Not that anyone is asking

Paco Dennis said:
Was just thinking of u today. Wondered. Glad to read your voice! :)
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Thank you, Dennis. I've just been so down, man. Bitterly angry, too. The dead legs have been a real drag (literally), and the exercises and stuff have been time-consuming and really tiring, but things are getting better. I'm feeling better.
 

Frank, I am 92, was wheelchair bound. My back is such a mess, it is truly remarkable that I am walking fast with a nice rollator walker. I will not got into detail as to my problems, as you have them as well. At any rate, I said, if I can get rid of this wheelchair, I have won the battle. Oh, yes, I dragged my leg a bit, etc. and my balance leaves much to be desired, but if I can do it, so can you.

Your gramps gave you good genes. Get a PT program if you cannot get there and begin working with it. Look into Silver Sneakers. Programs for all. Most of all, I am happy to see you back and in fairly good humor. That's part of the battle won. I will be your #2 cheerleader since I know Michelle is #1. hugs.
 
Murrmurr said:
Interestingly, I had an appt with my doc yesterday but was unable to make it...my son, my ride, called that morning to tell me he's sick. He rarely gets sick, but he sounded awful. So anyway, I called the doc's office to let them know, and, since we were just going to go over my recent lab work, which I'd already read online and everything was good, the receptionist arranged a phone call instead.

The interesting thing is - for the past few years, our doctors have been conducting visits and exams with a computer screen in front of them so they can make notes, refer to past visits, and write up after-visit summaries and instructions. Obviously, that wasn't happening during our phone visit, and damned if she didn't totally hear every word I said, because, no distraction, right? I mentioned issues I've mentioned a dozen times before, and it was like she was hearing them for the first time ever. And she was extremely concerned.

The clinic has their patients fill out these review forms once in a while...like, rate your doctor things. I'm going to talk at length about those stupid computers of theirs on the next one they send me. The doctors are required to use them, but they're more a distraction than an aid. They've gotta go.
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we're the same Frank..have been for years now.. the doctors barely look at us after we enter the room they're too busy looking at the computer, and typing ... I swear I could be a doctor myself nowadays... just look the symptoms up on the computer then search for a med ..and done...

Anyway thank god someone finally is listening to you... and hope your son get better soon,
 
Lewkat said:
Frank, I am 92, was wheelchair bound. My back is such a mess, it is truly remarkable that I am walking fast with a nice rollator walker. I will not got into detail as to my problems, as you have them as well. At any rate, I said, if I can get rid of this wheelchair, I have won the battle. Oh, yes, I dragged my leg a bit, etc. and my balance leaves much to be desired, but if I can do it, so can you.

Your gramps gave you good genes. Get a PT program if you cannot get there and begin working with it. Look into Silver Sneakers. Programs for all. Most of all, I am happy to see you back and in fairly good humor. That's part of the battle won. I will be your #2 cheerleader since I know Michelle is #1. hugs.
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Sounds counter intuitive, but spinal compression, rather than decompression, is what's working best right now. I still do decompression traction occasionally - I know my spine and symptoms well enough to know which one to do and when I need to do it.

It'll be a win for me when I'm able to take walks around the neighborhood. I miss those walks.

Thanks, Lew.
 
Murrmurr said:
I'm able to walk around the house pretty well. Not great, but pretty good.

I've put in a lot of work. 4 to 6 hours/day, every day. I didn't want to. I said feck it, man; not worth it; I don't even care; I actually prefer the wheelchair...I'm freaking good at it. But Meesh pushed me, pumped me full of 5hour energy shots, and kicked my arse a few times. 😝

So, I'm on my feet again, most of the day. My legs still refuse to respond to my brain now and then, so the work continues. My Dr sent a referral to their spine specialty clinic and ordered new MRIs. Looking forward to that, I guess.

Ok, Meesh just said I am definitely looking forward to that, so, must be true. 😉
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That's great! I'm so glad to hear that you're making some progress. Keep on truckin' :)
 
I usually walked my old deceased dog around part of my forest glade - it must have kept us both fit. But towards the end of his unknown death I stopped -don't know why now? Now have a 'new' dog from the pound and took him for his first walk this morning same as the other one. It went fine ; he was fine but I had to keep stopping to catch my breath back and I couldn't have done it without one walkin cane? I guess we just need to keep pushing and pushing and not lay back too much? easier said than done! - good to see ya back anyways!
 
