SCIATICA

 I retired 9 years ago and shortly thereafter, I started getting sciatic pain in my right leg. Those of you who have had it know just how awful it can be with pain running down the back of your leg. Most of the time, sciatica is temporary but for me, this has never let up and gotten more and more painful over the years. For a long time, I got relief with yoga, swimming, walking and biking. But as time went on, only biking gave me relief because when I bent over to ride, it opened up the space between L4 and L5, releasing the sciatic nerve temporarily. 

Cyclists tend to ignore pain because biking itself is painful and we just work through it. Also, as long as I could ride my bike, I could stand almost anything. 

Three years ago I sought out the practice where Christy Mina, MD worked and asked to get an appointment with her. The practice suggested I see a pain management doctor first. An MRI did determine I had sciatica but the pain management doctor didn't think it was bad enough for surgery and he could treat it with nerve oblations, steroid blocks and NSADs. NSADs were out because they raised my BP. Nerve oblations worked for awhile as did steroid blocks. Finally, we realized there was not going to be any pain relief without narcotics or surgery. I chose the surgery.

I contacted Dr. Mina and it took 6 months to actually get everything in order to have the surgery done. By now L4 and L5 had completely fused. The cause? Arthritis. Pain was getting so bad that walking hurt and standing was impossible. Some times I couldn't even straighten by back and had to walk bent over (like an old lady).  

On February 27, I arrived at he hospital at 3:30 pm. It was a long day of fasting but not as bad as a colonoscopy. I had the surgery around 8 pm. I didn't get to my room until almost 1 am. During the procedure there was a dural tear so instead of having to lie in bed for 12 hours I had to lie there for 24 hours. I could roll from side to side but it was difficult to do without help. There again, as bad as that sounds, it wasn't as bad as it was when I had vitrectomy eye surgery. With that I had to lie face down for 3 days!

I spent 3 nights in the hospital. They were very good to me and took very good care of me. During the night, I had to call someone in to help me change positions in bed about every hour. Harold was with me the whole time and really looked after me. The pain meds caused my BP to almost bottom out and I normally take meds for high BP. The meds also caused me to have elevated blood sugar which I've never had. This meant they were constantly pricking my fingers and giving me insulin. I felt like a pin cushion. 

But I did survive the hospital stay and as long as don't have some further complications, this surgery was a success. All the sciatic pain is gone and I'm walking upright again. I'm happy to be home. Don't have much appetite but moving around really well with very little pain. I'm able to shower and take very short walks outside with a walker that I use to make sure I don't fall. Will probably graduate to a cane by the weekend. 

After wearing that annoying eye patch all day yesterday, I was so surprised when I took it off last night and my vision had improved a lot.

Imagine looking though the side of a goldfish bowl of murky water. Below the water line is blurry and you long see light. Above the line is clear but still a bit distorted by the glass and if you peek up over the edge, there’s an area where everything looks just fine. Well, that edge over the glass is getting clearer and clearer. I’ll still wear the patch today because the bubble keeps bouncing around that water line and makes me a bit dizzy when staring at a computer screen. Seems like it is right in the middle of my eyeball. It should drop further and further each day until it is gone, gone, gone.  

Get Out of Jail

Head down position is over at last. I'm still blind in that eye but that's to be expected as my vision is to return slowly.

I did have one little cavieat though. Yesterday around noon I thought I had a sinus headache but none of my sinus meds could touch it and the lortab didn't help either. The pain got worse and worse and even though it felt like a sinus headache, it was right behind my eye. I called my doctor and was told to come in immediately. 

The pressure behind my eye is supposed to be under 18 but was 58! Your eye has fluid behind it thar constantly replaces itself. The surgery had thrown things off and the new fluid was running in but the old fluid wasn't leaving. My eye felt like a balloon ready to burst. The doctor couldn't find the blockage so he had to remove the fluid with a hyperemic needle. Honestly, this didn't hurt one bit. He numbed my eye real good before he started. I wish my dentist could take some numbing lessons from him. Anyway, I immediatrly got relief and the pain was gone. He gave me s script for some eye drops  to keep this from happening again.

I was told I could now sleep on my face OR my left side. What a relief. My left arm is sore this morning but now I'm sitting upright and my back and neck are feeling fine

Day three - almost there

The early evening is the worst time of the day. My neck and back are extremely tied and sore from the head-down position. Also my sinuses are giving me a fit which is probably coming from the head-down position. They cannot possibly drain properly. I called the doctor yesterday afternoon to confirm this. As long as there is no pain in my brow, everything is fine. I also questioned the fact that my vision wasn't improving. Apparently that is normal and is going to take some time.

I started using heating pads on my back (thank you Shari Parks for the Christmas gift last year). I don't know why I didn't think to use these earlier. 

