Good and bad news

[bill_schubert]

It is really hard to be serious about my medical condition when Julio is playing in his new tunnel. 

But. 

The good news is my back feels much better today.  I'm thinking massage is helping a lot.  Of course the thing not covered by insurance.

The bad news is that I've got a fractured vertebra.  This is it.  It is a problem typically reserved for women with osteoporosis but also occurs with a compression of the vertebra which happened when Nanner ran me down.

Had I been a gambling man I would have bet on a fracture.  I've been hanging out with this body for 69 years and I pretty much know how it operates and what a  bad valve sounds like.  

The worse news (although I think I've got it covered) is that they want me to have an MRI:

"MRI evaluation may be considered to assess acuity for pain management purposes."

Fuck.  I already know it hurts.  I don't need a full on nightmare in a coffin experience for some med tech to tell me that.

My response was somewhat less colorful but equally forceful.  Her reply:

"I'm not sure it will change anything in the course of treatment. If having worse symptoms though with increased pain or any numbness then you will need it for sure. The order is active and you can schedule any time if you feel like things are getting worse. Otherwise please see physical therapy. Take care."

So it is back to ice and heat and massage and maybe a little bourbon.  She wasn't going to give me any decent pain meds anyway.

I'm hopeful that what I feel today is indicative of progress.  It really is much better than yesterday.  Nothing to do but wait and see.

I do intend on building up my core so that I can move better.

Apparently falling on one's back at the age of 69 is not a good thing to do.  In my mind I'm still jumping ski moguls so that is a little hard to accept.  My first time at 69 years old so it is all new to me.

For the record, if we had snow and mountains, I'd be skiing.

Comments

[msconduct]

:( I'm very happy it's feeling better today, however. Long may it continue. Good call on the MRI.

[bill_schubert]

Yeah, thanks. I've had all the MRI I can take. It is so traumatic for me. I just don't do well in that kind of space. I'm envious of people who can do that.

[megansmay]

I am terrified of the annual MRI i have to have.I put on an eye mask and am led into the room and i keep it on until after i am led out of the room !.
This was suggested by the hospital in London as a way that helps people cope.They tell me every time i am far from the only one that hates them.

[bill_schubert]

I can hear The Who: Deaf, dumb and blind boy lives in a quiet vibration land...........

That is a good idea. So would anesthetic be. No reason for me to be conscious to look at my back. Fortunately there is no reason for them to look.

[megansmay]

Fair enough and if you don't need it.... Actually even though in their opinion i must be monitored i have skipped the last couple of years with the Covid excuse. It is a huge trauma what ever way i can do it.
Even with an anesthetic i would be worrying that i could get stuck in there while under LOL !

[msconduct]

When I had one, I closed my eyes before I went in, kept them sit the entire time, and thought very hard about something else. That worked OK. But I used to be a sports psychologist and taught clients mental control techniques like that all the time, so it would be embarrassing if I couldn't do it myself.

[beautiful_dreamer_02]

A friend of ours, much younger than any of us (you, we, him) at the time of this accident, hurriedly moved backward to avoid one problem in the steel mill where he worked, and backed into something big, bulky and rotating like Earth on its axis only a lot faster, and ended up with four fractured vertebrae, so it can happen to younger men, too, in addition to older women.

Holding good thoughts and even some prayers for your recovery---ideally, full.

[bill_schubert]

Ouch. I've managed to avoid such an injury my whole life. Wrong time to start!

[beautiful_dreamer_02]

Probably never a right time, eh?

Oddly enough, he didn't complain of pain (he's one who rarely does, which actually isn't helpful to the doctors: pain is a very useful symptom) and as far as I know he made a full recovery.
There are much worse things that can happen, accident-wise, in steel mills, so he counts himself fortunate.

Still holding good thoughts and prayers!

[taz_39]

Ugh, I'm sorry :(

[bill_schubert]

Thx. It is better each day now.

[mallorys_camera]

Glad you're feeling better.

And I think it's awful that MDs won't prescribe adequate pain medications anymore because a bunch of West Virginia junkies abused them.

During the winter especially, I tiptoe around like a little old lady (which come to think of it, I am) because I am so leery about falling and fracturing something.

[bill_schubert]

I think if I were to push I might get some hydrocodone but I had three leftover from my shoulder surgery and it got me through the worst few days. But, yeah. I personally blame Rush Limbaugh (just because I can). It is annoying.

I've always been a bull in a china shop but maybe will pay a bit more attention now and definitely will up my muscle game to have better reactions and balance. I've been neglectful.

[anais_pf]

Ugh! I'm so sorry! Is that sort of fracture likely to heal itself in time? Does the masseuse need to be careful to avoid the place where the fracture is?

Alcohol does work wonders for pain -- especially when you combine it with aspirin.

[bill_schubert]

Yeah, I think it will heal. Probably not perfectly but my Olympic days are nearing their end anyway.