I don't remember there being pain right away but eventually it started to hurt in my left hip and advanced down the side of my leg to the calf. Pain that makes a person squirm.
After that my left foot had a weakness in it.
I had an annual checkup during this time and mentioned all this to my doctor. He did a simple test in the office and declared that I had Foot Drop and that I needed to have an MRI.
MRI. Does that strike fear in your hearts? It does with me. I'm claustrophobic. Yeah. So there are 2 kinds of MRI machines that I know about. One is a tube that the normal person just so barely can fit into. I am not a normal sized person...umm maybe call me supersized. And the other machine is where you are the hamburger and the machine is the bun. Oh how I hoped to get to be the hamburger. No such luck. I got the tube. Let me tell you, I played lots of mental games to get through those 45 minutes! If I ever have to do this again there will be drugs. Lots of drugs.
After that, they found out about the herniated disc and I was told I needed to see a neurosurgeon.
I saw the neurosurgeon and he said I needed microsurgery asap since recovery from foot drop is time sensative. I had gone to the appointment alone, not expecting to hear the word "surgery" and so I didn't decide that day. I went home to discuss it with DH.
A few days went by, I made another appointment with the neurosurgeon so DH could go with and that day it was decided to go ahead with the surgery.
Of course the only open date was March 12th, my 60th birthday. Yup. Well, when you have to do something asap, you just go for it.
The Saturday before the surgery, I got sick. Head cold. Sneezing. Coughing. Fever. Surgery was called off and rescheduled for the 21st.
On the 19th, the neurosurgeon's nurse called and asked if we could do the surgery on the 20th instead of the 21st. At that point I was basically over the cold and ready to get this over with. Surgery on the 20th it was.
Well, let me tell you, surgery at 60 is a lot different than surgery at any younger age. It knocked the snot right out of me. Over a week later, I'm still sweating if I'm up and around for too long. Naps are the bomb!
Everything went ok with the surgery. I won't know for possibly months if the strength will come back in my left leg and the foot drop will be resolved.
For now I'm not allowed to sit for more than 20 minutes at a time. Walk as much as possible, including stairs and if I'm not walking I lay down. Don't ride in a car for more than 20 minutes. Don't lift anything over 10 lbs.
Let me tell you....I'm bored. Bored. BORED.
And so I've learned to knit while laying on my back.
And this is the proof. Rachel's Table Runner from Green Gables Knits.
It is saving my sanity, folks.
*This is long. I won't blame you if you don't read it but I needed to get it down so years from now I can look back and recall all that was involved!
