Road to Recovery

I was reading my last blog and laughing. That was last December. I sort of recovered from that injury (or so I thought) and was so excited about my progress that one month later I was back at boot camp with Kerry. 2 days into that boot camp I did something to my back that would change the course of my life. My injury progressed very quickly. The nurse at my neurologist office said she had never seen someone go downhill so quickly. I went from being able to work out 10 hours a day to not being able to walk to bathroom without holding on to the wall or falling in less than 3 months. I wasn't really sure what was happening to me. My GP told me not to worry about it, he had back problems and his foot was numb but he refused to have surgery. I did not want to have surgery so I was on the same page.

Then the falling started. Really? I was falling more than I wanted to admit. Any side to side movement and I was down. It was almost too much to bear. I went from my GP to an orthopedic surgeon that I did not know. I will never forget him telling me to hold me leg out and resist and watch my left leg drop to the floor. No way that just happened. Then he did the same thing to my foot. I asked him to try again but he just shook his head. He had the data he needed. He asked me next to walk on my tip toes and I just laughed. I was going to fall. But I grabbed on to the wall and managed. Next he asked me to walk on my heels which seemed like it would be easier. My left foot would not stay off the ground. What? He explained nothing. I had the MRI and he told me I needed surgery. No thank you.

My cousin made me an appointment with a micro-neurosurgeon that she had worked for who showed me the x-ray of my ruptured disc. Ouch. I saw what I needed to see and that I was not going to get better until I had the surgery. By the time I went in to surgery the pain has subsided (more or less) and the paralysis had set in. Little did I know it but I was also loosing the strength in my left arm and my right side. I laughed when I read my last post because I talked about being in a wheelchair....little did I know.

Here I am almost six months later and am jogging. One mile and walking 2. I hope to be jogging 3 by November 1. That will mark one year that I started this chapter of my life at the BL Resort. My right toe goes numb from time to time (opposite side) and I am still paying hospital bills but damn it I can walk.

Praying for Sam P. right now who cannot walk from a fall he took. I came to this page to find his photo and read my last blog, then one thing led to another and here I have a new blog. Maybe for a reason.

Kristie