Hi All :wave:

As I sit here totally unable to sleep because of leg pain I thought I would post about walking. On my last visit, my doctor and I had a very lengthy discussion about this very topic.

Everywhere you read it is about WALK, WALK, WALK and then more WALKING, WALKING, WALKING after a fusion. It is supposedly the best thing to do. Well there are some exceptions to this rule and it just so happens that in my case WALKING, WALKING, WALKING is not always the best thing to do.

At my last appt a week ago Monday, my surgeon said that he wanted me to start pool therapy walking because it is better than land walking. I am working on opening our pool this week so that I can begin doing as he asks.

As far as walking on land, he wanted me to walk down my driveway once per day (900 ft) only which I did with no problems. If I was okay with this for one week then he wanted me to increase to walking two times down the driveway per day for one week. If I began having problems, he wanted me to cut it in 1/2 and do that for a week. In another words to build up gradually in one week increments.

Okay so last week I did fine with walking the 900 ft. once per day so on Monday I increased my walking to 2 x. I did this with no problems. Tuesday rolls around. What did I do??? Yep, you guessed it I walked down my driveway 4 times. (Remember, I am type A. Moderation is very difficult and I don't like others to do for me. I am super woman.) And you guessed it, my leg pain is about a 20 right now on a scale of 1 to 10 and I can't sleep.

So I am writing this to you because I am a dum a**!! Listen to your doctor and remember WALKING, WALKING, WALKING is not necessarily a good thing in all cases. For me, baby steps are the key and it appears that I need to increase my WALKING at a very slow rate or I will be up in pain at night which is not what we want at 8 weeks post op.

Why is my case different than most cases?? I must be special. :D Just kidding.

I will assume that maybe it has something to do with me having severe sciatica pain in my right leg for over 3 years. . . .I am healing slower than others...my nerves have been moved around twice in six months (laminectomy in May and fusion in February)..... also went into surgery knowing that there was a strong possiblity that some of the nerve pain may remain, etc.

Anyhow for what is worth this is my story on WALK, WALK , WALKING and if you are having problems you might consider this baby step increase thing and realize that each case is different and try as hard as it is not to compare yourself to someone who is walking 1 mile and they are more recently out of surgery then you are.

(Thanks for listening to me give myself a pep talk.)

Hi Pepper, sorry your walking is killing you :confused: didn't you have nerve issues before your surgery ? You know maybe you just have nerve damage , walking is good for most people , but I think for us cripples with nerve damage it isn't so good..Just go buy an ATV and ride wherever you go it easy ? :D Seriously sorry your having problems . I feel alot better now that I'm taking xanax . I'm much happier anyway. :wave:

Yes, Shawley I did have sciatica nerve problems for 3 1/2 years prior to surgery. I don't want to jump the gun but I think deep down I wonder if it is permanent. They say to give it 6 to 12 months to heal so I guess I just have to wait and see.

I am so excited that you are feeling better emotionally. Didn't they give you cymbalta too?? How is the pain???

For me it depends where I walk. Really hard surfaces make my legs go numb and feel like they are on fire!! I do ok on wood and carpeted surfaces. I really notice a difference when i go say walmart as opposed to target. walmart floors are mostly con crete whereas Target has some carpet and I don't hurt nearly as bad shopping there. ( except in the wallet) I wish I could hire someone to shop for me! Good luck with the pool I am trying to talk Doug into getting on here. Maybe Ill just get the doc to tell him I need one. lol

Pepper gives herself a "PEP" talk! That sounds very 3rd partyish! hehehe. sorry, I thought your last line was cute.

Sorry to hear your legs are still giving you a fit. I remember mine sailing me over the pain edge at your stage of healing also. Not a fun feeling.

Why hasn't your doctor put you on a nerve med? If you aren't sensitive to the meds.. why not try them.

It does stink when you see others sailing past you in their healing and doing good. Not that you dont want them to, but you wanna be right there keeping up. I was a slow healer myself, but it does get better. I am also type A, that is bolded a bazillion times! Gotta keep talking to yourself and reminding yourself to exercise great patience. The healing will come and the pain will lessen with time.

Hang in there and keep talking to yourself, when you don't talk to yourself.. you overdo! Feel better. Tam:wave:

Sounds pretty permenant to me Pepper ,sorry :confused: But Like Tammy said why don't you take nerve medicine ? Lyrica works wonders for me.
Take care :wave:

I am on Lyrica 100 mg. 2 times daily. My surgeon said on Friday that he would call me and we may need to adjust it.

Thanks for listening guys. I just needed to talk to someone in the middle of the night and gotta love my dogs but they were snoozing and not listening to me.

