A Look 'Back'

The issues with my back began about 20 years ago... in April 1987, after getting a haircut, I took off(with helmet on) down a Celina side street...some old fool, whose name escapes me, looked right at me and pulled out in front of my 1985 Suzuki 550, I was picking up speed, but only had reached 35 MPH or so, as I swerved to miss him the bike caught the passenger side real bumper edge....the front tire make contact and over the handlebars, over the trunk of his car I went...landing butt first, then making second contact as my helmeted head slammed back first onto the concrete roadway....

Not seriously hurt, I refused treatment...the bike was damaged, and I had a deep bruise from the front right hip down the leg to the ankle....I recovered, but the back problems would begin within a year....should I have sued the guy instead of taking the insurance payout? Probably, but that way not my style...the guy didn't do it on purpose...as a long time motorcycle rider, I know that sometimes you misjudge the speed they are coming at you...or just don't see the damn things....I've been on both sides. So no suing, just a long 5 year Odyssey of back issues that would end in the summer of 1993 with a epidural injection...that "shot in the back" and years of working out kept any major back problems away for almost 14 years, until this past spring...the new back problems are not likely directly a result from the motorcycle accident.

The New Issues begin__________

In late March of 2007 I was about a week from the opening of High School baseball season, since my retirement, umpire work has been one of my focused life skills....working in the garage, I was squeezing down on a trash bag to make more room, when I felt a twinge....that pain shot through my back and for the next 4 or 5 days I was left wondering if my old back problems had resurfaced....knowing what a toll the take on your life and activities....I was concerned, to say the least. My worry did not pan out...after taking it easy for the next few days, the temporary set back ended, and I went through the spring baseball season and part time job at GTI in Greenville, Ohio, without any further problems.

The back would hold out until around Memorial Day, when I would fly down to Naples, Florida, to pick my 83 year old mother and her car up from the youngest sister's house, where she had spent the winter. The plane flight was fine, it was the drive back with mom and my older brother Mike(whom we had picked up in Homosassa), who was undergoing some health issues himself...the 2 day trip 1200 miles trip back to western Ohio would bring out some issues with the sciatic nerve area and bring some new pain to deal with....this time "the pain in the butt" would last several weeks during summer baseball season....however by the time that my August football officiating began, it had settled back down...and the pain stayed mostly away until October 5th...that Friday I felt some discomfort in my lower back...by the next morning it was full blown, and it has persisted until today....the last month of football season, was not pleasant.

From the Chiropractor visits until the Lumbar Epidural Injection this past Friday(December 21st)...the pain as been constant, although in various locations, from both butt cheeks down the left(or sometimes) the right leg, and a stiffness in the middle back.

After a MRI and discussion with a back surgeon in Fort Wayne, Indiana...the diagnosis is "Severe Spinal Stenosis"....that being a chronic narrowing of the spinal canal thus pinching the nerve that runs down it....not curable, but hopefully treatable, to keep me moving as well as possible, for as long as possible, with the least amount of pain possible.

Whether the injection will bring relief(like a similar one did in 1993) remains to be seen...it's been about 40 hours, yesterday the pain was less, but it was located in the right hip and buttock, and I was taking hydrocodone(codeine) most of the day...did manage to sleep after several tries last night...this morning I have pain back in the left buttock area...but it seems less. The Epidural consists of a steroid cortisone...sometimes they work for a short period, sometimes for a long time(like my last one), and sometimes they don't work at all.

So, that's where I am...that and a new found increase in my blood pressure, which got me put on Lisinopril to lower that....and that is what this blog will detail, my daily blood pressure and pain outlook, and what I will do to combat it......

pretty boring stuff.....but I just consider this blog a Pain Journal....so I can keep if off my regular blogs of family genealogy and life.

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Sunday December 23, 2007__________8AM

Blood Pressure this morning 131/78 with a pulse of 69

Pain in the lower left buttock...and running down the outside of the left leg....NOT Severe.