagnosed with degenerative disk disease, and advised that I had a bulging disk at L5/S1. This condition basically meant that the disks between my vertebrae were aging at a faster than normal rate, were more susceptible to injury, and that one was already starting to pinch the nerve bundle coming off my spinal cord.
I did 6 months of physical therapy, learned how to lift and move safely and how to manage the pain that I had. I learned over time that this pain was something that would never go away, but that with care, and a bit of luck, I'd have good days more often than not, and pain that could be managed with a couple of Advil now and again.
When I started riding motorcycles a few years ago, I rapidly discovered that riding cruisers or aggressive supersport bikes were out of the question - the "feet forward" position on cruisers sent too much shock up into my spine, and the "upward and to the rear" foot pegs on supersports put too much strain on my back for me to be comfortable for more than about 30 minutes.
Oddly enough, the riding ergonomics of many sport touring bikes - the FJR, the Concours, the big BMWs, the Honda ST1100 and ST1300 turned out to be perfect for me. The ST1300 was one of the most comfortable seating positions I'd ever tried, and I experienced no additional back pain from riding the big Honda, even after riding for days on end.
My back injury suddenly became *much* worse this February after my 37th birthday. After suffering through the worst pain I'd ever experienced for a week, I went to the emergency room because it was getting worse, not better.
I was referred to an orthopedic doctor for follow up, and given a shot of Dilaudid. When this shot, combined with Norco and Flexeril, only took some of the pain away, I knew it had to be bad. Xrays showed severe disk degeneration at L5/S1, and moderate to heavy degeneration at L4/L5. A few days later, MRI imaging revealed a massive disk herniation at L5/S1. The disk material is protruding so badly into the nerve channel that the nerve bundle can't even be seen in the images.
I'm now seeing a pain management physician, will be receiving epidural steroid injections, and am on such heavy dosages of painkillers that I can't fully remember what I did yesterday. I will be starting physical therapy as well, but my orthopedic doctor has already warned me that if things are not improving in about 30 days, surgery is the next step. I can't put into words how much it hurts, even with the medication. The only thing that doesn't hurt is sleeping.
Sitting on the bike now is painful, and I don't trust myself to ride on the medication I'm taking, anyway. My left leg randomly goes numb, and I couldn't pick the bike up if I dropped it.
So obviously, I'm off the bike, and will be for quite some time...
Of course, as luck would have it, it's springtime, and riding weather doesn't get much better than this here in Central Texas. Making my way through the garage, past the bike, to the car, is maddening. Plans for out of state trips in the next few months have been cancelled, as I don't know when I'll be fit to ride again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)