BURNING SPASMS

Posts from BBW have been sparse, I know, and I feel bad. I have so much I want to write about the financial and insurance aspects of this surgery and I WILL get to it.

But first, there's been a bit of a setback here at BBW. About two weeks ago, I began to have stiffness between my shoulder blades, nothing really painful, but noticeable. Thinking I was just working the surrounding muscles in Pilates, I didn't think much of it. Then the burning sensation, so common in those of us with lumbar nerve impingement, where it feels like flames shooting from your back down your legs, started.

It began feeling like a white-hot poker was being thrust on the left side of my right shoulder blade, and eventually I started to feel little muscle spasms that would tighten my right shoulder and send pain down my right arm to the elbow. I got a massage, think that releasing some knots in the muscle would provide some relief. While it in some ways felt better, the burning sensation remained. It continued to get worse. I started taking a muscle relaxer hoping that it would help, but to no avail.

By Wednesday it was excruciating. I was sitting in an afternoon class and was in so much pain I could not focus. I am right-handed, and found that writing lecture notes was causing the area around my should blade to throb. During the break I called my physician and had an appointment for the next afternoon.

Based on my description, Dr. BBW thought that the muscle may be inflamed and pressing on a nerve. She won't know much without an MRI, so before I can do that, insurance requires I have an initial x-ray, which we all know will provide zero information about a bulging disk or an impinged nerve, but we play the game. X-ray is scheduled for Monday, but in the meantime, she prescribed a steroid pack designed to reduce swelling and inflammation (above), and Lortab to minimize any associated pain. The steroid seems to be helping which is good news, and I am hopeful that tissue inflammation is causing this nerve pain.

For many of us that have had a spinal fusion, any new pain can cause severe anxiety brinking on panic. While my surgery was very successful, I never want to have to endure it again. It is invasive not only physically, but emotionally. It affects everyone around you, your job, your activities, for months afterwards. I clearly remember my brilliant surgeon telling me that I needed to focus on building my core muscles; that with a spinal fusion came more stress placed on the discs above and below the fusion. Right now, I fear that additional stress has been placed on my thoracic discs, and I am afraid of more herniation.

Jake's Spinal Fusion Surgery is a group on Facebook that has pictures and information about Jake's thoracic spinal fusion. It only took looking at a few pictures to know that I do NOT want to have any thoracic vertebrae fused if I can possibly help it. So I am keeping the faith that this will never be necessary, that all the work I have been doing to build my muscles to protect my spine has just created a minor blip in my normal body functioning, a blip that will resolve itself as the muscle heals.

So I have a question: for those of you who have had a spinal fusion or any back surgery, what runs through your mind when a new ache or pain presents itself?

SIX MILE RIDE AND NO HEAT STROKE!

My last post talked about my new bike, a Raleigh Comfort Cruiser that is spinal fusion-friendly. Last Saturday I checked the weather and noticed that the temperature would be about 85 degrees at 9am. I thought a bike ride on one of my favorite trails east towards Boulder City was in order (a picture of this desert trail is above). Bolted Bionic Husband even decided to accompany me. Boy am I glad he did.

I should have known better. The ride heading north was wonderful, lots of mild inclines and much of it spent coasting downhill taking in a wonderful breeze. That's when it should have hit me: what goes down must come up on the return trip.

The trail on which we ride is also a horse trail, and there is a rest area with hay and water for the horses which makes a good stopping point. Bolted Bionic Husband asked if I wanted to turn back, to which I replied "only if you need to." Whoops. Do not challenge the intensely competitive. So we kept going, with the trail going downhill for most of the ride. By the time we reached the end of the trail, I was hot, sweating, and almost out of water in my CamelBak.

But I was determined. Using one of the lowest gears I had, I attacked the gradual inclines that were so nice going the other direction. When the light-headedness kicked in, I got a bit nervous and walked the bike for awhile. I got back on and again pumped my legs on the lowest gear to get through the inclines. It was getting hotter and hotter, to the point that I felt my body was roasting and I could feel no breeze.

When the nausea began, I got off the bike and continued to walk it until I reached the rest area again. After putting my head under the horse water dripper to try to cool off, I realized that the rest of the ride was mild downhill if i could just push through one more incline. Hot, tired, sweaty, thirsty and with burning calves, I fought to master that incline and did. After a brief rest to catch my breath, I finally coasted to to the other end of the trail and caught up with Bolted Bionic Husband.

After pleading with him to get my bike in the truck while I sat in the car with the A/C blasting all over me, I started to feel a bit better. One hour and a cold shower later I felt invigorated. All in all, I biked a little over six miles, a first for me even before my spinal fusion. My next goal is eight miles, but I think I will wait until the weather cools down a bit more, perhaps the 70s? All I know is that I would have panicked if Bolted Bionic Husband was not there to make sure I did not rot in the Henderson desert, dead from heatstroke. But I am making progress, and for that, I am delighted.

Life is good.

I LOVE TO RIDE MY BICYCLE, I LOVE TO RIDE MY BIKE.

I spent a week in the Outer Banks of North Carolina on a family vacation at the beginning of August. We stayed at my Aunt's beach house, a beautiful property close to the beach and other fun places to visit. The house is equipped with about a dozen bikes, most of them simple, gear-less beach cruisers to give visitors an option for traveling to the beach or the nearby shops.

Because of my surgery and that the synthetic bone is in the process of fusing the vertebrae, I am not supposed to ride a bike that requires me to bend forward at the hips, like a mountain bike or a cycle. I can, however, ride a bike on which I can sit up straight with a flat back. I took the opportunity to try out one of the cruisers and was addicted immediately.

I rode it almost everyday, to the beach, to the shops, to the local bakery. It was exhilarating to feel the sense of speed, and the exercise was great. I had so much fun with the cruiser that I wondered if I should get one for home.

After some thought, I bought a beautiful Raleigh Venture (I have no ties to Raleigh folks - just did a ton of research to find the best fit). It was difficult to make this choice: I have a gorgeous K2 T-Nine Series Vista mountain bike that Bolted Bionic Husband gave me for Christmas shortly before my back took a turn for the worse, and it has not been used very much. I felt a bit guilty buying a replacement, but knew this bike would get a lot of use. Someday, after the bone has fused, I may be able to ride the Vista again. Maybe.

Just this week I started a graduate degree program at our local university (more on that story to come). The campus is relatively large and I have significant ground to cover to get to my campus job and to classes. While vacationing with the beach cruiser, it occurred to me that I could ride a bike around campus, not only getting to my destination faster, but also doing it with less impact to my fusion than I could by walking briskly. Since campus is about 20 miles away from home, I've been loading it into my truck, driving to campus, parking and unloading, riding to class, and loading it back in the truck when class ends for the ride home. And riding my bike on campus has been fantastic, despite our oppressive triple-digit temperatures.

The other night after class, after the sun had set and the air had cooled, I rode my bike around campus just to look around and take in the breeze. By the time I got home, my legs felt like jelly and I was totally relaxed, my body buzzing with the post-exercise endorphins that are so addictive. I slept like a baby.

Most importantly, I feel like I have yet another accomplishment under my belt. I am riding a bike!, something I could not consider doing last year. It feels good to push my body to do new things and have it actually cooperate. And I can't wait to push it a little farther with my new bike with longer rides, just as soon as the temperature drops below "broil" in this white-hot desert.