Hi

My name is Mike Murphy(Murph) and I thought I would send you my story. I am 30,married(to the most wonderful woman in the world-Kristie) and a father to a 2 month old beautiful baby girl (Keegan). Approx. 5 years ago I started noticing weakness and pain in my right leg. I had just played in a snow-ball softball tournament and i shook it off as normal pains, considering I hadn't played in 3 mos.  This continued on & off for 4 years and I wouldn't let my wife talk me into seeing the Dr. My wife runs a Medical Clinic so a couple of times I, in passing, asked a couple of Drs what they thought. They all told me the same thing "without a proper exam they couldn't tell for sure" but, said it might be arthritis. I tried some anti-inflammatories to no avail. The pain persisted and grew. I now had extreme pain in my rt. hip, and all the way down my leg. I was unable to stand or walk for more than 5 mins. without taking a break (sitting down). One Friday over the past summer my wife and I, along with some friends, went to a local church festival. My wife's cousin and her daughter showed up. Towards the end of the night my wife asked if we could take her Whitney (cousins daughter) home with us. She has spent many nights with us, as my wife and her cousin are real close. Whitney had fallen asleep and I decided to carry her to our vehicle. She is 6 years old and probably weighs 50 lbs. I could not carry her more than 20 ft. before I had to stop. My wife took her and carried her. It was a big blow to me considering my wife was 6 mos pregnant at the time. I am a 6'4" 245lb. ex-football player who is (was) extremely active. I decided that I did not want to be unable to carry, play...etc with my own daughter, so I went to the Dr.   After multiple x-rays, MRIs, discograms, ct-scans..on & on I was diagnosed with grade 3 spondylolithesis. My vertabrae(L4) had been broke and was sliding forward which was pinching the nerves. My Ortho's were worried that my nerves would start breaking soon as there was no way to stop the vertebrae from moving. I was told to immediately stop all activities that had me jumping, twisting or moving me suddenly in any direction. My wife is still on maternity leave til the beginning of Feb. Due to financial restrictions I have to wait til the end of Jan for my surgery. Our financial situation is fine, that was not meant as a, poor us statement, we have just purchased a new Van & boat and with the baby we just wanted to make sure we didn't dwindle our savings account down. After getting the OK from the Dr. we scheduled my L4-L5 fusion surgery on Jan 31,1999 The waiting has killed me, I couldn't play in any of my softball leagues,  couldn't play in my basketball league and have been pretty much a couch-potato. There is no way I could have played anyway , the pain wouldn't have let me, But do you want to know the truth? Being home with my daughter has been absolutely wonderful. I am still working (I am a Quality Auditor) so it is mostly behind a computer. Well anyways that's the basics thank-you for this wonderful site. It is re-assuring to know that others are going thru the same (or worse) pain as I, and to know that their is a light at the end of the tunnel. I cannot remember back to when I didn't have pain, but hopefully that will change soon. Thank-you

                     Mike Murphy

                     

Mike has been kind enough to offer anyone interested to e-mail him.  murph095@prodigy.net

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