Dear VshinFL,

I was very pleased with my cervical surgery. I had only one
problem, but that was due to the plate used to fuse my vertebrae.
The recovery was simple and quite painless compared to the
problems I encountered prior to the surgery.

I did not have to wear a brace for too long and I only wish my
lumbar surgeries had gone half as well as the cervical.

As for how I got hurt being a school teacher, I was at that time a PE
teacher who had just left my previous position as a Lang/Lit
teacher. A week before the incident, I lifted a student off the
bleachers in a lift and turn motion. A week later I was picking up an
old student desk and experiencing pain just before setting it down,
realized I had done something. I waited a few minutes and then
tried to let my legs dangle by putting my hands on the ramp handle
to the front of my classroom.

As I lifted my legs off the ground, pain shoot through my body and I
had all the symptoms of shock immediately. It was originally
diagnosed as a pulled muscle and I was given extensive PT which
was only making things worse and more painful. They finally
realized something was wrong and a Cscan was done followed by a
MRI. Surgery was performed in Dec, (discectomy 3/4-4/5) and then
in Jan. the same nuero tried a microlaminectomy but sliced through
the root sleeve at C4, caused spinal damage and leakage, didn't
finish the rest of the surgery, panicked and closed me up.

I was fortunate to find a nuero would did a comple laminectomy L2-
S1 and actually caused improvement in my left leg. (She retired.) I
then found a good nuero here in TX, (others were in CA) who has
done the cages in my low back to stabilize and who also did the
cervical surgery.

I should also note that my youngest was 5 months old when this
happened and that she was delivered by C-section and 3 days later
I was back coaching my HS softball team and 20 days after her
birth I was back in the classroom. I also officiated HS and college
sports and worked at the LA Zoo on weekends and holidays.

I was a bit active as I also played on many softball teams and our
church men's basketball team as point guard. I ran a lot, swam a
bit, rode a lot and loved karate which I taught and competed in prior
to my injury.

Sorry you dislike FL. I miss the water here in Central TX,a nd the
mountains as well, but the air is cleaner, we have little traffic since I
do no tlive in a bog city, and we could afford a home with 5 acres to
raise cattle, chickens and horses on as well as have a wonderful
garden. I am not able to offer much assistance to my husband, but
about once a year I climb onto the riding lawnmower and pretend I
am helping by that one annual act! *grin* Then I go to bed for a
week!

I miss the active life, but I also realized that we do not heal as well
as we get older. Make sure you really give yourself time to heal. I
injured C7/8 right at the end of my BA college days. I was told to
change majors as I would not be active again. I was 1 sem. away
from graduating with a PE & Rec. degree and with the hours
required to test to be an athletic trainer. Under the doctors advise, I
finished only 6 units for the degree and did not finish the remainder
of the athletic trainer hours, nor test to be one.

I had tried to "beat" the injury by working out a lot, but got so bad
everything hurt. I then just rested. I did almost nothing for 6
months. Was in terrible shape, and it was very hard to just rest, not
lift, not carry, etc. My oldest (now 17) was 3 then. She had a hard
time understanding, but we got through it.

After 6 months I decided to find out what I could and could not do. I
enrolled in a Police Academy because I had been a cop in another
state and it was the toughest thing I knew to do short of the military
which required 3 years of commitment I was not sure I could give.

I missed 2 days in 4 months of PT (physical torture as we called it)
due to a slight hamstring pull, as we ran lots of hills where we were.
I then realized upon graduation that I could do whatever I wanted to
and decided to go back to school to be a coach/teacher.

It was after I finished everything but my student teaching to get my
clear credential, that I was injured. I went on to get my M.Ed
thinking I could beat this too and teach at college instead of
younger ages. Unfortunately this was not the case. My life has
taken a different turn.

I wish I could make it all better for you, but I can not. Just relax and
let yourself mend so you can really discover what your future could
bring. As for the psych stuff, insist that you get to see someone and
get meds to keep yourself from developing a chronic depression
problem. Physical is bad enough. You don't want the stress to
effect your mental capabilities as well.

Smile! it could always be worse!

Sincerely,

LT

>
> Hi..I am so glad you wrote back to me..Can you tell me what the
> surgeries to you neck were like???? I havehad a myelogram, and dont
> want another, thank you!! How did you hurt your back and neck being a
> schoolteacher whay grade did you teach?? I was an RN, and PT and I
> dont get along very well. I have tried it twice, but had to stop
> because the pain was so intense. The second time, I cried all the way
> home, and hy husband called everyone involved, and told them that ahe
> wasnt going to see his wife come home in tears and pain like that
> again. I am origianally from texas. I keep telling my husband we could
> make a lot more money thre, but he doesnt want to leave his 7 year old
> daughter, which I dont blame him, but I hate,hate,hate Florida. We
> dont have any seasons,except one...SNOWBIRDS!!!! the traffic,
> restaurants, and wal marts get so crowded. I wish theyd st To
> unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> pain-in-the-law-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
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