I have nerve damage. Update: Let me tell you me tale of woe #230

[GotGait]

It hurt because the one damaged nerve runs down my inner thigh, but I was so happy I didn’t care. I used my squishy Abetta endurance saddle.
I only rode 3 times around the ring and then sat on her for a few more minutes just feeling happy. I could tell she was happy too.
So far I don’t feel any worse than I did before I got on, but It could still decide to punish me later.
Today I felt like “me” again.

I can get on using a high mounting block, but I need a lot of help getting off. I guess I could just stay up there forever.

[GotGait]

It sounds like we have similar symptoms but different diagnosis. I’m sorry you are going through this. I’m glad it’s not MS. I was tested for too and it scared me to death.
I agree, just grooming the horses is not the same when you’ve been sidelined. Going to the barn started depressing me because I board and there are people trail riding every day.
I hope you get better soon. This spinal stimulator thing I am going to trial is supposed to be good for stenosis. Have they mentioned it as an option?

[QUOTE=AlfalfaGirl;7011287]
GotGait, I just read your thread and I am so sorry you have to go through all of this. I started having shocks down my back and legs in mid-October 2012 and by the end of October was walking wobbly. Endless rounds of doctors/tests/may have MS that scared the bejezzus out of me. They ruled out MS and it is spinal stenosis of the thoracic which is rare. By that time I am walking with a cane and have a handicap card for my vehicle. Still riding SLOW at a walk but have to have someone hold my horse to get on and off but grateful for the ride. I had surgery on April 15 and OMG woke up in more pain than I care to remember. On gabapentin and a bazillion other drugs.

I can walk better now but my balance is still off. Can’t ride - don’t know when I will be able to ride. My legs and feet are still numb. Sick of having issues - glad that I didn’t have MS or ALS or any number of scary stuff they told me it could possibly be.

I hope you improve each and every day. I am going to join the wellness center so I can swim. I have a bum knee and it bothers me now and keeps me from walking to strengthen my back. Dang…it is always something and bless my hubby’s heart…he is not a nurse of any sort. I want to drop kick him for a field goal on a regular basis. I miss my horses. I can go see them now but it isn’t the same as tacking them up for a ride.[/QUOTE]

[Polydor]

YAY!!! So happy for you that you got to ride again!

P.

[ezduzit]

So happy for you and your ‘best girl’. The best ones seems to know when we need a careful ride.

[GotGait]

They know somehow. When I was a kid, my current horse’s “aunt” was my pony, and she took care of me too. Their bloodline tends to be one person type horses though. I’ve seen them pull all kinds of shenanigans with other people.

[AlfalfaGirl]

Got Gait…that is thrilling news!!! So glad that you got to at least get on and go for a little spin. Your mare sounds like she is worth her weight in gold. Hopefully you will be able to go again soon and build up to a little more riding.

They haven’t mentioned anything about a spinal stimulator. I think they are waiting to see how much I improve on my own. I am joining a local wellness center so I can swim and do water aerobics to try to strengthen my body. I am hoping he will say I can ride when I go July 1 but I won’t be disappointed if he says no and maybe later!

I have had a dang crick in my neck for several days that is painful and keeping me from sleeping. I do have 3 bulging disks in my neck that has caused my left arm to “go to sleep” for several years but it is not bad enough to do anything about…it just causes “cricks” every now and then. I am 54 and starting to feel like a beat up old chick…cranky neck, back, knee and my hair is falling out from the anesthesia…yep I am a fox.

[GotGait]

Swimming is supposed to be the best therapy - so I’ve been told. I feel awful for you. I would freak out if my hair started falling out.

[AlfalfaGirl]

Girl I was freaking out. Dang :no: I have thin hair on top as it is. I don’t like losing one single strand much less a bunch of them.

I went to the Wellness Center today and they were having a 50% off of registration so it only cost $100 today instead of $200 to sign up. I went and bought a bathing suit so I am ready to go. I am going early in the morning to walk in the lap pool. It is 4’ deep so I can walk back and forth in the pool to build up my legs and then I will join some water aerobics classes. I have a super busy week this week with cakes (3 freaking wedding cakes that are all 4 tiers and one quinceara cake that is 3 tiers and a grooms cake) so next week I will try and go every single day. I want the doctor to give me a great report when I go…that I can ride horse!!!

[GotGait]

Oooo cake.
I hope the swimming helps.

I rode again tonight and thank god for my sweet Paso. She puts her head down to put on her bridle like she can’t wait to go walk in a circle 4 times. She never moves a muscle while my husband picks me up and literally drags me off of her. I have had her since she was 3 and I’ve been sick more years owning her than not, but I knew I picked a good one.
My husband is not a horse dude but he has really been there for me when I said I needed to get back on - as he says, it’s not like the pain is getting any better so why worry about it? He is a little afraid of my horse, but he does pretty good. I told him I needed to teach him how to pick hooves (it is one of the hardest grooming things for me) and he asked me if I was talking to my horse. Oh, if only!

