Over 4 years ago, I had surgery on my cervical spine; to be technical C5-C6 ACDF. Prior to surgery I couldn’t drive safely so I chose not to drive and cutting food was difficult a lot of times; it was done by my husband as I looked at him with tears and defiance in my eyes. Opening doors became difficult as well, so I used all the handicap buttons I could find. Sitting would cause shooting pain, so I stood a lot and walked almost everywhere. I lost so much weight that people thought my illness was causing my weight loss. To the regular person I looked perfectly healthy and fine, but this was far from the truth. Sometimes I walked by seniors requiring assistance and I wanted to help but I knew I couldn’t and got a glare. This led to the point where I didn’t even look their way.
I came out of the surgery feeling fine; my hands were feeling good, everything felt better! I still had pain but who cares when I could finally sit down without pain zinging through my arms and hands. Man, what a relief! Just need to spend time in the cervical collar and do some physio and then back to work I go! I had my freedom back, everything was back to semi-normal. I weaned myself off the highly addictive gabapentin I was on and went back to work on a gradual basis. Everything was carefully monitored by physio and work. I was told that my pain was now “chronic” but it was something I could cope with.
At work I had quite a nice workstation setup at the time and they did a really good job at accommodating my needs. I almost made it through to being 100% back to work. I think I had maybe a week to go and as I sat at my desk things did not feel right. My fingers felt like fat sausages, the tips were tingling and, at every single keystroke PAIN ! I looked over at my friend and co-worker beside me in tears and panic and I said it’s back! The panic and horror that filled my mind was terrible. I called my physio as my Dr. was not in the office and he said go to urgent care. Urgent care looked at me and said “We are not here to dispense meds for this kind of stuff”! I explained that I was going to see my surgeon next week and I just needed something to calm this down; low and behold back on the lowest dose of gabapentin I went. It didn’t help at all. My family thrown back into chaos. My husband and kids unsure of what is going on with Mom now. Longest week of my life!
Photo Credits (Featured Photo): Game of Life
My Everest... 
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