I'm not dead yet!

Woe is me. The MRI results came back saying that I have a herniated disc and two others that are bulging. One of the bones in my spine is off from where it's supposed to be by about 4mm, which is keeping my lower back from bending as it should. I've been told that once this happens, the back is stuck with the injury for the duration of the lifespan.

I must admit that upon receiving this news I had a couple of instances of feeling sorry for myself, and those mostly because of how useless I feel in not yet being able to do the physical part of my second job, or the landscaping part of my home life.

My still unstarted path through the woods goes over a small rocky ledge. Do I have to figure out how to make a wheelchair ramp? (I did see some sweet all-terrain wheelchairs at the Lyon County Fair that had bulldozer-style tank treads on them. Those could be fun!)

And what about my midlife crisis car? I haven't bought it yet so I have at least 36 years of living with a messed-up back ahead of me. The whole effect of driving up in some sporty little number would be completely ruined as my feeble body struggled to get out of it. So instead of that I was thinking about a VW 20+ window ragtop Samba Bus... with a wheelchair lift. Or a hearse. :)

But things aren't all bad. I've made some new friends and there's one in particular that I'd like to get to know better. She's got the body of a high school girl and was a former gymnast. (I just like saying that. I'm not sure why.) Better than that, she seems to have a lot of the qualities that I strive for in my own attempts at being a better person.

So anyway, I was whining about my back. Let's dwell on that and not stray off the subject for something that might actually be positive. It'd wreck my pretend pity party.

Anyway, my chiropractor is in Willmar, MN. His name is Jason Peterson and his wife Nicole works with him in the office. They are super-nice people and I highly recommend the practice to anyone dealing with back pain. With all of the chiropractors I've been to over the years, he is the ONLY one that has sent me in for x-rays. I've also never received a call from a chiropractor half an hour AFTER I'd left the office so that the chiropractor could gather additional info about my symptoms. (I'd feel like a complete arse for not adding this as they've been a great deal of help for me in dealing with the back pain and in dealing with work-comp. Plus, if it wasn't for him, I'm sure I would have attempted to move those railroad ties by now, which would more than likely have popped the two bulging discs.) So anyway, it's First Chiropractic at 320 231-1414. :)

If you wonder what a herniated disc is, it was explained to me like this...
The discs seperate and cushion the bones in our spines. You can think of them as being like a jelly doughnut. If the jelly gets squeezed to one side it might make the dough bulge, and if the doughnut gets squashed and the jelly spills out, it has become herniated.

I'm hoping my discs are raspberry flavored. With white frosting. Hold the nuts.

I should've kept up on posting as I've had a lot of stories that would be fun to share. I only have time for a quick one here, and it goes like this...

I was in the Marshall Goodwill last week. There was one of those cast-iron looking patio bar sets with the two tall chairs and the heavy marble-looking-round-top-table.

Now, I realize I have no use for this item at the current time, but it's marked at $35 and is patio related...so I decide to take a seat. I sit down in the chair (which had just the slightest wobble) and rest my arms on the table (which has a much more pronounced wobble). I then lean back in the chair and as my back touches the backrest, the chair snaps off the base and I land on the floor amidst a thundering crash, with the table landing on top of me... and a couple of items that I have no idea where they came from.

I like to think that my performance was so great that spectators, lacking roses to throw like they would at a theatre, improvised with whatever was available.

But I gotta wrap this up. Val - Got your message and am looking forward to your trip home. Sindee - Thanks for not pointing out that I'd spelled "Chrysler" wrong in the title of my last post. And Doodles - Thanks for stopping in and seeing if I'm still alive. I'll be better about getting on here more often. :)