Hi DDP,
Bren here. Amen, on the increase slowly. I am 11 months out from PLIF with hardware, plus I had and still have other issues such as the ddd and scolisis that I will probably always have to deal with. I think I am doing great compared to this time last year. I heard the same thing, walk, walk, walk. I have caused myself to have so many temporary setbacks by trying to walk to much to soon, because I have the same personality as you and especially since I am trying to lose weight. However, I have finally figured out after I overdo, and then have to stop to make the pain go away, am start over...I am defeating my own purpose. DUH! I always figure if 10 minutes does not hurt, I can do 20, usually wrong!! So, after 2 bouts with the sciatic stuuf in the lst month, here I go starting over again. I have figured out I can not do 20 minutes at 1 time, but I can do 10 minutes 2x per day. So...wish me luck, so far, so good. I have learned sometimes more is not always better. Oh, and I have been on no medication at all for several months. So that pleases me. Anyway, take it easy girl, Rome was not built in a day (Smile) Have a great day! Bren:)

Pepper,
LOL. Not to state the obvious, but do you think that maybe god is trying to teach you something? Just a thought? Some of us are just such slow learners....

You need my boss. He caught me standing on a chair changing the time on the clock. I can't wait for someone to do it either. He very calmly asked me what I was doing. I told him standing on a chair. "I can see that." was his reply. "Why don't I help you down off the chair so I can yell at you?" NExt time I'll lock the door first! LOL.

So, what have we learned? maybe less is better? The dogs don't want company in the middle of the night? Jeesh girl, give it up. You are only hurtin gyhourself. I would rather feel better in the nice weather, so ease up so you can enjoy it...said the woman who spent 4 hour moaning on her bed last night before she went to bed.....

why won't we ever learn? Hi, My name is Jill and I am an over compensator!

Hi Pepper,
Thanks for posting this. You are SOOO right! We all need to remember that we're very knowlegeable about these back things and we've been there and have lots of experience, BUT: we don't know each other and we're not doctors. We can give lots of advice, but you make such a good point that you have to have common sense. There's lots of great information here that can help us all talk more intelligently with our doctors and know what questions to ask, but don't ever let us take the place of your doctor's good care. Listen to your doctors, folks!

Thanks Pepper. Hope you get that pool open soon!

Blessings,
Emily :wave:

Jill - I think the LORD is trying to teach me a large lesson in patience and to not have everything in my home 100% put together all the time. Although I must say, I am not liking this lesson in life.

Pepper,
LOL. Well, I can relate. I don't know what to tell you.... it's been one of the hardest things that i have had to do. I have come up with a solution. I have decided that when it's time to have my eyes checked, i am going to skip this year. That way I can just blame bad eye sight! Should work, right?

Seriously, the stress that we put ourselves under is far worse than anything anyone else can do to us. I am my hardest critic. beat myself up. Over what? Will the world stop turning because I couldn't get that extra 50 feet walked, or that extra batch of bread done, or that extra window cleaned? Will I be a poorer person because of it? How will it benefit me this day? That is what I am struggling with. When I find something that is chewing at my butt ( I have long legs so maybe it would be on your back... ;) ) I ask myself how it will affect me this day. I am learning to budget how much of me i can afford to give. I know I usually have a chuckle, but it does take a toll from me. I still work full time and I have to be the "floor Mom" so that takes from me also. There is only so much of me that i have that is still whole and not put back together by bailing wire and srews...

just a thought dear. If life hands you lemons...find the soul with the tequila and make maruaraitas (and invite me!)
Just jill.......

Pepper, sounds like they either need to adjust your Lyrica or try something entirely new for you. Obviously, the Lyrica isn't working or even taking the edge off it. I hope they give you something new to ease that pain your are in so you can rest better. Dont give up hope about the nerve pain.. the surgery is just way way too fresh to even think along those lines at this point. Just forget about that thought for now and concentrate on relieving the pain. I hope you get more rest tonite.

Jill, .. So that is what happened to my bread! Ok.. at least now I know! hehe.
And the --"Hi, my name is...overcompensator"! haha. You should work in a comedy club. You really do crack me up!

For me personally.. Im for Daquiri's.. count me in! And don't forget the cute little umbrella too! Cheers to us all!

Tam:wave:

Tammy and Jill - thank you for your kind words of encouragement. Tonight I went to Target with my MIL and we cut up....I am suprised we did not get thrown out of there. We just laughed and acted stupid. It was a blast and I needed that. Sometimes you just need to escape and let everything go. Now I am taking a double hit of percocet but it was way worth it.