Murrmurr said:
Sounds counter intuitive, but spinal compression, rather than decompression, is what's working best right now. I still do decompression traction occasionally - I know my spine and symptoms well enough to know which one to do and when I need to do it.

It'll be a win for me when I'm able to take walks around the neighborhood. I miss those walks.

Thanks, Lew.
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One step at a time Murmurr! I joined the convertible pilot gang after a plantar surgery not gone as expected. It took a while. I plan on buying a decent pair of boots before long. Nothing with inserts and proper but good for me!
 
Murrmurr said:
Sounds counter intuitive, but spinal compression, rather than decompression, is what's working best right now. I still do decompression traction occasionally - I know my spine and symptoms well enough to know which one to do and when I need to do it.

It'll be a win for me when I'm able to take walks around the neighborhood. I miss those walks.

Thanks, Lew.
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Gotcha, Frank. At least you've made it a point to know your own body and what does and does not work. Generalizations are worthless, I know. We all have different situations, for sure. I am going to try a new program this morning with Silver Sneakers. I could not walk at all when I first arose, due to muscle contractions in my legs, stemming from a sacral pinched nerve problem that's been ongoing forever. Or so it seems. Once I did inializing stretching out, I was ok. But the pain is excruciating.
 
Lewkat said:
Gotcha, Frank. At least you've made it a point to know your own body and what does and does not work. Generalizations are worthless, I know. We all have different situations, for sure. I am going to try a new program this morning with Silver Sneakers. I could not walk at all when I first arose, due to muscle contractions in my legs, stemming from a sacral pinched nerve problem that's been ongoing forever. Or so it seems. Once I did inializing stretching out, I was ok. But the pain is excruciating.
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I do a series of stretches before I even get out of bed.
 
Missed you, Frank. I have no email since I lost my computer. You are going through so much. Glad to see you. Hardly spend time here,HATE this tablet as my hands shake so much. I thought I just missed your posts. But alas you weren't here. Thank goodness for Michelle, and you also have great kids. All of which you deserve, like the love we feel for you here.
 
Lewkat said:
Gotcha, Frank. At least you've made it a point to know your own body and what does and does not work. Generalizations are worthless, I know. We all have different situations, for sure. I am going to try a new program this morning with Silver Sneakers. I could not walk at all when I first arose, due to muscle contractions in my legs, stemming from a sacral pinched nerve problem that's been ongoing forever. Or so it seems. Once I did inializing stretching out, I was ok. But the pain is excruciating.
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I get those kind of cramps. My feet get all twisted up when they happen, they turn inward and the soles face upward and my toes point north and southward; crippling pain and literally crippling.

Imaging has shown time and again that it isn't sacral, no matter how hard my spine docs insist it hasta be.

In my case, it's the obturator nerve, which originates at L4.

Here's the thing: There's supposed to be only one nerve root on either side of each vertebra. My L4 has two on one side and one on the other, and that extra one presses against the other, sometimes a lot, sometimes not a lot.

It's assumed that abnormality is a birth defect, possibly genetic, and extremely rare...3 reported cases world wide when mine was observed during open surgery in 2017.

I'm certain redundant nerve roots are genetic, that they can occur anywhere in the spine, and that they're actually pretty common. Nerve roots are super-tiny things and it's only recently that some types of imaging can pick them up. I'm betting that doctors are going to start seeing a lot of these as imaging gets better and better.

I don't doubt redundant nerve root (aka, twinned nerve root, aka, double nerve root) is the cause of most people's chronic back and neck pain. Shiddy thing is, you can't remove the evil twin, or kill it with chemicals. They branch off. They do things; they operate, like any nerve root.

Probably someday, surgeons and back specialists will figure out how to isolate them, so the two can't come into contact with each other and trigger pain and those wild leg and foot symptoms. And, I think probly soon, like within 5 or 10 yrs.

I'm guessing twinned nerve roots in the cervical spine cause visual disturbances, hearing loss, shoulder, arm, and hand pain, numbness, burning, and trembling....those sorts of things.
 
Pepper said:
Missed you, Frank. I have no email since I lost my computer. You are going through so much. Glad to see you. Hardly spend time here,HATE this tablet as my hands shake so much. I thought I just missed your posts. But alas you weren't here. Thank goodness for Michelle, and you also have great kids. All of which you deserve, like the love we feel for you here.
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To put it plainly, I've been in such a shiddy frame of mind, I decided to avoid coming on here and being a dick. That's basically it.
 
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