What to do now?

[sdlbredfan]

[QUOTE=blackhorse6;5461904]
Sounds like you need an excellent second opinion. Research the best hospital and doctor in the northeast and go there. A Pain clinic would also help you.

Don’t jump into surgery. Stop doing all the work.

Jingles![/QUOTE]

Yes, no more gardening, wheelbarrows to move plants or to clean stalls etc; doing all that heavy work with the problems you have is just not feasible. See if you could find a way to get to the Mayo Clinic, or somewhere for second opinion. Good luck and keep us posted!

[Coanteen]

[QUOTE=sdlbredfan;5507927]
Yes, no more gardening, wheelbarrows to move plants or to clean stalls etc; doing all that heavy work with the problems you have is just not feasible. See if you could find a way to get to the Mayo Clinic, or somewhere for second opinion. Good luck and keep us posted![/QUOTE]

I totally agree. OP, reading how you do all that (growing/moving/giving away tonnes of plants, taking in large rescue dogs) for the sake of “other people”, even though your SO has been saying to stop for years, I can’t help but think that you could benefit from counseling as well. There seems to be an internal need there that has nothing to do with other people, and it’s causing physical problems for you.

For the foot thing, my dad had several back surgeries and in the last surgery because of all the scar tissue one of the nerves was cut and he has permanent foot drop and loss of feeling. He uses that foot device (it’s this L-shaped brace that can go into footwear), it works pretty well and he doesn’t fall/trip. He only needs to be careful if he’s barefoot.

[peppermyntpony]

Another thing you could look into for your foot is Bioness. I’ve had a problem with foot drop since a car accident 2 years ago and use an AFO (foot brace) when I have to do alot of walking. My foot drop gets worse with increased physical activity and it gets better with rest. Recently, a physiatrist recommended physical therapy with the Bioness system to electronically stimulate the nerve to hopefully retrain it to function correctly. I start therapy next week. At the very least, have them fit you for an AFO, it made a world of difference for me. I went for a year of having to be very careful of not tripping. My primary care physician and neurologist never suggested anything to make it easier to walk. I went outside my insurance to an orthopaedic, who finally got me moving a bit better using the AFO.
Please take care of yourself and don’t do the heavy lifting. The last thing you need is more damage to your spine. Take care.

[ddb]

I came uppon this thread just today and hope that you are doing better.

DD had fusion surgery last year for scoliosis. She was 16 at the time - all done posterior. Some surgeries are both antierior and posterior approach.

I would make sure that your surgeons are specialist in this surgery. The surgeons (2 an ortho and neuro) we used did at least 60 spinal fusions a year.

Sending healing, pain free thoughts your way.

[WaningMoon]

[QUOTE=EqTrainer;5507844]
Waning Moon, how are you doing? Thinking of you![/QUOTE]

Thank you for asking. Having a pretty hard time actually. And there has been other illness in the house requiring hospitalization which is making it even harder. Hurt myself a bit outside yesterday so am having a slow day. Sorry didn’t get to answer this quicker. I am not being ignorant, I have satellite internet and TV. The TV never fails, but if it is even a tiny bit cloudy we likely will not have internet access. Since this is the worst, longest winter I can recall in my 51 yrs here, it has been mostly cloudy.

Apparently the robins didn’t get the word that spring is very late here this yr and they should wait a couple more weeks, ha ha. I saw some yesterday and we still have very deep snow coverage here. No worms available. They’ll get by I am sure.

Today will be a busy day for me. We are getting lots of snow tonight and tomorrow. They say 10-14" at 1000 feet. We are several hundred feet above that so we will get more. This time of yr the snow is so wet and heavy we will likely loose power as the lines just can’t handle it. Lost power for 5 days right after I had the surgery. That was mainly due to very high winds. So I will need to get some wood in here to use in case the furnace can’t be used. Fill all available buckets and the bathtub full of water. I’ll fill some extra water tubs out there by the horses too. Lots better than waiting to see if we do loose it and then having to carry it from the brook because that is a very long way. But it is only about 1200 feet between the house and the barn so that isn’t too bad. Normally I just take three five gallon buckets of water out to them at each end of the day on a sled. That is plenty as there is always quite a bit left. Have to go out and break the ice a few times a day though. I will be so happy to be able to have my hose back, damn cold weather.

Farrier was out yesterday and she was doing her Friday work yesterday as well because of hte oncoming storm. She is very sick of the weather this yr too. EVeryone here is. To think it will all start over again in Sept just makes me sick. Okay, got to go tackle my day. It will be very slow going for me as I am having a hard time moving today.

[EarwenES]

numb hands and arms

Hi Waning Moon,

I just found this thread and first let me say I hope you are feeling better. Also, I wanted to let you know that I was hurt when I was trying to help restrain a violent student at one of the schools where I work. I started out with numbness and pain in one leg, and that eventually spread to both arms and hands and occasionally numbness in the left side of my face. All of the numbness started within 2 weeks of this incident.

I had a lumbar fusion at L5/S1 on April 25. Just like you, I was told nothing could explain the numbness in my arms and hands or face. MRI of C. Spine is supposed to be fine. The numbness in my face has stopped, but the numbness and pain in my hands and numbness in my arms comes and goes. I am so sorry to hear of your problems, but your post did reaffirm my own sanity!

I hope you are doing better. Please take it easy. It stinks but I know there are some things I just cannot do anymore.