Howdy! I haven’t written in a long while again. My apologies.

In January, I had major back surgery to repair about eight different problems. The good news: It worked! As I type this, I’m sitting up straight, and in (almost) no pain! I didn’t realize before surgery why it hurt to sit up straight, but it felt good to slouch. That’s because my back was, as my primary care provider said, “So Fucked Up!”

I have had leg pain for about 30 years on and off. I’ve always had back pain when bending over that tiny bit to wash dishes and do laundry. Laundry is quick, so I’ve never thought about it. But dishes are not so quick. When I was little and told my mom that my back hurt when I washed dishes, she said it was all in my head. So that’s what I’ve thought all these decades.

I woke up one morning in February or March of 2020, fed all of the kitties, and within 15 minutes, my left leg hurt so bad, I would have welcomed it to be cut off from the hip to the toes. I drove myself (no stick shift) to immediate care. They said it was most likely my sciatica, gave me steroid injections, and told me to call my doctor for a follow up soon.

My primary care provider is awesome … which makes her difficult to get into. Instead, I saw Eric Anderson at Bronson on South 9th Street in Kalamazoo. He was AMAZING! He was a dog with a bone and NEVER gave up on finding an answer. After each visit when I said I was still having trouble, he’d order another test, such as these: X-ray, blood flow scan, EMG (OUCH!!!), and finally an MRI.

The pain was never in my legs. It was from my back. For decades, the damage has been compounding to the problem at hand: My tailbone and the eight vertebrae above were a tangled mess. We don’t know if it is genetic or from the same cow kick that is the cause of my migraines at the top of my spine and the bottom of my skull. No matter, the damage was present and tremendously painful.

When I was a tween, we had a cow named Camel. She was over half a foot taller than all the other cows, weighed 300 pounds more, and was a mean lotta lady cow. Most cows can only kick in and forward. This toots could kick out and back. She threw all of us back against the concrete call of the barn. But they were adults. I was around 10 years old. And I’m a farmer’s daughter. You don’t just go to the doctor for a bruise on your chest. Please! Shake it off and keep on going.

However, my dad also had nearly the same surgery when he was in his 60’s. He’d always said chiropractors were quakes … until his left leg hurt so bad, he took up my sister’s suggestion for her chiropractor. Dad saw the chiropractor for over five years. He finally told my dad he would not see him anymore because the only solution was surgery. Dad wasn’t thrilled and put surgery off another two years. Then he was shocked to have the surgery and … get this … NO more leg pain! NONE!

I am the same. I went into the hospital the morning of the surgery with pain in my right hip running like a small flame to and from my knee cap. (That’s just one example of the various leg pains I’ve had on and off for decades.) I too came out of surgery and haven’t had ANY leg pain since! It’s only been 10 weeks for me, but that’s a LONG time for me to go without ANY leg pain. JOY!!!

Moral of the Story:

Get It Checked Out! I know going to the doctor is a pain … in SO many ways. But the doctor was shocked I’d never told anyone it hurt to do dishes … every single time. The same type of pain in the same places. One person told me it was all in my head, and that was it.

Don’t be like me! Get help. Share. Talk. Ask. Ask. Ask. If necessary, get second and third opinions. The X-ray and EMG told the doctor a small portion of my pain, but that crazy expensive and hard to get MRI told a full and complete story of the mess that was me.

Be like me and get less messy.