I tried to sleep using the homemade system I saw on YouTube. It was more comfortable but I had trouble staying facedown. Harold kept vigilance and whenever I was out of position, he gently woke me and nudged me back where I needed to be. Just one more night.

A few years ago, you had to do the facedown thing for 2 weeks. They now realize that 3 days is enough to get the bubble settled. This will also help slow down the progression of cateracts which are inevitable with surgery like this.

As I've said before the surgery and recovery has been completely painless. It's just the positioning that hurts. 

Half way there

Around 8pm on Wednesday I could no longer find a comfortable position. Seems like everything I tried was uncomfortable. I couldn't watch tv or read. I just kind of went into the zone until midnight. Sometimes it's best to not think about things.

Only two more nights of sleeping facedown. This gets more challenging each night. It's hard to keep the plastic eyepatch on and my cheekbones are sore from pressing my face into the support system. I had to try something different last night (a bolster for my forehead), but lost my eyepatch around 3 am. My husband found it for me and I retuned to the original support system and made it until about 5am.

I then got up because my arms were hurting. There's not many options for your arms when sleeping on your stomach. I moved to the sofa and put a pillow under my chest and used the armrest on the sofa to support my forehead. I then hung one arm off the side. I'd do this as long as I could stand it and then move my head to the other end of the sofa to give the other arm a rest.

I'm up now and have had a strong cup of tea. I feel much better and am looking forward to a shower after breakfast. I'll do the same as yesterday which is go as long as I can and when things start hurting, I'll take a lortab and sleep a few hours.

There is no pain from they eye, but no vision had returned yet. It's like looking through fog. I am seeing the top of the swimming pool water line which is encouraging.

I'm up for company but please call and be sure I'm not in the lortab sleep zone.

Surgery, etc.

The surgery was a almost fun. I was only put under long enough for them to numb my eye and was awake for the actual surgery. It was like a laser light show. I saw beautiful blues washed before me, and incredible flashing lights. Rock and roll music played in the background and I could hear the doctor and his assistant talking. The assistant commented on the size of the macular hold. There was no pain. When he did the laser it felt like an itch being scratched. The most painful part was when they removed the adhesive that held the tent over my face for the surgery.

The anastecia was so mild, I felt like I'd had a couple of glasses of wine. Prior to surgery, the a anasteologist was checking my heart and asked if I was a runner. I proudly told him I was a cyclist. He said he could tell because my heartbeat was slow. Makes me feel good that all that hard work trying to stay fit is really paying off.

I slept about 4 hours last night before waking up with my cheek uncomfortably pressing into the head stand. I got up and did some stretching and moving around to get the kinks out. I did all this with my head down. I found that a modified yoga child pose helped relieve my back and neck. Lying flat on my face and sitting in the massage chair are best for my neck, but my legs get tired in the massage chair. Lying flat on my face is the most comfortable of all, but also the most boring as I can't read or do anything in that position other than listen to my iPod or talk on the phone using the speaker.

I went back to the doctor this morning. The eyepatch has been removed. Everything is blurry which is to be expected. My vision should gradually return. It will be like the level of a pool dropping. I'm using a temporary patch because the blurry eye is distracting.

So here I sit here on Wednesday morning, in the massage chair, head down and able to connect with the world again on my iPad.

Vitrectomy Or Getting Old Is Not for Sissies!

I've never heard of vitrectomy.
A couple of months ago I noticed that I could suddenly see better without my glasses, then my vision got worse and I started buying all sorts of over the counter reading glasses. Before I knew it, I was interchanging three pairs of glasses: distance, computer and reading.
My glasses were a little over a year old and I knew I had cateracts so I went to an optomologist. He said my cateracts were not bad, but there was a problem with my right eye. I couldn't read the big E on the eye chart. My vision was 25-400 which can't be corrected with glasses. It was like looking through a fun house mirror with that eye. He thought I had a detached retina and sent me to a retinologist.
Turns out I do not have a detached retina (which cannot be corrected), but a hole in my macula. Vitrectomy Surgery has a 90% chance of restoring my vision in that eye. Without it, I will lose my forward vision and only be left with pereferial vision.
With this particular surgery a gas bubble is placed behind my eye. I then have to keep my head in a face-down position for 3 days or until I see the doctor and am released.
The equipment to help me stay compliant came yesterday. Harold has been setting it up for me, and I've been practicing sitting on it and lying in the bed. There are mirrors so I can watch tv, a chair like a massage chair to rest my back, a setup for me to sit in a chair at the table and setup for me to use in the car when going to doctor appointments.
This isn't going to be a picnic, but it's something I have to do. I tried to find people online who have gone through this But there is little to be found. So I'm going to keep this blog until my eye is healed in hopes it will help someone else.
Now those of you who know me, know that I'm not one to sit much. I have to stay busy. That is the challenge. I'll keep you posted.

Y