Down in the Back

A few years ago my husband purchased a power washer and proceeded to clean the driveway, siding, windows and deck. A couple days later he was taken by ambulance to the hospital because of such extreme low back pain, he couldn't lift himself out of the chair. He spent about 3 days in the hospital on pain meds with physical therapy coming in for regular visits to get his back muscles in good enough shape that he could return home.

I also have a very good friend who has had numerous back surgeries and is on permanent disability due to the pain she experiences.

All of this is to say that I've seen how disabling low back pain can be and now, for the first time in my life, I'm experiencing just that. And I have to say that it absolutely SUCKS!!!!!

I can't even begin to tell you how I hurt my back. All I know is that I was fine until about 1 1/2 weeks ago when I noticed my low back was hurting a bit. Primarily, it was stiff. As the week went on it got a little better and I thought I was on my way to a pain free back. Then Saturday morning I was sorting laundry, bent over to pick up an items of clothing when I felt a shooting pain in my back. My knees buckled and I quickly realized that I didn't know if I would be able to stand. Slowly I made my way to an upright position, but was still in pain. I walked into the next room and told Dave what had just happened, thinking that I would be able to work out the kinks and the pain would go away. It didn't! No, the pain continued on and on and on. I took a hot shower to try and relax the muscles, which seemed to help until the muscles cooled off again. At that point Dave convinced me to see a massage therapist to try and get the blood circulating and hopefully relieve the pain. He graciously called to make the appointment and about an hour later we were off.

Driving was painful. Getting out of the van was even more painful. Getting onto the massage table was painful. Everything I did seemed to cause pain.

I received an hour long massage. While I would like to say it was the best massage of my life, quite honestly, most of it hurt. In the end, I could tell that the muscles weren't as tight and it did relieve a small amount of pain, but I was still hurting.

Of course I wasn't going to let a little pain keep me from my plans for the day, so we grabbed a quick lunch for the road and headed to our friend's open house to meet their twins who had just come home from Ethiopia a couple weeks earlier. Then it was off to the Sweet Corn Festival to enjoy time with some other friends. During all of this I was trying to pick up Naomi, walking, sitting, standing - I'm sure I was doing all the things I shouldn't have done, but I had things to do, places to go, people to see.

Fast forward 4 days . . . .

I'm still in pain, but the pain has now situated itself to the left side of my spine and into my hip with tingling down into my left foot. It literally feels as if something in my back needs to just pop and then all the pain and tingling will just go away. However, no matter how many different ways I stretch, bend or move, I can't get anything to adjust and fall into the right position. So after 4 days of trying to take care of a 3 year old, 1 year old, two dogs and a house (my husband has had to fend for himself), I called a chiropractor and tomorrow I'm going in for my first visit. Oh please Mr. Chiropractor, take me out of this painful place!!!!!

To all of you who have dealt with or are dealing with back pain, I'm so very very very sorry. This truly does SUCK and I don't wish this on my worst enemy, whoever that may be.