This is my sweet girl at a show with her breeder riding. She was supposed to be my show horse, but yeah… stuff happens.

[GotGait]

Haven’t updated this in awhile. I’m getting a Spinal Stimulator implant soon. I went through the trial last week and had good results so I’m meeting with the 2nd surgeon next week.
The trial implant was a 15 minute procedure where they shoved a lead into my back (while I was awake) and left the end hanging out and attached to a rather large control box. It was the worst 15 minutes ever - like having 4 spinal taps at once. I tried to pass out, but they didn’t like that and stuck an IV in my arm and pumped in some ephedrine. Dammit. Afterward, my back hurt so bad that I forgot about my leg - success!
The control box sends pulses down my leg that block the pain. It feels like mild pins and needles. I could turn it up and down or off, and quickly got used to it. The real one is a small titanium box that will be implanted in my back with 3 leads attached to my spine where the nerve bundle comes out. I get a remote control that I have to figure out how not to lose.
If it’s all over soon, I will be able to ride by fall.
Not that I’m telling my doctors about that…

[Polydor]

That is awesome news!! Sounds like a scary procedure but hey if it works! Lots of jingles for the implantation.

Odd question, so basically if your leg hurts, you turn it up and then when your leg doesn’t hurt anymore you turn it down?

Oh and your mare is gorgeous! And random , how is your little puppy?
P.

[Laurierace]

Glad to hear the trial worked, hope this is the end to your problems.

[JSwan]

Wishing you success and a life of pain free days. Kick on.

[GotGait]

[QUOTE=Polydor;7112179]
That is awesome news!! Sounds like a scary procedure but hey if it works! Lots of jingles for the implantation.

Odd question, so basically if your leg hurts, you turn it up and then when your leg doesn’t hurt anymore you turn it down?

Oh and your mare is gorgeous! And random , how is your little puppy?
P.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, if it hurts I just turn it up a notch and then I can turn it down if the pain backs off. It also has some residual effect if it’s turned off. I still had the sensation a couple days after it was removed. It can be programmed to do different pulse patterns too. I don’t fully understand all of it yet, but I guess each lead has multiple wires and anodes and diodes or some tetchy stuff that can be set a bunch of different ways. That’s where the implant reps come in. Did I mention there are 3 of them? All I could think of was, “Wow, there sure are a bunch of people in this tiny room looking at my back… and not one of them is my husband.”
I asked if there had been people who got better and had it removed, but I was told it was rare. I may never be completely rid of painkillers either, but if I could get off most of them it would solve my memory issues. Oh, and the “sleep” walking where I guess I’m awake enough to feed the dogs, but then go walk straight into a wall. This morning I suddenly woke up and I was in our closet. Yeah.
I’m so over that side effect.

Puppy is doing well except completely freaks if I put her in a crate when we go out. She used to have a x-pen, but she figured out how to scale it and had a blast running around with a paint roller and shredding my husband’s drywall sponge. All of my tack was sitting there in all its leathery deliciousness, but she never touched it. So anyway, I’ve had to crate her. She busted out of one crate and again ran around with the paint roller. The sponge was no more so she pulled some of the insulation out from around the back door. Oh well, my husband needs to finish the basement anyway.
I had to go to Baltimore to have the implant removed last Friday and I think she spent the entire time drooling because everything was wet and it wasn’t wee. She then screamed from the moment she heard the car until I let her upstairs with my old dog (who is allowed free rein). It took her 20 minutes to calm down. We’ve been leaving her out lately and she’s been good so far. It helps that my old dog mostly sleeps and she does whatever he’s doing.

[GotGait]

I got my spinal stimulator today. It is quietly vibrating (get your mind out of the gutter! :D) my back as I write this. My leg feels awesome - like it’s not half there anymore - my back is screaming, but that will go away in a couple days.
I can’t wait to ride in the lovely fall weather!

[draftxfan]

Wow, medical technology is nuts! It must be such a thrill for you, after all this time, to be able literally to dial down the pain…

[GotGait]

Well, having some side effects - mostly excruciating pain. I was not sent home with any pain meds because I already have narcotics. They aren’t touching this kind of pain. I have a call into the after hours Dr. I was ok after the surgery because they had given me Fentanyl before I left. I’ve been in hell ever since it wore off. Because I am a long term chronic pain patient, most doctors underestimate the amount of pain meds I need. I know it will get better, but I wish I had not had the surgery right now.

[Laurierace]

Go to the ER if your Dr doesn’t call back soon. Severe pain like you are describing doesn’t sound normal to me.

[GotGait]

I have to take a long trip to Baltimore tomorrow so I can get a prescription for more pain meds. The picking up the script in person is an inane law that only hurts people like me.

[Laurierace]

What did the Dr say about your pain?