This back stuff can pull you down and if it was not for you, Clover, Vette, Shawley, Baybreeze, Carol, etc. I would be in serious trouble. Thanks for being there and providing me support. I think week 5 thru 8 have been by far worse for me than week 1 - 4. It has to get better.

Tam-
I just learned to spell tequila...i'm on to the rum based drinks next!

Pepper. Am glad that you went out. Sometimes that is what you need. Take some drugs and run or wheel away for awhile. I think we just expect us to heal far faster than our bodies are willing to go. I think my main problem is that I still think that I should heal like I did when I was in my 20s and 30s...and I'm not there any more... my children are.. that is such a sad feeling. I am just finally figuring out how to have a decent time and my body is getting too old to enjoy it. Now a late night is 11. Oh dear.

I had bronchitus last week. Tried to go back to therapy on Monday. Suffered on Tuesday. Went back on Wednesday (i'm a slow learner). My therapist spent 40 minutes trying to calm down my legs, put me on heat, then sent me home. I went to bed. Now that's pathetic (i learned to spell another new word). Oh well...enough fussing for a session. I'm off to find the little umbrella for the drinks. I suppose the glasses will have to be plastic. they don't trust us with glass ones these days....:rolleyes:

Pepper
I am so glad you went out and had a good time. I went out last week with the family we also went to target and dinner. I had a great time but boy was I tired. I bet I went to bed about 8pm that night and slept all night

It is really nice to do something different.

How are you feeling is the leg still bothering you? I read a post that maybe the meds weren't working for you.

I have been kinda busy and haven't posted much but I try to read and keep up. I miss ya guys.

I worry about you all the time. I hope your hubbys back gets better soon too.

cyber hugs your way:) :)

Hi Clover!! I miss you bunches. It is so quiet on the board these days. I guess everyone is on spring break and forgot to put out the word.

My leg is giving me problems -- you know I am trying not to panic about it but I would think at 9 weeks we would be doing much better. I hope I am wrong.

Last nights escape from back reality has flared up the sciatica pain in my thigh which I have not had since surgery. I have had calf pain and foot pain since surgery but not thigh. So today, I plan on not doing one thing and just resting.

Are things getting better for you at work? Are you doing okay pain wise or are you keeping that from us? Remember we are here for you.

Hubby is doing better. In fact for his birthday I got him 20 yards of mulch to spread. I am such a sweetie.

Dear Pepper,

Don't know if this will help you or not. I went to my second actual pt appt yesterday, you know the first one they just eval you. He put me on the total gym at level 7 last week for the first actual pt. He told me to do 2 reps, 10 each with both legs and one rep 10 times with the troublesome right leg. I was able to do it, it was difficult, but I did it. Yesterday he told me to do 2 reps of 12 with both legs which I did (still on level 7) and one rep of 12 on the right leg. I did the 2 reps of 12 w/both legs just fine, I couldn't even do 1 single push with the right leg at all and I tried atleast 3 or 4 times to do it. This upset me because I could do it last week, all 10 and not even a percent of one yesterday. Now when you are an over-achiever ( like about 50 percent of the females on this board) things like this are very upsetting. He told me that once you start to use those muscles again after back surgery that they actually get weaker before they get stronger. Didn't make sense to me, but hey, he is the pt person and I guess he would know. So moral of the story, don't knock your self out if you could do it yesterday and not today. He told me that it could take a good 6 months to gain back all the muscle function I had prior to this back problem. Being that your surgery was much more indepth, I can see it easily taking you up to a year or so. So no more beating yourself up, just do what you can do each day and that is it, no more. Then you won't keep having the setbacks. I do hope they get that nasty nerve pain under control for you. I agree that it is the worst. I eased off of my gabepentin the last few days just to see if I was ready to start weaning off of it? NOT. It cost me two sleepless nights because the stupid leg wouldn't let me get comfy and decided to keep me up all night. So I am once again taking the nerve meds as the MD has prescribed and not trying to MD myself. Type A all the way girl. I believe that if you take your time and just do what your body tells you is enough, then maybe it won't be so bad for you. TTULTR, Lynn :wave:

20 yards of mulch?!! What a sweetie you are!

How diabotical! I wish I would have thought of that!!! you are truly evil-ah-sweet!:D

YOu know the pain in your thigh? That's about the thighs of it...sorry. I wouldn't sweat it too much. It's probably from the overexertion of being up and out. And also, you went out at the end of the day-when you are most tired so that adds extra abuse. Just lay low today and rest up.

Pepper, seriously, at nine weeks i think you are doing well. Ask for an increase in the Lyrica. Remember that nerves take their own dear sweet time to recover. We are so good in giving advice to others....lets try taking some of our own..go slow give yourself some leeway. slow and steady...your goal is not to catch the easter bunny this year.....

