I am afraid I am in kinda a tough spot, and might be gone for a while:

[Candyman]

Hey their Everyone,

I am afraid I am kinda stuck in a rough situation which could likely keep me from here, and anything PT related for a while.

As most of you know, I was a Long Distance Truck Driver for many years till I got caught up in near fatal truck wreck after my Team Partner accidentally fell asleep at the wheel while I was taking a nap in the bunk in the sleeper. My Partner died at the scene, and I wound up with two skull fractures, some minor brain trauma which messed up some minor motor skills function, and di a lot of damage to my spine by way of fracturing two disks, and damaging two more in my lower vertebra. I was in a coma for 28 days while they had to drill into my head to relieve pressure on my brain which had swelled up, and also did major spinal surgery to repair my back as best they could. It actually took me over a year to learn to walk again, and am about 90% back to normal after almost 6 years now, and actually owe a great deal of my recovery to both my PT, and all my great friends in the PT Community for helping get me through many hard times!

One of my biggest goals I wanted to do as part of my recovery was to face one of my worst fears which was to get back behind the wheel of a Truck again which I was really scared to death of since the wreck. Two years ago I fought hard, and long, and finally was able to pass my DOT Physical, and actually went back to work for Fed Ex, overcame my worst fears, and was doing great till one night while hooking up a trailer my back went out, and within a couple of hours I was not able to move at all. Long story short, Doc said the pins in my low back have become misaligned, which is causing both severe problems with the lower part of my back where they fuse multiple disks and put two pins in, and causing the muscle tissue on the right side of my back to swell up with much of any physical activity to the point where if I do much of anything for very long, my back swells up putting pressure on my sciatic nerve which generates a great deal of pain, and cuts off a lot of the feeling to my legs making it so Its hard to even walk. Of course I still want to fight it, and even with the use of a cane, I want to work and do stuff, but its tough to do, and getting tougher all the time. Right now I don't go to any long range shows cause I just can't make it that far, and the couple of shows I do here kill me at this point.

Its been getting worse to the point where I am in enough pain where the Doctors have me a daily regimen of 12 Norco (Generic for Vocidin), four muscle relaxants, two pills for a bleeding ulcer caused from the high dose of pain meds, two pills for kidney problems also caused by the pain meds, and two pills to sleep as well as 4 steroid epidural injections once a month which I have been doing for the past two years since my back went south on me. In fact, last Detail I did, took me 5 days to do, and after I was couldn't move for a week which drives me nuts as I want to get out and do something as opposed to sitting at the computer, or on the couch watching TV 24/7 all day every day.

On a side note, all of you who have supported some of my more ambitious dreams on here to which I didn't follow through, I have just been either too sick, or a walking zombie half the time, and though I really want to do many of the things I have thought up, the truth is I just can't at the moment, and do sincerely apologize, and big time appreciate all of your who supported those thought and ideas more than you know as well as all of my good friends on all the PT Forums!

Now, I am still in pain and getting worse, addicted to the meds in a bad way, have a hard time walking, and can't really continue down this road much more, or things are going to catch up with me at some point which just wouldn't be worth much. So after two years as of yesterday in fact, the Doctors have a new plan.

They want to send my up to an in house Pain Management Hospital about two hours from home where I would stay in the Hospital for two months to work out my meds arrangement, and get me preped for major spinal surgery following my two months of the Pain Management Treatment. The surgery would intale removing the old hardware and pretty much starting over replacing the plastic disks with some more advanced ones, taking bone from both hips and fusing everything together, putting four pins )two in front and two in back) to hold everything together, and finally cutting off feeling to the nerve which has been permanently damaged, and is causing a great deal of my pain. Sounds fun don't it?

I am going up (or rather they are coming for me) on the 21st to do a two day evaluation at their Hospital before potentially locking me up. To tell the truth, I am scared to death, but at the same time my options are kinda limited. Right now I can either choose to continue down the road I'm on, in pain, sick a lot of the time, and not able to move while the meds get me, or see about letting the Doc's do their thing, and see where that takes me. If I opt to go through with this program I will be in the Hospital for a minimum 3 months straight, and then they said likely a year of recovery. Their is a good possibility I may be confined to a wheelchair, but may likely be in little pain which is their ultimate goal at this point.

Anyways, I don't mean to get you guys going, or all involved in my ongoing dilemma. I recon I just needed to kinda sorta talk things out and get things off my chest a bit. I recon I am just going to take things one day at a time, and see how all this plays out. For now, I am just going to hang out here, concentrate on my 9 more days of freedom and go from their.

Thank you for listening, letting me hang out here on the Forums, and being so cool with me! I really big time appreciate everything, and no matter what, I am still, and will always be a PT'er for life! You Guys are the greatest!

Go easy, and I will catch you all later.

Candyman

[careyk]

Hey Candyman I'm a registered Nurse by trade and spent about 5 years working in a neurosurgery unit dealing with head injurys, brain surgery, and spinal cord injurys......sorry to hear about all you are going thru and wish you all the best. I dealt with and continue to deal with depression for the past 6 years and have had to deel with medications etc....it was a real rough road there for many years with all the medication side effects etc....but I finally by the pure luck of God met a excellent Dr. who spent a ton of time and still does and got my life all fixed up in more ways than one and has got my life on track and back to work...I'm the happiest I have ever been...stay cool...take care of your self, and keep positive.There is hope and help and support out there. Keep in touch....now to take time for yourself....put the work you normally put into that PT into yourself.....and get yourself all shined up and perfect looking .

[atlctuzr]

Candyman,

The very best of luck to you, I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

[PiperGeorge]

Wow! That's quite a tale, as a fairly new guy I certainly had no idea about your health problems. I hope everything goes good for you and I hope we see you back here in the forums as soon as possible. You know way too much not to be here. What would we do without all your help??

[quicksilverdon]

Tell them to change your timing belt while they are in there..

Seriously, anybody would be scared. Spinal problems are not trifling...

We'll be here when you come back, good as new..

[Va_Cruiser]

Good Luck Candyman and we'll be praying for ya...

[Franksredpt]

Hey CM, I too had no idea what you had/have been going through. I've had back surgery and sorta know what you are dealing with but mine was on a much smaller scale. Everyone in "PT Land" hopes the best for you. If your wife or someone can keep us posted on your progress, we would appreciate that very much. Also, if someone can post an address as to where you are, I'm sure many of us would be glad to send you get well cards to keep your spirits up. We're pulling for you pal!!!!!! Frank

[CREWZIN]

Don,

I think you had mentioned something about your health quite awhile back and I guess it slipped most of our thoughts since we haven't heard anymore about it till now. Our prayers and thoughts go out to you and yours and hope to see you back soon. As I already mentioned, your a great contributor to the forum and we all look forward to seeing you back soon and in good health. Keep in touch if you can.

Carey

[Hooligan]

CM, I know to a extent what you are going thru. I have had 3 open and 5 arthroscopic surgeries over the last 8 years. I am only on Gabapentin, the last thing the MD's tried was to kill the nerves as that is what the latest opinion was. The MD said that the pain I am experiencing can NOT be fixed with surgery.

Hang in there we are all pulling for you, Please keep us "in the loop". God bless you and the doctors you are seeing.

[prettybluewoody]

Hey Candyman, take all the time you need --- that pain needs to get under control, and we'll be looking forward to your return! Best wishes to your and your family; we'll be here when you want us.