Thursday 26 August 2010

Getting nervous as the days fly by !!

Now I should be past this school girl behaviour of being scared , After all I am a 47 year old woman who has given birth before and that bloody hurt , I felt I had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson !!

 Yesterday I went for coffee with my bestest and oldest friend that i have in my life , and we chatted about the positives and outcome regarding this op , we also said that it was a good omen that the op is on her birthday !!!
  She is a very good friend and has supported me in terms of cheering me up , by the way of coffee outings , helping with shopping and just being there , Even when she picked me up , she gave me a bag of sanctuary goodies including a long handled body brush , which i was going to buy , to get my back in tip top condition !!
Bless her .
I do feel like its the calm before the storm , and there are a few answers that i need to help complete the jigsaw picture that i have in my head .

Hopefully i will get these on my final pre op checks on the 10th Sept ,
meanwhile i shall busy myself with still trying to work out how to put pics and links into this blog ,
It cant be THAT hard !!!!! Can it ??

Sunday 22 August 2010

30 days to go !! the time is going quick

My countdown is telling me I have 30 days left before I am having a life changing event !!
 
 I AM scared , I'm laying awake a lot trying to drop off to sleep , my mind is a jumble of  how will it affect my day to day life for a few weeks , the pain factor is also a huge thing ,
   Will I cope without bending , twisting , and lifting ?, I've got my eye on a couple of grabbers as recommended by some people on the spine health forums . I'm already thinking ahead .
   But I am looking forward to normal life eventually , perhaps even a gym as I was such a gym fanatic a few years ago and the gym was where I met my husband , Chris .
  
  It's been hard on him too and sometimes I forget about this , this year has really tested our marriage as I haven't worked for a year due to being signed off by my GP and Chris losing his job a couple of months into my sick leave has been a double whammy !!!
  The joys of being together 24 hours a day is factored in as we tear strips out of each other !!  Typically its our 5th wedding anniversary this year , and it will be spent at home , instead of the Dominican Republic holiday we had booked ,  the day we were to jet off is actually the date of the op , now that's kinda spooky .

I'm still trying to figure out the techie details of this blog as to putting links in etc , so bear with me , IT WILL HAPPEN !!!!
  Ive also joined a exclusive club called the spineys !! so there , I'm officially a spiney !!

Wednesday 18 August 2010

Yet another night of  unsettled sleep , and waking to go to the loo , because the spinal cord is pressing on my bladder ,
I'm really trying not to take pain killers at the moment as I will need all the effect , that morphine pump will deliver in hospital .

 Silly thing is I lay awake quite a lot , thinking about how will I pull my knickers up , do up my bra , wipe my botty !!

It really is a step into the unknown ,
Ive only ever had my tonsils and appendix out and that was in 1991 !!
Also I worry about waking up on the table , while they are drilling into my spine !!

                I really need to get a grip !!


Today , I will be popping into my work place with that all important confirmation letter , and seeing a few of my work mates .

  I find it hard as every time I go in there , it makes me realise how much I miss them , which is why I stay away .

It's a sunny day here today , I  must adapt the sunshine feeling inside my head and body !!

Tuesday 17 August 2010

 Wow , just noticed I have two followers ,

Thank you for joining me on my road trip !

A bit of potted history about me !!

I've had  a relatively healthy and sensible life until i was diagnosed with a spinal probelm .
I think this stems from when I used to do nightshift work filling the shelves in a well know supermarket ,

  Even though I was a shortie in height , 4ft 10 then , they could see I was strong and tended to put me on the heaviest aisles ,  I did this for 3 years , which enabled me to look after my daughter who was still at school , so i could still do childcare during the school holidays .   This was from 2000 until 2003 when i changed over to days and it wasnt so much lifting then as I worked on various departments ,until i found my current job working in the genreal office , doing price control and advertising .

   I first noticed that my back was achy after a days work , almost every day , it concerned me it felt a bit too much pain to be having on a regular basis .
   I decided to see my GP who signed me off work for two weeks , prescribed me painkillers and sent me for an Xray in Feb 2008 ,
  I went back for the results , and she had printed them out for me

    The results was ' Probably spondylolytic defect at L5 with grade 2 spondlolisthesis of L5 on S1.
       Significant decreased in disc height at this level in keeping with degenerative disc dieses.
the other lumbar discs are well maintained .

 I was relieved that it was'nt all in my head , but knew that my back would never be the same again
 the doctor requested that I have an MRI to show in more detail how servere it was .

Monday 16 August 2010

Hello to fellow spinal pain sufferers ,
I've decided to start up a blog for my up coming operation in september  ,
There really is'nt that much info considering how the internet has grown .
Hopefully I can help others with their road trip too ,
It's also my first time blogging too , so for a 47 year old broad , its groundbreaking for me !!!!
Please watch this blog grow !!!