Never ending back saga

Back in March sometime, the elevator went out in our building. We had just ordered Chinese takeout. I didn't want Steve to have to schlep the food by himself, so despite his offer to go solo, I went with him. I figured the exercise would be a good thing. So I walked down fifteen flights of stairs (we live on the 16th floor but there is no 13th) and slowly but steadily climbed back up toting our dinner. A few days later, the fire alarm went off. You're not suppose to take the elevator in a fire and since I did t know if it was a drill or not, I walked down to the lobby. It was just a test of the alarm. 

Now my legs were sore after the first climb. My muscles didn't know what on earth I was doing. But this second trip, which was only a descent, caused serious pain in my right hip. Sitting was uncomfortable. I had comps coming up in mid-April and I was worried I wouldn't be better by then. I couldn't imagine sitting on the plane to Houston and then sitting four hours each night for three consecutive nights taking exams in constant pain. Thankfully, I was better.

Or so I thought.

Any weird move would flare up the hip pain. I would take it easy for a few days and it would calm down, but then I'd lift something the wrong way or climb some stairs and it would be back. Sometime in June it became chronic. I was always in pain. It wasn't always bad, but it was there. Around this same time I was trying to do a lot of walking in an effort to lose weight. My back would hurt big time whenever Steve and I went walking.

I was now convinced that my abnormal gait (I walk on the outside of my feet) was the culprit. I have suffered IT band pain because of my gait, so I figured this was the same type of thing. Not wanting to come to England with pain issues, I went to my doctor to see about a referral to a podiatrist. I thought some custom orthotics may be my answer. My doc agreed and arranged a referral. She also sent me for a back x-ray just as a precaution.

About three days after I had the scan my doctor called with startling information. My x-ray revealed that three of my lumbar vertebrae were slightly compressed and showed some feathering on their edges which might be early signs of arthritis. I also had a kidney stone and a gallstone. The kidney stone I was aware of and handled, the gallstone was not an issue at present, but the discs needed attention.

After meeting with an orthopedist, I began five weeks of physical therapy and I had a cortisone injection into my spine. The doctor felt that the mild compression was causing inflammation in the facet joints of the vertebrae and that was causing my pain. I had the shot midway through my physical therapy. I was already enjoying some improvement with the therapy and had high hopes for the shot.

The shot eventually helped. My pain initially got worse and that freaked me out. But that was just from the steroid doing its job. I started with pain that began in the middle of my right butt cheek, went along my hip and down the outside of my leg to my knee. Now the pain was just in my bum and hip. The doc decided that my sacroiliac (SI) joint, which is very close to the facet joints in the lower lumbar spine, might also be involved. He did one more shot, this one in the SI joint. This was two weeks before my trip.

This shot took longer to do its job, but it gave me significant relief. While I was not yet pain free, the discomfort was much less severe and not as often. So by the time I flew to England, I was doing reasonably well and felt confidant my back issues were behind me.

During one of my first few days in Oxford, I was crossing a street. I was halfway across when a fast-moving car rounded a bend. I jogged a bit to be clear of the road. My decision to do that was a sudden one and the moment I pushed off I felt something pop in my hip. The pain was back. Not as intense or as widespread, but I had clearly inflamed something. I took it easy as much as possible, took ibuprofen, and the pain subsided quite a bit. It never went away entirely, but it was almost gone. I had a couple days with sinus headaches and all the relaxing helped ease the pain quite a lot.

Then today I was walking from the bus stop to Asda. This was my first time there and I was too busy looking around to pay attention to where I was walking. I didn't realize the sidewalk ended until I stepped off and landed several inches further down than I expected. The jolt sent a shockwave up my body. The nerve pulses even made my face tingle. It freaking hurt!! 

Walking was a bit painful at first, but it got better pretty quickly. I was able to do my shopping. It was when I got back on the bus that a new world of pain introduced itself. Climbing up the stairs hurt, and sitting was really bad. I could not find a position that didn't hurt. And between the two busses, I was sitting for an hour.

I canceled the rest of my plans and have been taking it easy all day. I go to Bath tomorrow and I have no idea what that train ride is going to be like.

The hardest part, though, is keeping my chin up. I have not had a pain free day in months. I was finally getting close and now I'm hurt again. When is this going to be over? Will it ever be over?