30 in 30: No. 3 - Back Surgery x2

My mother can attest to the fact that I was a pretty crazy kid. She tells me that I used to jump off the kitchen table at the age of two (this attribute is one that causes Eric to fear any of our potential children turning out like me). Throughout childhood and my teen years I continued to jump out of trees, do cheerleading stunts, gymnastics and stupid tricks on our trampoline. I can remember falling pretty hard a couple of specific times.

My Junior year in high school I started having some issues in my lower back. I experienced a lot of pain in my back and I felt like a nerve was being pinched more often than not. I also experienced numbness in my leg which would extend all the way to my foot. I couldn’t stand or sit for very long without being in terrible pain. I went to doctor after doctor. I had three physical therapists tell me that I overworked it. Finally, at 17 years old after much persistence, I had an MRI and the doctor diagnosed 3 herniated discs in my lower back, one of which was pressing on my spinal cord causing the pinched nerve and numbness sensations. The doctor said that I had the degeneration in my lower back of a 65 year old.

I was devastated. I had always been pretty active, enjoyed sports and just playing in general. I remember crying that day. I remember the feeling of fear and defeat coupled with relief of actually knowing what it was. I remember honestly questioning whether I would be able to walk by the time I was thirty. The doctor recommended that I have surgery to go in and clean up the mess. So at the age of 18 over Christmas break 1997, my first year of college I had my 1st back surgery.

The surgery was a success. My friend/college roommate Laura who was a pre-nursing major watched the surgery. And later that night, I had all dignity stripped from me when all of my attempts to go to the bathroom by myself ended in an epic failure and I had to succumb to the humiliation of a catheter. My Mom was with me through it all, as well as the second time. 5 years later the pain came back. Again I was faced with the fear of what I had to lose.

Since my second surgery in 2002 the pain has not returned. My back is not as strong as the average persons, and I know that I have to stay healthy to keep my back healthy. Today as I was going running with Danielle, I reflected on this blog post a little bit. My physical ability is nothing less than a gift that I have been given. Many people are much less able than I am and I am so grateful that my back is well enough that I can do pretty much whatever I want (except I'm not allowed to do any backflips anymore). I need to remember this every time I desperately don’t want to go for a run.