Show Stopper

I mentioned in my last post that the shed wasn't completely finished yet. All that is left is putting the doors on the front. Initially, I was waiting to get a second set of hands to help me get the doors hung. However, my back had different plans.

For those of you who have known me for at least 4 years know that I have had a bulging disc in my back. To use an analogy - to have this affliction is a bit like being an alcoholic: you will forever be an alcoholic and can never be "cured," though you can control your symptoms by continuing the 12 steps... likewise, I will always have a bulging disc, and I always stand the risk of re-injury, but I can keep it under control by continuing my physical therapy exercises.

Friday afternoon it became VERY painfully obvious that I had not been keeping up with my exercises like I should have been. I was in my new shed sweeping... that's right, sweeping... when I bent over to pick up the dust pan and felt a pop in my lower back that stopped me in my tracks.

If you have ever had severe back pain, then you know that there is no way to adequately explain the amount of pain I was feeling. Not to mention the fact that your back is so integral in every other movement your body makes. I passed out in the backyard due to the extreme pain, and couldn't even get upright (whether on my knees or my feet) for almost an hour because I would begin feeling faint each time.

With a lot of help from my wife, I finally made it to the doctor's office. When asked what the problem was, I told her that I had a bulging disc, and she very flatly told me there was no way I could know that diagnosis if I hadn't had an MRI to tell me so. I wasn't so much a fan of her. She wanted an x-ray and since I couldn't even walk across the doctor's office to their x-ray machine, they ended up calling 911 to have an ambulance take me to the ER.

I spent the next 8 hours in the ER trying to explain that I had a bulging disc to anyone who asked what the problem was... but no one believed me there either since I hadn't ever had an MRI to diagnose it in the first place four years ago.

I finally got my MRI around 8:30, and guess what it said? I HAVE A BULGING DISC!!! I was very frustrated, but at least now I have confirmation that it really is a bulging disc... more specifically the disc between L5 and S1.

I have since been spending most of my time laid up on my back while trying to help out (although I'm hardly helping at all) with the kids, dishes, etc.... When you have restrictions from sitting or bending from the waist, that limits you more than you would think. I feel even worse since I'm only able to give limited help my pregnant wife!

The only solace I get from this is that it happened during the summer... I don't have anywhere that I need to be on a daily basis, and thankfully neither does Beth. Although the obvious downside is that it has now made the remainder of the summer a wash, but I don't have to miss any work for it. I am ready to be back on my feet, but if this goes anything like 2005, then it won't be until it's almost time for school to start when I'll be all better.