Managing the Pain

 

      Need chiropractor, traction, massage, accupunture!  

I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and my back is slowly deteriorating.  I've been dealing with this since college, but wasn't diagnosed until after Cody was born in 2003.  After Cody was born, I could barely walk and would drag one of my legs.

     It was then the doctor sent me for epidural shots and then physical therapy.  While the shots brought relief from the pain temporarily, I still looked like the hunchback dragging my limb behind me.  Then my doctor started talking....SURGERY!  It was at this point I decided to exhaust all my options before I had to go under the knife.

     In came Dr. Hiatt, my favorite doctor in the world!  I was a little sketchy about going to see a chiropractor, especially in believing that he could help me.  What did I have to lose?  Well, after many visits, I could walk normally and felt great!  I became a believer!  

     Here I am now, 7 years later, and while I've mostly been ok, I'm starting to go a little down hill.  Dr. Hiatt said at this point it's about managing the pain.  There's no cure, nothing to stop it's progress, it is a degenerative disease.  So, going to go back to doing yoga and maybe start pilates as a way of strengthing my stomach and back muscle in hopes that it slows the progression.  

     I try not to complain too much about it, but with 4 energetic and needy boys, some days are difficult.  They are however helpful and bring the all the heavy laundry baskets to the laundry room and bring me the basket of clean clothes to be folded.  

     Going to go ice up for a while! 

Later, Aims