The day that broke the camel's back ....

The day that broke the camel's back.....me being the camel.

So I am on my way nine months into my recovery from my gastric bypass ...feeling good...losing good...fitting into clothes I never thought I would every again ...out for the day with my babe....sun was shining and WHAM!

Young man, still with his 7-11 work shirt on, iPod on the steering wheel, ear buds in.  I was in the passenger seat one leg crossed over the other because I was sending an email to my boss about an upcoming shift.  Tony had seen ...just seen ...the car coming up from behind us and had a split second to think "oh shit" ....then I felt the impact which flew my iPad off my lap and launched me forward.  My leg was in a wacky position and I immediately started to cry.  Yes, I did have my seatbelt on.  I know if I hadn't my head would have totally have hit the dash.  I was looking down when we were hit so my neck was in immediate pain.  Tony got out of the car and the kid rips his ear buds out of his ears and throws his iPod on the seat and got out with the attitude like WE had just inconvenienced him!  Really? Well when my 6'1" 325lbs husband got out .....the kids back down a few notches and called the police.  The ambulance came and I SO didn't want to go because the last time I was in an ambulance was from my motorcycle accident and it was SO scary and uncomfortable but my neck hurt and my ear was strangely numb.  So they strapped me in and off I went to Kent.  Arriving at Kent was a complete joke. I continuously complained of a numb left ear and a numb feeling in my cheek to no avail.  I was told it was because of the thing on my neck that the sound was muffled.  Dude ...I slid 87 feet on the hot asphalt just two years before and didn't remember my ear and side of my face feeling numb from the neck thingy.  A quick look over and boy do I mean QUICK LIKE 10 min asked me a few questions, STILL, telling them about the numb ear ...they didn't care.  NO X-RAYS and I was on  my way like a drive thru at a fast food restaurant!  They must have been thinking " sure another Rhode Islander who got rear ended and can't wait to sue" I was still sooooo upset I don't even remembering getting back home in bed.   I slept the rest of the day.

Upon waking the next day my ear was still numb, now the side of my face was numb and my BPPV had been activated.  

Quick lesson: " Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV) is the most common disorder of the inner ear’s vestibular system, which is a vital part of maintaining balance. BPPV is benign, meaning that it is not life-threatening nor generally progressive. BPPV produces a sensation of spinning called vertigo that is both paroxysmal and positional, meaning it occurs suddenly and with a change in head position. 

BPPV occurs as a result of otoconia, tiny crystals of calcium carbonate that are a normal part of the inner ear’s anatomy, detaching from the otolithic membrane in the utricle and collecting in one of the semicircular canals. When the head is still, gravity causes the otoconia to clump and settle (Figure 1). When the head moves, the otoconia shift. This stimulates the cupula to send false signals to the brain, producing vertigo and triggering nystagmus (involuntary eye movements)"

I had been symptom free for almost a year up until that point. Cause I do these stupid exercises to get the little calcium deposits to get to a place for them not to cause trouble.

It is just a pain in the ass and that lasted about a week.  In the meantime I began to feel pain in my lower back. Which was weird because I never had back issues and after losing all my weight my back actually felt like a million bucks.  But I chalked it up to sleeping in the wrong position, working third shift and going to school full time.  But then it became where I could not even do my job.  I could no longer help with clients getting dressed or in and out of bed without me asking for a lot of assistance from a co worker so I was like WTF I guess I should go get it looked at.  Well what they found was not pretty.  I go there and the doc says so what brings you here to see me today and I said .....I had an awesome back before September 6th, got rear ended and now my back is getting progressively worse.  At that time a chiropractor had been working on my neck and all was hunky dory but he did want to touch my lower back until we got som X-rays. 

Once the Chiro saw this he didn't want to touch that shit with a 10ft pole.  Can you see the break?  And the slippage forward. Follow the Spine bones down and you see one that has a space ...yea that's not sposed to be there. You know that song "one of things is not like the other...." 

Sssoooooooo now the doc is like yea you cannot work because my job requires I lift at least 40lbs at any given time so I was out of work Nov 15th.  I applied for FMLA which only hold your position for 13 weeks.  Also here I am on a trajectory to finish school for Spring of 2015 with my Bachelors in Psychology so I am dealing with the pain and still going to school with a time bomb in my back.  I go back to see him March 4th he takes another X-ray and is like ....you cannot wait any longer.  I say well if you can get me in before spring break which was the week after then let's do it.  I was on the operation table two days later.  Blue Cross approved that shit like nothing after seeing the X-rays and MRIs.  So now I missed a day or so of school to get my family, house and shit in order.  Pre op testing and blah blah blah.

So the surgery goes well.  What doesn't go well is apparently my body doesn't like pain meds ....like any pain meds.  They were causing my blood pressure to do funky things and one time it was as low as 45/37!  My lips turned blue and I kinda blacked out and lost consciousness and next thing I was back in bed with a catheter re-inserted with instructions to not get up at all.  I was very disappointed in my  body and everything.  It was nothing like the gastric bypass. The pain was way more intense and because they felt the pain meds were messing with my BP they took my button away ASAP and put me on HALF the dosage of what you would  normally give someone after this kind of operation.  But we finally did find the right combination and I was finally able to stand and pee on my own and damn once you do that they are shipping your ass out of there.  But I was there five days instead of the anticipated two and that totally fuxked with my head.  Here is the before and after pictures

And here are the two separated

As you can see the slippage is still there and I will have to live with that the rest of my life.  Apparently when they got in there they had to also perform a laminectomy as well as the fusion and could not line up that vertebra. Eh, it is what it is.

So now my FMLA has run up.  I basically have lost my job because by law they do not have to hold my position for me but did offer for me to come back as a sub for a dollar less an hour and a schedule that is like an "on call" thing which obviously I cannot do with two teenagers and a full time school schedule.  So not it's all in the doctors and lawyers hands.  And I need these people to speed this shit up.  I see the doc  next week so we will see what he says.  Here is what the incision looked like after surgery

DO NOT LOOK IF YOU HET SQUEAMISH!

Not too bad...I have to say I had NO bruising and it looks still pretty good. 19 staples ....come on!  You couldn't throw one more in there to make it 20!? Lol!

Here it is with the staples out and it is looking better everyday but now my muscles are WICKED pissed off and I am still in pain with some things.  Driving totally sucks but I gotta do it.  My dad helped with school for the first week taking me and Tony picked me up.  But that just sucked.  So I am driving again and the incision and the muscles hurt while driving.

Emotionally this back surgery has weighed way more heavily on me than the motorcycle AND the gastric bypass.  But I am not going to dwell on it and that is for another day.  I need to get some sleep and snuggle with my pups!  Nighty night all!

These are the stupid exercise I need to do for my BPPV!

Peace

~t