Back pain. What a freakin’ pain in the ….lower back. I’m 48 years old with the back of a 68-year-old. I frequently ask myself “Self……when did I get old?”. I’ve dealt with back pain from time to time in my life. One or two days, and usually I’m back to normal soon after.
But not this time … now it’s a little different.
It started back in March of last year, 2012. I don’t remember what happened exactly, it was probably something stupid like getting out of bed and not planting my feet correctly on the floor. This is what happens when you approach 50, you need an instruction manual on how to get up out of bed. Up, ouch and “oh boy, hello back pain”.
I’m no different from most American men. Guys you know what I’m talking about. We just “loovvee” to go to the doctor’s office. Going to the doctor’s office ranks right up there with going shopping for curtains and hitting your big toe with a hammer. My motto is “take an aspirin and rub some dirt on it, it’ll get better soon”.
But not this time … now it’s a little different.
So like I was saying, I got up, hurt my back, I waited a couple of days and then a couple of weeks. When I realized I wasn’t getting better I decided to go see a doctor. To protect the innocent, I will call him “Dr. No(personality)”. It took another week, so 3 weeks in all, before I saw Dr. No(personality). As luck would have it, my back was feeling better at that point. I did however, learn from an x-ray that I have a disintegrating disc in my back. “Natural wear and tear” said the doc.
Fast forward to the week before Thanksgiving, 2012. I decide to lift my son, Zachary, on my shoulders, in an airplane spin. Dumb move because if you know my son Zach, he’s an 11-year-old built like a tank. A day or 2 later I noticed a little pinch on the left side of my back. No big deal, take a pill, rub some dirt on it and I’m brand new in a couple of days, right? Wrong.
Not this time, now it’s a little different.
Being the man that I am, I wait and wait and wait. A couple of days become a couple of weeks which become a couple of months. Now I’m in full-fledged pain and decide “let me give the chiropractor a shot”, can’t lose right? I’ve never been a fan of chiropractors. A doctor that can’t write out a prescription for pain is a “nurse” in my opinion, but when you’re in pain I guess you try anything. To protect the innocent, I will call the chiropractor “Doctor Wackadoodle”. Doctor Wackadoodle is about 60 years old. His equipment and office decor is also about 60 years old. Five visits and $200 later in co-payments (in one week) and I am still in the same condition I was in before the sessions.
Lord please, take this pain way, it really hurts.
This past week I visited a new orthopedic, Dr Freeman, and had a procedure done: shock test. Procedure was to see if I have any damaged nerves. The pain I’m experiencing is most likely a pinched nerve. During this test I found out that when I’m nervous, my reaction is to laugh uncontrollably. Jane, the “shock lady” was really cool. She was laughing along with me the whole time! Then again, I was the one being zapped – so maybe she was laughing at me? Naaahhh, she seemed too nice of a person.
So here I lay, waiting for my next appointment with Dr. Freeman and I’m wondering “Am I ever going to get better?” Lord I hope so. I may be pushing 50 but I have so much to live for. And it’s important I live it pain-free.
As I am,
Felix Rotger
Felix Rotger 