Your funny

I still have pain but it is manageable. I still take narco 7.5 every 4 hours during the day. Usually at work when I am home an resting I don't need that much. That is what I took before surgery to manage pain.

I do have to take 1/2 vailum 5 mg (can't handle a full one makes me sleep) when I get that awful buttock leg pain. I tell everyone it feels like the jack hammer guys are at work. Without the valium it would drive me to think very depressing and bad thoughts if you know what I mean.

My boss is ok just weird. We talked and know I think she likes me again not that I care. I am looking for other work that might be less stressful.

You all can make me smile when I feel like garbage.....I don't know what I would do without you.

Awww Pepper,

That's what we are, the Garbage pail kids!;)

LOL!! i hurt so bad and the laughing is killing me but it does bunches for my morale. Laughter is truly the best medicine, Garbage Pail Spineys!!

LOL I like that too.

Sorry you feel bad Pepper I know the feeling one day is good and the next few seem bad. Mostly my days have been good but again I did not have as intense of surgery as you did. Sure hope you are resting and feeling better soon.

Wonder if the Easter Bunny will come see us spineys?

LOL I used to have a bunny best treatment for health issues is having pets he was the best but got huge like 20 lbs.. He and my pom used to sleep together in the dog bed.

Well I hope that your pain subsides and that you get back to being able to have another outing and lots of laughs.

Wow!! I laid down about 1:30 and slept until 4:30. I guess my body needed it. :eek:

That's it...nap time!

If you slept like that, you were in need of it. Now take it easy the rest of the day. No hopping around...

Weather is cooling off here and I can tell it. my hardware is telling me it isn't as amused with it. I am headed home from work to go get drugs for the giant schnauzer. It's not bad enough that I have to take all of them, but the dog has diabetes incipites and has to have drops in his eyes twice a day. It's either that or he gives new meaning to the term pee me a river...oh, is that suppose to be cry me a river?

My butt is starting to hurt, need breakthrough meds.. am seriously considering swapping my body in for two 25 yr olds....wadda ya think? Just think? 2 whole backs, un bent un irritated....there's a thought!

Hey, this virginian was just wondering if part of my problem is the weather too?? What a large change from two days ago!!

Don't worry I am not lifting a finger and I pray that your back feels better soon too.

Hey pepper it has been cold as heck here to, my god...today I went out to walk, and turned back around and came in, it was in the thirtys at noon, and suppose to get down to 19 tonight. crap..thought we were done with all of that.

Wow, I wonder if that's why I've felt yucky today! I hadn't thought about it. Pepper, you're further north than me and I think got a bigger change, but we had a 20 degree drop from yesterday to today. This morning I took one of my kids to get his driver's license. Sitting in the DMV with him, I was so sore. When they called him to go drive, I stood up and walked around. Usually, that makes me feel a lot better, but I just still felt so sore and achy, no better at all. So this is the weather connection, huh? Never noticed it that much before the hardware. Woo-hoo. :dizzy:

Don't you feel lucky feeling the weather connection? :rolleyes: I live towards Manassas - Haymarket area - Bull Run Mtn. and the temperature dropped 25 to 30 degrees.

Yep, I'm just a-celebratin' away over here!

I hope your pool is heated! Now that would feel good!

I have the pool sitting about 70 degrees and as soon as it warms up a bit I will crank it to 90!! Pool therapy.

We are looking at snow tonite and tomorrow and funny I can feel the hardware. I am going to ask the Dr about it on the 12th. He will probably tell me I am nuts. Wish I had a swimming pool. I would heat it to bathtub warm and really enjoy


Hope everyone can have a good evening and sleep well

Pepper I do that with naps too. I used to be able to just lie down for 30 mins and be good to go now it is 2-3 hours

Hope you sleep good tonight

Hi Pepper! I agree with you as that is what my doctor told me. I need to take it very slow right now after my fusion with walking. I had so much damage and for so long that he said it's better for me to let it heal by resting it. I haven't walked much in years so my whole body needs to also get use to it. It's good for me to hear someone else's story and what your dr. told you to confirm with me that it is what I also need to do by talking baby steps.

I have also heard that pool therapy is the best. I did it for a couple of years and it was great. I hope to get back to it when I can. That's nice you have your own pool. :-)

Thanks for sharing this. I hope your pain get less soon and you can also sleep better.

Harmony

Let's end this thread because it is getting long. Thxs.

Pepper....
We are in Herndon, right by Dulles airport. OUr kids are in Ashburn...Talk about small worlds?