How I broke my back 2-3 times in 21 years

This is mainly for Jill, since I started the story the other day at breakfast & never got around to finishing it, but who knows, the rest of y'all may get a kick out of it. Here is how I broke my back:

First time: I was 14 & it was 4th of July weekend. My parents were in Hawaii on vacation & I was staying at a friend's house (2 sisters, 1 & 3 years older than me). We were sneaking out in the middle of the night to go to a party at the oldest sister's boyfriend's house (her parents didn't approve of the boyfriend). Sneaking out involved climbing out a 2nd story window, then onto the roof below, then climbing down the tree next to the roof. I missed the tree & fell 2 stories, landing on my back. Hurt like a motherfucker! I remember the wind being completely knocked out of me & according to my friends, I was moaning very loudly (ya think?). I told them I thought I may have broken my back, but they said if I had, I'd be either dead or paralyzed. (Sounded right at the time) My friends carried me to the car, drove to the party (most painful car ride of my life!), loaded me up on aspirin & left me in a bed while they went downstairs & played quarters. I was in a shitload of pain (it hurt to breathe) & I cried. We got back to my friend's house around 5:00 am & I remember the only way I could sleep was on the floor with my legs up on the bed, & even then it was excruciating.

But still I figured I couldn't possibly have broken my back. So I went about my regular daily routine (which included carrying my rabbit's large cage down a flight of stares to clean it outside, then fill it up with new wood shavings & carry it back upstairs). But the pain never really subsided so after about 2 days, I told my brother Pete (who was home from college for the summer) that I had slipped & fallen a few days before & thought I may have really hurt my back. We called my parents in Hawaii to tell them & they said to make an appt. at the ortho for the day after they got home, which was about a week after the fall. My dad had hurt his foot in Hawaii & needed to see the ortho as well so we went together. After the x-rays, the dr. calling my dad into my exam room & told us that I had crushed 3 of my lower vertebrae & had compressed the discs. I still remember looking at the xrays & seeing all these tiny cracks all over the place. He said it was a miracle that I hadn't done any additional permanent damage in waiting so long to see a doctor. I spent the rest of the summer in a brace, laying flat on my back (I was only allowed to sit or stand for 15 minutes a day), then had 3-4 months of physical therapy. Good times. ;-)

To this day my parents don't know how I really broke it. I told them I was running thru the kitchen, slipped on a wet spot, feet went up from under me & BAM! Flat on my back. That lie came back to bite me in the ass later that winter. I was almost completely healed & running around like normal. Phone rang. I ran to answer it. I was wearing socks. Unfortunately my mom had been spray waxing the furniture that day & some of the wax had dripped onto the linoleum floor in the kitchen. I'm sure you can guess what happened next. Yup. I slipped, jacked up my back again & was back in PT for another month. Karma, baby. Of course it gave my original story more credibility. :)

2nd time: About 7 or 8 years ago, I was picking my dog, Moe up at my mom's. He was SO excited to see me that he jumped up on me & knocked me on my ass onto the hard terra-cotta tile floor (think Dino & Fred Flintstone & that's about you get). That was enough to snap the tip of my tail bone right off. Again... good times. The bone fragment is still in there.

Those are the 2 "official" breaks. I say "official" because they are actually documented by a doctor visit & xrays. However, I suspect that I actually broke it 3 times... the first time being when I was 12:

I was being a total brat & was roller skating at top speeds in the house (against my mom's wishes) & when I went from the carpeted hallway onto the tile floor of the kitchen, my feet completely went out from under me & I landed on my back. HARD. My mom thought I was faking (remember, she was pissed at me for disobeying her in the 1st place & I'd been a brat all day) & refused to help me up. I laid there all thru dinner, not able to get up, in terrible pain, my mom still thinking I was faking. After dinner she realized I wasn't faking & helped me to the couch. Again, we figured if I broke my back, I'd be paralyzed or dead, so she never took me to the dr. I missed about a week of school & remember going back to gym class & doing somersaults & hearing my back crackling. It was painful, but I never figured until years later that maybe, just maybe, I broke my back during that fall.

Is it any wonder why I'm having so many problems today?

Inside out

Thursday I FINALLY had my meeting with the Orthopedist to look at the MRI I had 2-1/2 weeks prior. My regular ortho was on paternity leave so I saw his "back-up". Let me tell you, by the time I left that place, I was ready to kick someone in the balls.

My appt. was for 2:30 but I got there a little early (my friend had a dental appt at 2:00 & I dropped her off there first & then went to the ortho). The receptionist called me into the exam room at 2:45 & said the dr. would be with me in just a few minutes.

45 minutes later, not a single sole had come into that little room. For all they knew, I could've had a heart attack or seizure & died. I was pissed.

Meanwhile, my friend who was having her wisdom teeth taken out across town was done & was waiting for me to pick her up. I finally walked out of the exam room, went up to the receptionist & said "Exuse me! But just how much longer am I expected to wait?" She apologized & said the dr. would be with me in just a few minutes.

"That's what you said 45 minutes ago!"

15 minutes later, the dr. FINALLY showed up. He says hello & then says "so I see you're having some back problems. Do you think you might want to have an MRI?"

