Taking A Chance

Pretty exciting day yesterday as I was feeling well enough to challenge the family to a walk on a trail to do a little caching. I loaded up my day pack and my walking stick to tackle the afternoon. We got to the trail head and planned our first geocache stop. Half way to the first cache I reluctantly had to pass off the day pack to my wife as I was noticing a little bit of lower back pain. It might have been simply due to my first real walk but none the less I didn't want to chance it so off came the pack. The farther we got along the trail the better I felt so it must have just been the lack of exercise I have been getting that made me feel so stiff in the beginning. We managed 4 geocaches and probably about a kilometer of walking pretty good for my first day out.

So with careful consideration I am on my way to recovery and getting myself out and about again. Perhalps later on this week we may finish the rest of the caches in that park and onto other areas soon enough. Keep tuned to see how it all goes.

Big Setback

Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse. I went to see my regular doctor today now that he is back from holiday's and found out some pretty crappy news.

It would seem the ER doctor wasn't disclosing just how bad my back has become. My regular doctor had a look at the CT scan then looked at me and said wow that's pretty serious. You have two bulging discs at L5S1 and L45. Your L5S1 bulge is putting pressure on the spinal cord which is causing the cord to bend out of shape around it. That certainly is what has been causing all your leg pain not to mention the arthritis I see evident in your back.

So my spinal cord is out of wack and I have arthritis. What's worse is that the Doc has ordered an MRI scan and mentioned surgery. Not what I was hoping to hear at all. It looks like i'm going to have to switch over to medical EI and wait to see what the MRI reveals. All this will definitely put my plans of fishing and hiking this summer on hold for the time being if not forever. Depending on how I heal over the next few months I might have to accept that i'm simply not going to be climbing any more mountains and will have to be very careful with any physical activities from this day forward.

My only option as I see it is to take it easy, eat right, lose weight, carefully exercise, and leave the rest in Gods hands.

Getting out

Well today was a very promising day. I got up and went to church and was able to walk in and get to my seat with only a slight bit of pain. During the service I had moderate aching which had me shifting position in my seat constantly although this was quite bearable. Apparently it must have been written across my forehead that I was in pain because I had allot of inquiries as to what was wrong resulting in many people praying over me.

After church I had to make good on a promise I had made with my son a day or so ago to take a trip to Walmart so he could spend his birthday money. I grabbed a shopping cart from the parking lot as a walking aid and did a few laps down the isles inside. Felt good and resulted in some very beneficial and long over due exercise however I had a couple worrisome moments while walking as my knee gave out completely in mid stride. I think this is due to the legs not being used all that much for the last 2 weeks. Anyway's overall a very encouraging day that I simply plan to build upon until I'm back in full force and ready for that expedition to the top of Everest this summer:P

When will it end?

Well as I approach week 2 I'm comforted with the fact that the new anti-inflamitory pills I have are sort of working. I do have allot less pain as before. I know this as for about an hour prior to the time I have set on my iPhone to remind me to take the medication I am in agonizing pain then once taken I feel relief shortly after. Now at the same time this worries me that the pills are giving me a false sense of healing and that my pain is only being masked. I'm left wondering if the healing process is either going really slow or not happening at all. All I can do is heed the doctor's advise and simply give it time. At least with this pain relief I can now attempt to start the exercises suggested to hopefully retract the bulge in my bad disc.

I Love Dell

Thought I would share with you all my complete satisfaction with the Dell company. I just had a conversation with a technical support rep about my keyboard failing. A couple of the keys are not working properly and one has even popped off completely.

Before I get into that you should know that when it comes to computers I always purchase the extended service plan. I did so for the first two Dell computers I bought for the wife and I. I repeated this for the second set we bought just a couple years ago. I was able to put the first plan to use after my 3rd year of owning the laptop. This one had a hard drive failure and Dell sent out a new drive without question. I was worried I was going to be in for the fight of my life to get a new drive from them but was completely shocked with how accommodating they were. They shipped me the new drive and even had a technical service rep walk me completely through the removal and installation of the new drive. The rep didn't hang up the phone until the computer was back up and running and I was completely satisfied.

So when I called today regarding my second computer and it's keyboard problems I was only a little worried whether the great service I got the first time those many years ago now would be repeated. Well to my delight it was. The tech rep was very accommodating and assured me right away before I even began explaining what was wrong that they would solve whatever issue I had with my computer. So I explained what was happening with my keyboard keys and he setup a replacement keyboard to be shipped to me right away and even assured me it would only be a couple of days to arrive. While the rep was on the line he walked me through the removal of the keyboard so as to be able to replace it once the new one arrived. I was actually very impressed with how easy it was to remove and even more impressed with the professionalism the tech rep had. He was very patient and stopped every so often to assure me that if I was having any trouble at all understanding his instructions to advise him right away so he could explain it in better detail if needed. Now that's what I call exceptional customer service. I cannot think of one reason for why I would ever stop purchasing from Dell in the future for my computer needs. Thank you Dell for your outstanding service.

Emergency

Hello all:

I've got some sad news. It would seem according to the emergency doctor I saw last Monday and again today that I have aggravated my herniated disc in my lower back again. It is bulging and pinching against a nerve sending shock waves down my left leg giving me excruciating pain to the point where I haven't been able to walk or even stand for over a week now. I'm starting to feel a bit of relief though and am hoping this is the start of my recovery. I had a CT scan done today and it looks like my bad disc has a little brother now. I guess I should have listened to this Anonymous person about taking it easy do to my bad back wink wink thanks mom. But in my defense I haven't felt like I've been over doing it on the trails. Note to self alway's take your mom's advise they are seldom wrong :P

Well I will update soon as to how i'm progressing so have fun for now