I thought i'd just recount what happened recently. My reflections will come in later posts.
Year 2021 started with me feeling pain in my neck and back, numbness and tingling/pins and needles on my arms and fingers. The pain just kept intensifying over time but a problem I now realize as a person suffering from chonic illness(es) and who has a high pain threshold - pain becomes a normal part of your daily life. Pain typically signifies that something is wrong but what happens when you live with pain EVERY. SINGLE. DAY?
You become desensitized to it. As I had become. Can you imagine wondering and worrying about what this or that pain means, when you live with it everyday? Also, because I got so used to it, pain, to me, stopped becoming a problem. I could take it for the most part. Even when the pain did become somewhat unbearable, I would automatically and unconsciously dismiss it.
Until a dear friend started taking note of my symptoms and told me that what I was experiencing is NOT normal.
Long story short, an MRI I did showed that my neck was showing signs of degeneration, which caused several neck bones to clamp down on my nerves. That's what was causing all the pain. After several weeks attempting to make lifestyle changes, the pain did not subside and hence the decision was made to do a surgery called PLDD - the Percutaneous Laser Disc Decompression. This procedure involved using lasers to burn off the bones that were curving in and compressing against my nerves, thus releasing the pressure and also relieving me of pain.
My surgery was scheduled on March 5th, with no complications. It was about a 2 hour surgery. The surgery worked and I was supposed to have a neck collar attached to me for two weeks while I was on medical leave. I, however, did not get the rest I needed due to the many things on my plate - responsibilities at home and work just wouldn't leave me alone even though they knew I had just undergone surgery.
Again, I tolerated A LOT of pain and I was rushed back to the hospital when the pain became unbearable. Unbeknownst to me, I tore a few muscles at the back of my shoulder and near my neck. And it resulted in a week-long hospital stay. And yet again, instead of getting any peace to rest and recuperate, I received frequent messages from my family, expecting me to be on top of things at home, and also work messages. And it really added to my stress and frustration which unfortunately, worsened my condition. To top things off, the patient in the bed next to mine wasn't really considerate which contributed further to my feelings of misery and exhaustion.
Thankfully, a close colleague suggested that if I could be discharged, I could stay with her to get the rest I needed. And I ended up staying with her for nearly a week before heading home.
I am currently still undergoing physiotherapy twice a week to stretch out my muscles and to rebuild strength. Apparently it will take 6-8 weeks for my life to return to some type of normalcy, but for my muscles to fully heal, will be 6 months. I've also been experiencing dizziness and nausea (and vomiting) of late. And I have no idea what's triggering it. Sigh. Sometimes it feels like I am engaged in an internal battle with my body. But that's the way it is.
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