RE: [Paddlewise] Sciatica (was shoulder exercises for paddling)

Well Craig, spent the night in the ER, got a Cat scan emergently, doesn't
look good. Need neurosurgery pronto. Groin has gone numb which is an
emergency. Been trying to tell my doc I'm in a bad way...

The ERP wanted to know what the heck I've been doing in my life to get my
spine/back this bad off. Shall we tell him? :-)

DL

Doug,

Well, I'm glad Yvonne is doing better... that's good news.

When we were on the sailboat and I had back problems I would hang from the
companionway hatch but there are dang few of those on land. But unweighting
the spine is a good way to help things... those anti-gravity machines where
you tie your feet up and then invert are supposed to be good too. Maybe all
that blood would help us old guys with brain action too.

Getting old isn't so great... but I'm pretty sure it beats the alternative.

The good news is that you actually know, now, what the problem is and that
there is a fix for it. Your work probably doesn't help with being on your
feet so much. I'm having foot problems... I think that 20 years of a left
knee blown out means that my right foot has taken up too much of the
strain. Or maybe it's just old age. It's worse, oddly enough, in the
mornings... and I can sort of work it out over a couple of hours.

I have no compunctions now with taking those three-wheeled electric carts
in stores nowadays. Every now and then I try to run down a cute girl. :D

My thoughts are, as always, with you often. :)

Craig

On Tue, Mar 6, 2012 at 5:36 PM, Doug Lloyd <douglloyd_at_shaw.ca> wrote:

> Craig,
>
> My feet are numb all the time now and back pain is constant and growing.
My
> MD ordered a back x-ray (took him long enough, jeesh, then he calls,
better
> get in here quick!); looks like the L4 and L5 are out of alignment and the
> nerves are crushing (facet arthritis is the cause). No more yoga or
> weightlifting for this dude. Probably will need a fusion at some point
> before bladder control goes. Looks like all that extreme fun over the
years
> has caught up finally. Thank goodness for early retirement next year.
> Spending time in the deep end of the pool in a PFD just hanging there
> decompressing the spine for relief and raiding my wife's morphine supply
> now
> that she is in remission - again. And heck, I used to hang around in the
> ocean in my PFD whenever I bailed and couldn't get back my yak many moons
> ago...I'll just pretend my kayaks there on the end of a tether leash and
> it's another great adventure. :-)
>
> Doug
>
>
> On Sun, Feb 19, 2012 at 6:36 AM, Jennifer Pivovar
>
> > Aren't we a creaky bunch?  Just don't stop!!
> >
>
> It's inevitable, I suppose. But I agree that stopping is deadly. Slow down
> if you must, but don't stop. I'm taking a mountain bike out later today
for
> a ride.
>
> Craig
>
> PS: For Doug... haven't tried the wax technique yet.... there are some new
> arthritis meds out there that don't have deadly side effects. And hydro
> codone helps a lot.
>
> cj
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