You're too young for back surgery...

In the fall of last year, I started having left knee pain. I chalked it up to needing a new pair of shoes. I bought new shoes, continued stretching, and kept walking.

When the pain didn't resolve with the new shoes, I suspected my custom orthotics were the culprit. I wear orthotics for my clubbed foot. Since I couldn't visit my favorite biomechanical podiatrist, Dr. Coffin, I bought a pair of orthotics in Hawaii. The Hawaii orthotics were no good, and I thought maybe they were creating the left leg pain.

In January of 2022, I got re-infected with COVID-19. While I was getting antibody treatment, my back started hurting. I started seeing a chiropractor. The pain started moving into my hip: the side, front, and crease. It went down the front of my thigh.

Months passed, and the pain kept getting worse. The chiropractor ordered an x-ray. He saw an extra, unattached bone called an os acetebuli on my hip. He said the extra bone could be removed with arthroscopic surgery and referred me to a orthopedic surgeon.

Meanwhile, my right arm started to hurt, starting in my shoulder and radiating through the bicep, tricep, elbow, forearm, and into the hand. I contacted my primary care doctor. She prescribed me meloxicam (high dose ibuprofen), cyclobenzaprine (muscle relaxer), and gabapentin (nerve pain medicine). I took everything as prescribed, and my pain persisted and worsened. I was referred to another orthopedic surgeon for the shoulder pain.

Mid-April I received a steroid injection in my arm. It took away the pain in my hip/leg but only minimally reduced the pain in my arm. It was three days of bliss being free from the horrible leg pain. Then, I had a massage and the leg pain came back.

I was holding on, trying to stay positive, and counting down the days until my appointments with the orthopedic surgeons. At the end of May, I got sick with a migraine and then a belly flu. I was in bed for the better of four days. When I was finally able to get out of bed, my leg was in incredible pain. I figured it would get better after I moved around a bit. If you have arthritis, you have to move to lube up the joints.

Unfortunately, moving around didn't help. On my way to work, I stood to get out of my car, and I couldn't stand up. My back had gone out.

My back has gone out before, but never like this. It's never affected entire limbs. It felt like all of the muscles in the left side of my body from the abs down were cramped and tight and locked. Plus, my right arm was throbbing.

It was some of the most crippling pain of my life. I couldn't stand up straight. I couldn't walk more than 5 minutes. I cried out every time I tried to roll over in bed, stood up, sat down, lifted my foot, or bent over. I couldn't even carry my small purse. Literally everything hurt. Lying down hurt the most. Sitting up was the only position that was tolerable. This went on over a month.

I tried: acupuncture, massage, structural integration, meditation, restorative yoga, stretching, chiropractic, heat, ice, Tylenol, Meloxicam, muscle relaxers, hydrocodone, cyclobenzaprine, oxycodone, gabapentin, and tramadol. I rested (sitting upright in a chair). I drank water. I added Tumeric with curcumin to my list of daily supplements. I took my pills consistently, but the pain persisted.

Beginning of June, I finally had my appointments with the orthopedic surgeons. My shoulder x-ray showed nothing. The surgeon gave me a referral for acupuncture, since that is the treatment that seemed to help the most.

The young APRN (from North Platte, NE!) came into the room for my hip check up. "Well, you do have an os acetebuli, but the bigger problem is your spine. Unfortunately, you have way more degeneration than I'd expect to see at your age. I'm really surprised."

When I saw my x-ray, I gasped and said, "Oh shit." I've seen lots of x-rays of my back, but none of them looked this bad. It was like my arthritis had been on steroids and my scoliosis looked much worse.

The x-ray showed endplate degenerative changes in the lumbar spine. There were osteophytes (bone spurs) at the ends of three of my vertebrae. That was new.

After showing me the picture of my sad back, the North Platte APRN said, "You're too young for back surgery or lifelong injections, so physical therapy (PT)?"

I expected the PT referral. Doctors always refer to PT first. It's probably an insurance requirement. Plus, who wants to have surgery? But, I couldn't move. Every time I tried to stretch, it sent my body into a full spasm. I hadn't been to work in a week and a half.

I asked if he could give me anything for the pain. He said my current prescriptions should be sufficient. I politely explained that I have done physical therapy many times in the past, and he made the referral to an orthopedic spinal surgeon in Oahu.

Luckily, I pretty much left the doctor's appointment and got onto a plane to Nebraska. When we got to Denver, I was struggling to walk across the airport, and we had to flag down one of the go carts.

It helped to be around friends and people who love me. Unfortunately, I was in a lot of pain, so I was grouchy and sad. I couldn't do anything except sit around. I did not have one pain-free moment.

My boss was texting me regularly from Hawaii to check in and see if I would be able to return to work. I told her I wasn't better and wouldn't be able to return in this condition. I researched the social security disability guidelines to see if I would qualify.

I tried to soothe my pain, sadness, and fear with delicious Midwestern cuisine. I found a walker with a seat at Goodwill which I used to get through the airports and back to Hawaii.

When we got back from vacation, I was still not in any condition to return to work. I rested. I took hot baths and sat with a heating pad on my back. I returned to acupuncture. I started an anti-inflammatory diet. I used my walker to go to the grocery store.

I slowly regained the ability to walk. I am still in constant pain, but at least I am not crying out every time I move. I was able to return to work last week for a few hours, aided by my walker. This week I was able to work about 30 hours, and I only used my walker one day.

I finally see the orthopedic spinal surgeon on Tuesday. I don't know much about him, except he specializes in scoliosis. I suspect he'll want an MRI before he can really discuss my options further, but I look forward to meeting him and hearing what he has to say.