20 days and counting till we leave for Barcelona, wow less than 3 weeks now!

Been a long day today, didn’t take anything to help me sleep last night and was awake again at 5 am, it sucks!  I am NOT a morning person (ask Tim) and when your back hurts too it’s a double wammy.

Got more Mother’s Day cards today, that cheered me, but they didn’t come till the afternoon and I was quite booey all morning, I just looked at Tim and burst into tears. Being tired and in pain too makes it really hard to find your equilibrium, I took half a Lortab but that didn’t seem to be working after an hour so took the other half and that seemed to take forever to kick in. I took another at 11 am and I didn’t really start to see pain relief until lunch time.

Oh well, good days and bad days.  Still, managed to get work done though and Tim drove me to the Post Office and for other work related errands.  Yes, he could have done them by himself but then I wouldn’t have even got out the door and I haven’t been out since Kathy took me clothes shopping.

That was so much fun, tiring and painful, but she was a real trooper, undressed me, found dresses for me to try on and then dressed me, picked up all the clothes I slid out of as I couldn’t bend to pick them up, drove me all over. I would never have been able to do it by myself and although Tim has the patience of a saint sometimes (he needs it with me let me tell ya), you still need a girl friend to shop with!

I know I shall look like I am 6 month pregnant for at least 3 months after the op, if not longer, so jeans and skirts, even ones with an elastic waistband are a no go as that will cut across my incision.  Hence the long flowing hippy dresses.  It will be hot in Barcelona, and I will also have to wear a brace, so if I expand girth wise the dress can take it and the brace will go over the top.

Everyone has said don’t even think about going in jeans, you’ll just pack them for the journey back so I found 2 pairs of scrubs pants, 1 pair black and the other dark blue that have a slightly elasticated back but only a drawstring front. I will travel there and back in them.  I’ll have to wear my old brace anyway so it’s not like I care about the fashion police!

Yesterday I talked about why the nerves hurt when you herniate a disk, I found this interesting.

Nerve Irritation from a Herniated Disc

You can see how a nerve exits the vertebra in a downward direction, the picture shows the bone, the nerve and the actual disk. Here’s the information I found with the graphic:

The nerve passing to the next level runs over a weak spot in the disc space, which is the reason discs tend to herniate (extrude) right under the nerve root and can cause leg pain (lumbar radiculopathy or sciatica).

Cervical disc herniations (in the neck) tend to irritate the nerve exiting at a particular level (e.g. C6 at C5-C6).

Lumbar disc herniations (in the low back) tend to irritate the nerve that lies across a particular level (e.g. L5 at L4-L5) (view herniated disc distribution with Figure 2).

Thoracic disc herniations (in the upper back) are very rare.

Sometimes, a herniated disc will cause only leg pain or arm pain and not lower back pain or neck pain, and may initially be thought to be a problem with the patient’s leg or arm.

Arm pain from a cervical disc herniation is usually accompanied by numbness/tingling and runs to the fingers.

Leg pain from a lumbar disc herniation will usually run below the knee, and possibly to the foot, and may be accompanied by numbness. Learn more about how a herniated disc in the lower back can affect the sciatic nerve and lead to leg pain and even foot pain.

I found the information here:

http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/spine-anatomy/spinal-cord-and-spinal-nerve-roots