I had back surgery in 1997. It was by far the worst thing that has happened to me medically in my life. I would not wish back problems on anyone after what I went through. Luckily I did not have my spine fused. They only removed part of my vertebrae and took parts of my L6 disc out that had broken off and wa floating round. It took me 4 years to get into decent shape and only 80% of my previous mobility.
For the past 5 years I have been in pretty good shape and my back has not given me much trouble at all. I don’t need much medication these days but that all changed this weekend. I woke up on Sunday and was in terrible shape. My back issue resurfaced and I am in terrible pain. I am not sure what cause it and that really bugs me.
Today I went to the doctor and know part of the issue. I jumped on the scale and came in at a whopping 225 pounds. I know I was in bad shape this winter but I did not think I was that heavy. I am sure that had something to do with my current back issues. I had x-ray taken that showed the thinning of my discs. No surprise there. They call it degenerate back disease and is pretty common in athletes. Especially when they have played sports that compress the spin in one way or another.
Now I am on Vicodin for the pain, Soma for the inflammation, oral steriods for the next week, getting an MRI on Wednesday, and going to “pain management” sessions in the next week or so. “Pain management” means they will be injecting steriods into my lower back with a big needle. More fun than I can take!
So the plan is to hobble back to health and lose 20 points ASAP. Breakfast is limited to oatmeal and juice. Lunch is salads. Dinner is normal home cooked stuff. Cutting back on beer as much as possible. As soon as I am not wincing in pain when I try to get out of my car, sit in a chair for more than 15 minutes, and get in and out of bed, I will be hitting the workout pretty hard. 225 pounds is pathetic in my book so that needs to change fast!
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Buy a scale, put it in your bathroom, and get on it once a day (mornings after the 3 S’s are best). Doing that will change your habits, as you’ll find yourself not wanting to get to a certain weight.
Geez, Ed, sorry to hear your back is acting up again. Good luck with your initial pain and injury management and then the weight loss and workout plan. I know you’ve been able to drop pounds and add muscle as you’ve done it before, and recently. I’ll be watching to see how you fare. I’ve always thought that it is unfair that it takes six months to get into shape and six days to get out of shape!
Our scale broke about a year ago. Hmmm, coincidence with the weight gain? Maybe!
As soon as I get rid of the pain Dan I will be back to normal. Winter is not helping any either.
I told you, if you are going to count Rockband as exercise you MUST STRECH before rocking out!
In all seriousness – feel better soon. I want to run 3 5k’s this summer (up from ZERO). I hate running on the treadmill so I am tyring to do other things to build my cardio, as soon as it is nice I am going to start running outside. You should run the 5K’s with me
Sweet Corn Festival is one that I want to run.
Good gawd, man. I feel for you! I recently had <a href="http://terribleanalogies.com/2009/03/beasts-and-back-surgeries/?back surgery myself, and know that it’s nothing to take lightly. If you need anything on this end of the blogosphere, please feel free to give me a shout!
Oh not good Ed, hoping you lose the pounds pretty quick and get some more relief from the pain, i suffer a bit myself from an old whiplash injury, but nothing like your pain by the sounds of it.
Reckon the cellar pub needs to be off limits for a while
How are you now, Ed? It’s been three weeks since you posted this.
Going well. Getting more active and back on the back as of last weekend. Just need some warm weather!
Glad things are getting back on track. I’m training for my first duathlon (run, bike, run) coming May 2nd. So I’ve been on the bike a lot!!! Indoors though…damn all this snow.