Injury Fallout...Part 3

I missed only 1 day of school after the collision...the following Monday.  Yes, I'd just left the hospital Saturday night.  Yes, I was on massive pain meds and was sporting sweet neck and rib braces.  But I had play tryouts to do!!!  And you'd better believe I did them...braces and all...spinning all over the place in my wheelie chair!  Mostly I tried to forget it happened at all. I didn't really know very many people yet to whom I'd tell my struggles, (I'd only been living in FL roughly 2 months and had only been in school for 2 weeks at that point) so I just went about my very busy schedule!

With the exception of frequent migraines, I soon got back to my old craziness of teaching, coaching, directing, singing, etc....oh and dating...since Chris seemed bent on "taking care of me", despite my insistence that I was fine. His favorite line to tell people is, "Our relationship started in the hospital, and it's remained there ever since." Hilarious.

People from Indiana may not have even realized the migraines had a starting point...and the Iowans didn't even know about them at all for the most part...so there's definitely a good conclusion to this story!  At no time, however, did any doctor connect the medical dots until all roads met one November morning in 2009.

I woke up with a terrible pain in my left shoulder blade...so intense that I knew I had to get to a doctor immediately.  After dropping the kids off at school, I drove straight to a chiropractor in the area who attended our church hoping to get immediate relief.  I never expected to endure such a long process of trial and error.

I went to the chiro office 3x/wk for 2 months...and tried every form of therapy there...electrical stem, PT, adjustment, and massage. I would feel brief moments of relief that unfortunately would fade as quickly as they came. In January of 2010, the intense pain found its way to my left arm, just past the elbow. The doctor determined we were definitely dealing with a nerve issue and ordered a MRI and a neuro consult.

This is where the fun began. The MRI revealed a herniated disk and bone spur located @ C5-C6 which were completely covering the nerve "hole." It was actually comical sitting with the surgeon as he described the problem, and then went on to say, "I have no idea what caused such trauma on your neck!" Chris leaned forward and replied, "Well I can tell you exactly what caused it!" While it seemed so unlikely to me that an accident 15 years prior would be the cause, the neuro doc said that's exactly what happened as it would take about that long for an injury of this magnitude to develop.

Stinkin Aucilla lineman.

I'll summarize to save the monotony of every detailed failure to deal with the issue. I had every injection known to man...every pain med that could be prescribed...PT of every kind, including the torturous traction where they literally attempted to pull my neck away from my shoulders, hoping to take the pressure off the nerves...even had outpatient surgical procedures to deaden the nerves themselves...anything the doctors could try to avoid full-blown surgery. 9 months...innumerable doctors, specialists, and surgeons.

Nothing worked.  Bummer.

SO...in September 2010, I had a cervical fusion. Incidently, I almost cancelled the surgery due to some browsing on the internet about this exact surgery where I learned about singers who'd lost their ability to sing a note after having my surgery. I really only went that morning to get injected with massive pain meds for the awful migraine I'd had for 2 days. (I was heavily dependent on Ibuprofen to deal with the nerve pain, but I'd had to stop, obviously, the preceding Thursday due to the surgery...without that medicine, the migraine was out of control.) I hadn't slept the night before at all and was desperately nauseous as well as in severe pain. After giving me loads of meds and letting me talk to the surgeon first, I headed into surgery. I truly don't remember even getting out of the pre-op room...I was out immediately.  The surgeon later told Chris it was much worse than he thought, and he had to spend a good deal of time trying to compensate. He removed the disk, replaced it with cadaver bone, and drilled down the bone spur.  He also had to insert a metal plate at the 5-6 location because the head was still so unstable.

The surgeon insisted this was "classic nerve damage," and that this surgery would eliminate the arm pain along with the neck and head pain. I had a good month...then it all went downhill quickly.

November 2010.

I could not swallow without much effort. I developed acid reflux from the pain. The migraines were so intense, I could barely hold my head up or see clearly. The arm/elbow pain came back with a vengeance. I was messed up...in a bad way.  We started the testing back up...the injections and procedures...a whole new set of doctors...all new meds and physical therapies.

Against my better judgment, I followed doctor's orders on meds...even verifying that I should be taking all these meds together. I was assured they all functioned independently of each other and were not going to adversely affect me. Three months went by with me basically in a coma state. I developed horrific intestinal issues and was extremely limited in my ability to function on any level.  A lady I barely knew insisted on setting up some meals and cleaning, which I fought for a good while.  After swallowing my pride, I agreed and was blessed beyond words by those that stepped in and took over the cooking and cleaning. I'm still overwhelmed when I think of it all...and that lady I barely knew is now one of my closest friends.

Every time I turned around, another surgeon or specialist would tell me I needed to have another surgery, but no one ever seemed to pinpoint the root of the problem.  I came to the point when I'd had enough. Enough meds...enough procedures...enough guessing.

I directed the final choir song of the season on Mother's Day and stopped taking every med the next day. They weren't working anyway so what was the point? I needed to be able to function...the kids needed their mother...Chris needed his wife.  2 days later, an intense pain developed in my abdomen...and it grew worse daily. I directed the kids' choir that weekend...sitting doubled over in pain in between services. I ended up back in the ER that day where they misdiagnosed me again. After going to a new specialist the following day, I was told that all the pain meds had worked together to cause all my stomach, dizziness, and nauseous issues. Super.

In short, I took myself to Cleveland Clinic soon after.  I just couldn't go to one more doctor visit and be told, "Let's try this..." one more time.  I had a myriad of tests and labs done to get to the bottom of things.  They found some intestinal issues and again attributed it all to the pain meds...I'd never had a stomach issue of any kind before that spring.  They also diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia and said it accounted for some of the pain, but there was more. Every other doctor tried to match every symptom I had to one problem...when, in fact, there were several things together making it that painful.

After being off the meds for several months, most of the symptoms disappeared, and I dealt with the pain, being careful to avoid taking pain meds whenever possible.

The arm pain never went away and caused a great deal of aggravation and discomfort on a daily basis.  Finally, in November 2011, I had 2 additional surgeries to release the nerves in my left forearm.  By this time, Chris was already working full time at Harmony and was commuting back and forth to Iowa on the weekends. Life was extremely stressful with the moving, the kids, and trying to say our goodbyes...and I had surgery...again.

I can happily tell you that, with the exception of a few days here and there, things have never been better!  I took it easy at first and have been on a steady, and mostly pain-free, road to recovery.

And there you have it.  Believe it or not, that was the short version!  I'm so thankful for the wonderful doctors that helped me get to the bottom of the problem...I'm so thankful for incredible friends and family who loved and cared for my family...mostly I'm so thankful for the God who heals. He watches over me.

And now you know why it was no big deal for me when I shredded my ankle in March playing basketball!!!  Compared to the last couple years, it's just not a big deal...and at least I had an awesome memory to go along with the pain this time!