WOW!!

After almost a year of debilitating nerve pain radiating through my right shoulder, chest and arm I finally woke up this Wednesday feeling better.  The ironic part is I was coming out of surgery with a hole in my neck and a titanium hardware in my spine but seriously it was better.  Thanks to Dr. Mutat at Lion's Gate Hospital and an Anterior Cervical Discectomy with titanium inter-body cage and plate fixation I can finally see some light at the end of the tunnel after a trying year.

Last January I was gearing up for a summer marathon, was working out a couple times a day, playing soccer and ball hockey and feeling more like a 25 year old than a 45 year old.  Of course, just like an car the kilometers don't lie and eventually parts wear out.

February came and I began feeling some pain in my shoulder and arm I thought I had re-aggravated an old rotator cuff injury that I had not rehabbed properly.  Of course, when faced with nagging pain I adopted a strategy that had worked well for me over the previous 45 years... Ignore it and do more!  This strategy actually worked for a bit, I took a break from ball hockey and instead increased my weight lifting and running.   Spring Break in March was OK and the pain was just nagging shooting pains that came and went but it didn't keep me from running 11 out of the 14 days in Mexico.  Once we got home, the snow was gone and April was perfect for hitting it hard getting ready for a summer of play.

I work in a Sports School with High School athletes so I get a chance to work out every day and push the limits against some pretty fit kids.  Being a decent runner I take pride on being able to push the pace against the kids and show them the old dog could still bark.  By May  I was ripping off sub 4:30 kms routinely and was feeling strong.  Then on the May long weekend I had my over 30 soccer ice-breaker tournament.   Of course, me ever being the finesse player I am I took a very hard fall after being tackled on a break away.   I woke up the next morning and the pain was back in my shoulder and by the end of the month I was having trouble standing and that was that, my body demanded I shut things down.

Of course, shutting things down is difficult when I am in the middle of coaching soccer and working.  Soooo... while waiting for MRI appointments and pain meds to maybe kick in I decided a shotgun approach to therapy would be a good idea.  After all, if physical therapy was good, and acupuncture was good and chiropractic care was good why not just alternate between it all.  Well, can you believe it, things got really bad.  It was unbelievable how quickly I had gone from feeling like I was 25 to feeling like I was 75.  Constant, crippling nerve pain was unlike anything else I have ever dealt with before.  Physically and mentally it just takes such a toll on you.

Things started to move in a more positive direction in June when I went to play darts at the lake and realized I realized I could no longer through a dart and reach the board.  This loss of strength and function was alarming to say least and off I went back to the doctor. Well, I guess these new symptoms triggered some things with the doctors as within a couple weeks I had a referral to Doctor Mutat in Vancouver and an appointment in October.

Once I met with Doctor Mutat h explained that I had a herniated disc at C6/C7 and he could remove it and relieve the pain.  He actually said, I also have two "very unhappy discs as C4 and C5 as well" but they weren't bad enough to fix yet.  It was a 5 minute meeting in which he was very matter of fact and his confidence gave me hope but I still was very nervous about someone messing with my spine.  After all, my wife has made it very clear if I can't wipe my own bum all bets are off.

Along comes January 18th and my surgery date.  My pain is high and I am fighting a bit of growing anxiety.  You see I know these types are surgeries are done safely by the thousands but I am kind of a law of averages type of person so that 1 in 10,000 chance seems more inevitable the more times you hear nothing has happened.  Hey, I can't help it, it's how I am wired.

Well, here I am five days after surgery in my dog collar and the feeling of relief is unbelievable.  To only be dealing with "surgery" pain and not feel the incessant nerve pain is mentally refreshing.  To be able to lie in bed and get into a comfortable position is freeing.  After a year it finally feels like I am healing and not just in a painful holding pattern.  Going from playing team sports year round and playing with my boys on a daily basis to being able to do nothing but sit in a chair is a tough adjustment.  To think that I am the road to being able to play tennis or go skiing with my sons again is hard to explain

I am very  thankful that (so far) things have worked out and I am looking forward to getting through the rest portion of recovery and onto the rehab portion.  The doctors says I should be back to 95% and able to resume all activities, just not doing like I was 18 anymore.  Good thing I hear that 45 is the new 35!