Compounding Spinal Injuries
Not a day goes by when I don't turn a certain way or lift something incorrectly or simply breath incorrectly that I am instantly slammed with spinal pain that is enough to trigger my body to involuntarily buckle at the knees. In those daily instances, I manage to catch myself before hitting the floor. This morning, I awoke with spinal pain in my lumbar spine. I got up out of bed and instantly fell to the floor, a heap of red-hot nerves in excruciating pain... wedged between the wall, the nightstand and the little step-stool to help get in and out of our rather tall bed.
I've had a nasty cold... perhaps the flu, I don't know which nor do I care... for the past three weeks. I still have nasty, thick phlegm running down my throat at night so I try to sleep propped up on three pillows to keep me from choking. This helps me breath, typically, but it is terrible for my spinal injuries. Anyway, the cold is still lingering, causing problems, and getting my abnormally excited mast cells even more excited and frantic wreaking all sorts of havoc on different areas of my body. Now, it is also affecting my spinal injuries.
So, this morning, my first experience upon stepping foot out of bed was becoming a heap of two hundred pounds wedged between furniture on our bedroom floor. Finding myself on the floor in excruciating pain has happened many, many times before so it was not a complete surprise this morning. I was, however, thinking "here we go again" as I was holding my breath willing the pain to subside a bit.
As I breathed, I evaluated where the pain was being felt... my lumbar spine... right side to hip across my pelvis.... I instantly remembered that I had a problem yesterday evening with pain across that same right side, into my hip, down my thigh, to my knee, down into my foot that stopped me in my tracks and buckled me at the knees briefly. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm having problems right from the get-go this morning.
On the positive side, the bed was right next to me as I was wedged between furniture this morning. I knew I just needed to stand up enough to use the bed to help get me to my feet. My arms still have some strength to them... not like they used to have... but, enough strength to pull and push my two hundred pound frame up to my feet, if necessary.
I slowly and carefully tried pulling myself up to the bed while lifting myself with my legs. I felt some twinges of extra pain but nothing like what had put me on the floor in the first place. I was now sort of doing a push-up on the edge of the bed while trying to lift my body into a standing position. I breathed through the pain... definitely to my right hip... I feel like I have a hot railroad spike spiked through my pelvis. It doesn't feel like a nail was pounded into my pelvis. It definitely feels fatter and bigger like a railroad spike. And, it feels like the railroad spike is very hot.
I've been through this thousands of times since my line-of-duty spinal injuries. Actually, my first injury twenty years ago felt exactly like this except that, at that time, I was running around controlling aircraft with 150 lbs of gear on my back. Way back then, not only did I have the excruciating pain in my lumbar spine but it also felt as though someone had stabbed ice picks through the tops of my feet.
During that first injury, I would begin to gray-out so I would take a breather against a building here... shake out the cobwebs, talk on the radio... run to a tree... begin to gray-out again... lean against a vehicle, shake out the cobwebs, talk on the radio... over and over until my team and I made it to cover. I didn't report that injury for another 30 days. Whenever I feel that same exact pain again, I'm instantly transported back to that time twenty years ago.
This pain is enough to take my breath away and, generally, makes breathing difficult. This pain also causes my mast cells to "respond" to the pain and inflammation which, in turn, makes my Systemic Mastocytosis illness worse. I know it will be a long day today.
It is days like today that make me realize that procrastinating about purchasing a wheelchair is stubbornly idiotic. I wouldn't be able to use the wheelchair in our tiny house but there is no way I am capable of walking relatively long distances (short distances to healthy people) without needing to take many painful breaks. My cane only helps to a point. My cane doesn't keep me up on my feet when the pain is this pronounced.
So, I am still fighting this cold or flu and I am now in significant pain due to my spinal injuries. I don't think I'm going to accomplish much of anything today.
I've had a nasty cold... perhaps the flu, I don't know which nor do I care... for the past three weeks. I still have nasty, thick phlegm running down my throat at night so I try to sleep propped up on three pillows to keep me from choking. This helps me breath, typically, but it is terrible for my spinal injuries. Anyway, the cold is still lingering, causing problems, and getting my abnormally excited mast cells even more excited and frantic wreaking all sorts of havoc on different areas of my body. Now, it is also affecting my spinal injuries.
So, this morning, my first experience upon stepping foot out of bed was becoming a heap of two hundred pounds wedged between furniture on our bedroom floor. Finding myself on the floor in excruciating pain has happened many, many times before so it was not a complete surprise this morning. I was, however, thinking "here we go again" as I was holding my breath willing the pain to subside a bit.
As I breathed, I evaluated where the pain was being felt... my lumbar spine... right side to hip across my pelvis.... I instantly remembered that I had a problem yesterday evening with pain across that same right side, into my hip, down my thigh, to my knee, down into my foot that stopped me in my tracks and buckled me at the knees briefly. It shouldn't come as a surprise that I'm having problems right from the get-go this morning.
On the positive side, the bed was right next to me as I was wedged between furniture this morning. I knew I just needed to stand up enough to use the bed to help get me to my feet. My arms still have some strength to them... not like they used to have... but, enough strength to pull and push my two hundred pound frame up to my feet, if necessary.
I slowly and carefully tried pulling myself up to the bed while lifting myself with my legs. I felt some twinges of extra pain but nothing like what had put me on the floor in the first place. I was now sort of doing a push-up on the edge of the bed while trying to lift my body into a standing position. I breathed through the pain... definitely to my right hip... I feel like I have a hot railroad spike spiked through my pelvis. It doesn't feel like a nail was pounded into my pelvis. It definitely feels fatter and bigger like a railroad spike. And, it feels like the railroad spike is very hot.
I've been through this thousands of times since my line-of-duty spinal injuries. Actually, my first injury twenty years ago felt exactly like this except that, at that time, I was running around controlling aircraft with 150 lbs of gear on my back. Way back then, not only did I have the excruciating pain in my lumbar spine but it also felt as though someone had stabbed ice picks through the tops of my feet.
During that first injury, I would begin to gray-out so I would take a breather against a building here... shake out the cobwebs, talk on the radio... run to a tree... begin to gray-out again... lean against a vehicle, shake out the cobwebs, talk on the radio... over and over until my team and I made it to cover. I didn't report that injury for another 30 days. Whenever I feel that same exact pain again, I'm instantly transported back to that time twenty years ago.
This pain is enough to take my breath away and, generally, makes breathing difficult. This pain also causes my mast cells to "respond" to the pain and inflammation which, in turn, makes my Systemic Mastocytosis illness worse. I know it will be a long day today.
It is days like today that make me realize that procrastinating about purchasing a wheelchair is stubbornly idiotic. I wouldn't be able to use the wheelchair in our tiny house but there is no way I am capable of walking relatively long distances (short distances to healthy people) without needing to take many painful breaks. My cane only helps to a point. My cane doesn't keep me up on my feet when the pain is this pronounced.
So, I am still fighting this cold or flu and I am now in significant pain due to my spinal injuries. I don't think I'm going to accomplish much of anything today.
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