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A HETHEN’S STORY My story is one that should be labeled as "Don’t try this at home" .There are many factor to my back problems. To start with when I was nine I jumped a ten speed bike over a bike ramp. I made it several times over this ramp without any problems but then wouldn’t you know it. I had to try one more time, the last time I jumped the ramp I landed a little to hard and cracked my tailbone. OUCH! Several years passed with no major strain placed on my back. I of course have always lived my life with a "never quit" attitude towards things. I have done a lot of physical labor to earn a living. When I was working in the relocation industry (moving company) as a mover, packer or to be politically correct I was known as a relocation technician. Any way you want to call it. This job was not for the weak at heart. The daily schedule went something like this up at five at work at seven and depending on the job and how it paid the employees may be working well past midnight. This business paid very well for the short time that many work in this industry before moving on to something else. But it was HELL on a person’s body. There was constant muscles being strained, bruises etc. The general guideline was one of protecting the materialistic items that people love so much from harm, instead of protecting your own body. Many moving companies could care less about the abuse that each employee’s body receives on a daily basis. Many moving companies are more concerned with the customers materialistic items than the humans that make the business possible. The moving industry in general doesn’t allow the employees’ body to properly healing before sending them back out for more. If you refuse to go back out then you are simply black listed and you will be working on jobs that do not pay very well if the company even decides to schedule you at all. In this industry I made it two years before my back started giving me problems. On the day that the major back problems started I simply bent down to pick up three little mirror cartons weighing no more than 10lbs. For all of them combined. When I went to stand back up I felt and heard a pop in my back. When this happened it sent a sharp pain down my low back and down both legs. A few minutes later the pain seemed to lessen so asserting my never give up attitude I resumed working. From that point on I always had a sharp pain in my low back but I felt it really wasn’t bad enough to visit my doctor for. Several months past and I was working as normal then one day coming back from packing boxes for the next days job a well to do yuppie decided to dial his cell phone instead of stopping for a red light. Thus hitting the BRIGHT orange van in the front passenger side and spinning the van. The bundles of paper that are used to pack household goods with weight about 50lbs. And yes I received one right in the back. I was sent for x-rays but of course nothing was found to be broke. So after a few days off to recover I was back for more abuse. The moving company collected nicely for the wreck but did they share? No… Several more months went by with me doing the usual work. Then an opportunity open to go to work on a cattle ranch so away I went. This life on the ranch was great until I went head to head with momma cow that had recently given birth to a calf. She was none bit happy to see me get any closer than I had already got. So the chase was on. The cow won. I don’t know exactly rather she kicked me or she butted me with her head but damn it hurt. Everything seemed to be where it was supposed to be and all my body parts were still in working order. and since my prior run in’s with my good friend known as pain. My second friend became known as Ibuprofen. The next day I was back in the saddle so to speak. Many months went by but by now I had a little limp to my walk. I always kept it in the back of my mind that I needed to get checked out by a doctor but kept putting it off since I could handle the pain with meds. During my days on the ranch I had been kicked close to ten times butted as well as I can remember a good twenty times. I had also been in a group of old west gunfighters and done many dives from barn lofts, (most were successful) stunt crashes thru tables, stage dives etc. One day out of the blue I received a phone call from the woman I love. She had finally said Yes to marrying me. So back to the big city I went Back to the moving business to earn a wage (got my job back thanks to a doctor that didn’t pay that close attention during the physical and the help of … yea you guessed it Mr. Ibuprofen.) I made it another year in the moving industry before one day I was put on a job that lasted fourteen hours with little rest breaks. I came home sat down on the sofa to take a much needed rest and then it happened a COUGH, followed by a huge SNEEZE. My best friend (pain) was back better than ever. Two days after this incident I knew that I had really done my self in this time. At first I had pain in my lower back and down to the back of my knee. I finally gave in and went to the doctor. Mri and CT scan was done which showed a ruptured disk at L5-S1. Luckily for me and my family my wonderful wife had just started back to work after having our son. So the roles changed I stayed home doing the so-called rest and recuperate routine and raised my son. This continued for close to two years the pain from time to time got better but would always seem to come back and each time just a little worse. My mother was in the process of losing her house during this period so instead of having her sleep on our sofa we scraped all our money together and bought the house from her for what was owed on back taxes and a small lien. This way she would have her own little apartment(it’s attached to the back of the house) and in turn we would have our own place. But oh! The work that had to be done. Since my father’s death in 1984 my mother had gone into a hermit-like state of existence. The plumbing had leaks, drains needed replaced , some electrical work, rats galore, house had to be re-leveled do to water leaks causing it to sink, floors had to be replaced due to the pests known as termites, sheetrock had to be replaced do to carpenter ants that had found a happy home. And I was the one who got the opportunity to do most of this lovely remodeling. I was into this remodeling for about a year and a half. Just enough to were the house was functional to live in although no where close to complete. I finally had to give in and have epidurals done I had five epidurals with limited results so surgery at that point was the only remaining option. I had surgery on June 4,1997 a disectomy was done at level L5-S1. The doctor said," oh sure in no time you’ll be back good as new to where you can finish the house remodeling". NOT.. After the first surgery I went thru two sessions of physical therapy, two epidurals (with limited results). The pain continued to affect my back as well as my legs. By this time the pain was running down both legs on left leg the pain went all the way to my ankle and on the right leg the pain went to the back of my knee. Now in my life I had become the doctors favorite "professional patient" . Which it seems that most of the folks with back problems eventually become. The pain continued. The amount of things I could accomplish became less and less. Mri, myleogram and CT-scan before second surgery showed another ruptured disk this time at L4-L5 along with the space at L5-S1 was continuing to collapse. Granular material around this area was also shown on test results. On April 4, 1998 Neurosurgeon preformed a double fusion using BAK cages at Levels L4-S1. During the fusion surgery the neurosurgeon also spent five hour removing bone fragments(granular material) from nerves in the area of surgery. After surgery I had almost very little feeling in my left leg for close to a month. The pain in my right leg remained the same. I spent ten days in the hospital after surgery do to an infection from drains that were placed in my back. I learned to walk again starting with a walker and then a cane. I have been thru two more sessions of physical therapy (one of them was aqua therapy) The therapy did seem to make my muscles much stronger and help regain some feeling but did nothing for the pain. I went thru two more epidurals with no success. In October of 1999 I had a spinal column stimulator implanted to help mask my leg pain. On week after this procedure I sneezed and knocked the electrode for stimulator implant out of place. December 20,1999 I will be going back in for re-alignment of electrode. I’ll let you know how that goes. I am currently still Mr. Mom and have not returned to work. One thing I have found to help pass the boredom and vent some emotions is writing poetry. Much of this poetry is filled with humor and a somewhat twisted view of life as I see things. -à shameless plug: http://www.hooverhaven.ourfamily.com/ ß Little has been done on house as far as remodeling. Except what we have been able to pay others to do for us. But I know one day all the ends will meet. Hopefully by then these ends won’t be to worn. Lol This my story and I am stuck to it.
R.O.T. -HETHEN 12-13-1999 ROT has been kind enough to offer anyone interested to e-mail him.. Return to 'Other People's Stories'
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The Surgery:The Week Before * The Day Before * The Day Of * In The Hospital * Going Home * Let's Talk Pain * Home Again! Other Areas:Created and Maintained by Leslie Davidson.
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