Quick Update

I went to the primary care office on Friday where I was given some prescriptions to help with pain & sleep. Nothing big or serious, but just something to help take inflammation down and to also help take the sharpness of the pain and make it less horrible when I'm trying to sleep. So far I actually had a good night's sleep on Friday & Sunday night, but Saturday was up most of the night again.

My doctor has no clue what is causing this recent flair-up, but since I only have to wait a month before I'm back in Baltimore she just did what she could to get me though until then. She tried to give me nerve medication and anti-depressants for pain/sleep, but as always I refused. If it ever gets to that point I think I'd rather throw myself in front of a bus. (For those who don't know this, I actually use the "In case I get hit by a bus..." saying, so I do mean this as a joke!)

I wish I could say I feel better today but I don't. All I can do is get through each day, do as much as I can, make sure I rest as much as I can and before I know it I'm sure my Baltimore visit will be here.

What is this?

I've been in denial for a few weeks, but the lower back pain is back. Severe, sharp back pain that is also causing me severe, sharp pain in the sciatica nerve in my right leg. It's now to the point where it's a Monday morning and I'm home, because if I were to drag myself into work all I would be able to think about is how much pain I'm in, how terrified I am and how exhausted I am from hardly sleeping the last three nights.

I don't know what is going on, and it will likely be several weeks before I do. I'm deeply concerned and caught off guard by the whole thing. I have an appointment with my Baltimore spine surgeon in March, so things will have to wait until then...unless I can't get things to calm down enough where I'm not suffering so much. Then I guess the game plan is to see if I can get an epidural injection, something I haven't had since 2007. It basically takes me out of commission a whole work day and has the potential to make me even worse, but I'm thinking that may be the only thing that can help short term.

I'm not sure what the next hours, days, weeks, etc. will bring, but at this point all I can do is pray that I'm not meant to go through another spine injury. What's meant to happen will happen, but this little setback has been pretty devastating to me physically and mentally. I've been hoping things would turn around but it's clear that's not going to happen so easily. I'll post updates here as I have them.