I give him a stare of disbelief & angrily say "I already HAD one. That's why I'm here!"

"Oh! Well, that makes sense."

So he hops on the computer & pulls up my MRI & starts looking at it, rotating the image of my spine (which looked pretty damn cool, by the way) left & right, up & down, & just said "hmmmm... mmmm-hmmmm... oooo.... Whoa! Well that's not good."

It's about this time that I was ready to kick him in the balls.

He finally began to explain to me what he was seeing. The 1st image was a full length view of my spine, from head to tail bone. You could very clearly the 3 disks that had blown out. This image I found on google shows normal disks & a herniated disk (I hope that link works). My MRI looked a lot like the one on the right, except add 2 more herniated disks on top of the one seen in that pic & my disks go out much further into the white are (spinal canal) where all the nerves are & all those nerves are being pinched like crazy. The worst disk is the bottom one. He also showed me a cross-section view (kinda like I'd been sliced in 1/2 with a meat slicer) that showed each individual vertebrae & you could plainly see the blown out disk material completely pressing on all the nerves. It did not look pretty.

The dr. told me to keep up w/ my physical therapy & gave me 2 new prescriptions: Mobic & Neurontin. Mobic is an anti-inflammatory & Neurontin is to help with the nerve pain. Apparently it was originally put on the market as an anti-seizure medicine, but was found to help people with nerve pain. Unfortunately it makes me you very sleepy so I kinda have to develop a tolerance for it. We'll see how it goes.

In the mean time, I'm feeling better today than yesterday (I had one of those 2 steps forward, 3 steps back kinda days) & can sit for longer periods of time. OH! And I can walk & turn my head at the same time. YIPPEE!!! However I can't walk very fast & do that at the same time. But ya know... baby steps.

Baby steps

Slowly but surely, I'm getting better. I'm still in pain & I'm sure I will be for a while, but it's not as bad as it was.

My first day back to work was Monday & let me tell you... it was a BITCH! The work was easy & no biggie, but man oh MAN was I in a whole world of pain. By the time I was leaving to go home I could barely walk. I cringed with each teeny tiny step. Thank GOODNESS I had a chiro appointment that night. By the time I was done, I may have still been super sore, but I could walk a lot better.

I had another chiro appt. today & while I had those electrode massagers on my back I actually fell dead asleep! Now I know why they put that paper down on the table. It's to catch the drool of idiots like me. LOL! The dr. said she can tell I'm getting stronger by the way my back feels when she gives me my adjustments. Today I can actually walk normal sized steps (as opposed to the 90 year-old shuffle I've been doing for the past 2 weeks). WAH-HOOO!!! However, I must make absolutely certain that when I do, that I do not, under ANY circumstances move my head in any way, shape, or form. Otherwise... YEEEEEEEOOOOOWWWWW!!!!

Hopefully by next week I'll be able to turn my head. That would be SWEET! :)

In other news, Right now I'm attempting to make risotto for the first time in my life. Wish me luck!

I can

My friend, Carissa emailed me a link to this video today. If anyone ever needs inspiration to keep going, this is the perfect video. It makes me that much more determined to get healthy again so I can get back out there racing with Team in Training.

Fare warning, the video will probably make you cry. Or maybe I'm just extra emotional these days.

*EDIT*

I did a little online research & found out that the father & son in the video are Dick & Rick Hoyt. Here is their story. It had me bawling again. Check out the rest of their website. What an amazing family.

Pool - Day 1

Today I went to the gym & did 20 minutes of pool walking. The 1st 2 laps hurt a lot, but then my legs & back seemed to loosen up so the rest felt quite easy. I actually felt like I could go longer, but I remembered what my doctor told me... "baby steps!" I'm glad I didn't do any more because right now I am SUPER sore. What's weird is that it's not my back that's sore, but my hips & outer thighs. It kinda feels like my hips are out of their sockets. Hopefully the chiro can fix that tomorrow when I go back to see her.

After this "workout" I've decided to obey doctor's orders & not go to work at all this week. I'm still checking my emails about once a day, but that's all I'm going to do. It's just not worth it to risk undoing any of the good that's been done (& will be done) this week by sitting at a desk all day. I can actually sit for longer periods now, but I notice that my hips & upper buttock area are more sore when I get up & it makes it difficult to walk. And that's with sitting on a super soft couch. I haven't attempted actual chairs yet. Hopefully by Monday it won't be that bad.

This still all suck big fat hairy sweaty unwashed donkey balls, but I'm trying to not let it get me down.

Who'd have thought that I would actually miss working out? Crazy, ain't it?

Rehab: Day 1

Today was my first appointment with the chriropracter. She was very nice & understanding & explained everything to me in detail as she went along. After a bad experience with a chiropracter about 15 years ago, I'd been scared of going back to one, but she made me feel very comfortable.

The first thing she did, after getting a very detailed history, was test me for mobility, which of course, I don't have a lot of. Then I got about 20 minutes of electric massage which felt fabulous. (I could've gone the whole day with those electrodes hooked up to my back.) Afterwards she gave my upper spine an adjustment & stretched my lower spine as best she could without causing pain. She then showed me some stretches to do every day for the next 6 weeks.

