News from the horsepiddle

I hesitate to write this, as it may look like whingeing and I know there are folk a lot worse off but, well, it’s a real life story, so please just treat it as faithful reportage.

As many of you know, I have been blessed with sciatica and, last December, a man with a very sharp knife rummaged around inside my lower back, decompressed two spinal nerves (good job he reads Wikipedia because that says: “Sciatica is generally caused by the compression of lumbar nerves L4 or L5” and those are the bad boys he zapped) and caused half of one of my discs to become the subject of an “ectomy”. I don’t suppose he actually rummaged an awful lot as I would hope he knew precisely the spot to target; I had my GPS with me just in case.
A month or so after that, I was able to drive my car again (the condition had previously prevented my lifting my left leg to operate the clutch) and everything, if not totally dory, was definitely hunky. Sad to relate, things took a turn for the worse about two months ago and I am back thanking Providence for scientific advancement in the field of analgesia (from the Greek an-, without, + algesis, sense of pain). You can learn a lot reading this blog. My GP told me I should have had an assessment three months after the last one (March) but I’d heard nothing and, when I rang the Orthopaedic Department to make an appointment, the clerk confirmed I should indeed have had one in June. I’d heard nothing.

Anyway, I went the other day and, after asking me to roll my left trouser leg up (which is quite difficult these days, since the knee and ankle are often swollen up to about 1½ times normal size), the doctor made me do some pushing and pulling movements with my foot and then discharged me. Apparently, there is nothing more that can be done surgically to rectify the problem and the period since I had the surgery (11 months) is very short in terms of its effects, which can very commonly take 18 months or more to precipitate a marked improvement.

Things seem to have stabilised over the last week or so to the extent that I am able to walk around the house (slowly) without the walking stick and it only hurts when I walk, as opposed to all the time. It’s not so bad. At least I can play games on the new Wii as long as I stand fairly still. I’ve got a wireless nunchuck and everything!