I was also instructed to not work for at least a week. Ummmm... yeah. That's probably not going to work out very well. I told her I'd stay home for the next 3 days & if I feel better by Thursday, I'll go to work. I have a feeling I'll only end up working that one day. Unfortunately for the injury I have, sitting at a desk all day is NOT a good thing & will make it harder for me to heal. I just need to make sure that I stand up & walk around at least every 15 minutes or else the pressure on my spine will take its toll.

Oh yeah... one more rule: no more running. "Running is your enemy."

I knew she was going to say that, but still, to actually hear it was not fun. Unfortunately she's right. Running is my enemy as far as my spine is concerned. If I want to be able to continue to move, I need to stop. However, she didn't say anything about walking. In fact, part of my rehab will include walking. Although for now it will be limited to walking in a pool. I was told to walk backwards & side to side in a pool 3 times a week for about 15-20 minutes each time, then work myself up to 6 times a week & an houreach time.

Right now I just wish I could walk to the corner & back in less than 20 minutes & take steps longer than a few inches.

Back injuries suck.

MRI results:

There is mild superior endplate deformity at L2 and L3 vertebra without evidence of retropulsion or associated soft tissue paraspinal masses. The alignment is well maintained. There is evidence of disc desiccation at multiple levels particularly at L2-3 and L3-4 and to a lesser extent to L4-5.

L2-3: there is broad-based disc bulging with a small left paracentral disc protrusion causing mild ventral indentation to the thecal sac and compressing the thecal sac and associated facet joint hypertrophy as well as ligaentum flavum causing mild central canal stenosis. This small disc protrusion is compressing the exiting nerve root at left L3 on the lateral recess.

L3-4: there is a small central herniated disc causing impingement of the ventral thecal sac. The exiting nerve roots ar patent. There is mild facet joint hypertrophy bilaterally.

L4-5: there is a small central herniated disc with an annular tear causing indentation to the thecal sac and no obvious compression to the exiting nerve roots.

So yeah... not horrible, but definitely not good either. L2 & L3 are the vertebra that I broke when I was 14 so now that's all coming back to literally bite me in the ass. It looks like eventually I will need surgery to cut away the parts of the discs that are protruding & pressing on the nerves but for now, I'm going to try the chiropracter first, along with anti-inflammatories & exercise/stretching. Thanks to my mom, I have a full bottle of Vicodin for the pain. I'm getting around better today & I can actually take a deep breath without screaming out in pain, so that's something. However, when I walk, I can't lift my left leg up very much because of the pain. Also, part of the left leg & toes are numb, all thanks to the discs pushing on the sciatic nerve.

This isn't something that's going to go away any time soon, so it looks like I'm going to have to drop out of Disney Marathon, and any other races for that matter. For now I need to concentrate on getting stronger & as pain free as possible. I'm not going to write off marathons for good, though. My friend Rusty had back surgery & can no longer run. However, that didn't stop him from walking. He can now WALK a marathon in under 5 hours. He is my new inspiration.

I may be down right now, but don't count me out.

From Bad to Worse

My back is really REALLY bad. So bad that right now I am laying on my back w/ my laptop on my tummy. I can barely walk & when I do, the pain shoots down my whole left side, all the way down to my toes & back up again. It's excruciating. It wasn't this bad until last night. Before then I'd been able to go to work. Of course, I had to sit in my chair backwards (straddling the back of the chair) because that was the only way I could sit without much pain. But this morning when I woke up after a horrible night's sleep, I could barely move. Thank God for Vicodin!

I had an MRI Tuesday but my dr. can't see me until the 24th to go over the results. Can you believe that? And the techs won't give me the films until after 15 working days ("we have to give the referring dr. time to go over the results"). So the sister of a good friend is getting them for me today. She works for a chiropracter & the MRI people said they can only give the films to another doctor. My friend is coming by in a bit w/ the release forms for me to sign, then she'll fax them to the imaging center to get them to release the results to her sister's boss who will let me know the results. My mom, who had the same back problems & had surgery last summer, is pretty sure that I blew a disc. She's going to come over later to help me. I wish she was here now. And I REALLY wish this pain would go away. :(

No better

So far I'm not much better than I was. The back is still hurting a lot. Going from sitting to standing is VERY painful. I feel like a 90 year old woman. I'm scheduled to have an MRI on Tuesday morning & I'm nervous.

I can't help but think about my brother-in-law. Almost exactly 9 years ago he had been having back problems. He finally went to the doctor & that same day he was in surgery having a tumor removed from his spine. He was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma. Not much later, after more tests, they found 20+ tumors throughout his body. At the time, he was only 2 years older than I am right now. He should have died a few months later, but thanks to radiation & some VERY experimental drugs, he was able to live for an additional 3-1/2 years.

He's the reason I joined Team in Training in the first place & starting all this running. I'm sure that's not what's going on with me, but it's still there in the back of my mind. I can't not think about it. I won't be able to completely relax until I know for sure what's going on in there.

Waiting is gonna SUCK!