Hi from Australia....

Bones, joints and muscles
1

Hi All..... :D I am Jas from Australia... 8)

I have been waiting for Mods approval so I could write in here....yay....am officially a member now.... :wink:

I am feeling sooooo relieved that I have found this forum, as i have never been able to find any that are specifically for CS...

I just wanted to introduce myself and try to give a brief (hopefully) history about me and my woes.... :wink:

I am a 42 yr old Mum of 3 gorgeous teenagers....Wife of 23 years too!!!! :shock:

I have worked as a Disabilities Carer for just over 24 years...I LOVE my job and always have!!!! Way back before modern lifting inventions were made, I injured my upper back and neck when a disabled guy was falling off his chair and i lunged to stop him falling.....I was off work for a while but seemed to recover pretty well. Then back in 1997 i had another major injury to my neck at work which is when my issues started. I started getting headaches on and off....I refused to believe my GP at first when he told me it was caused by my neck injury. I had an MRI in late 1998 which showed up degeneration to my C4/5. I never looked into it further and just thought it would settle down. Over the years i have re injured or had flare ups of neck pain and headaches....I basically just coped and 'soldiered on' as they say. In 2005 i had another injury at work....From that day on, I have barely had a day without a headache to some degree!!!!! I still continued to just cope as best i could...At work, i learnt to do things in a way which would cause the least pain and strain on my neck...I also had developed vertigo when i was lying down flat...so i just avoided that position...

Last year in September i had another incident at work where my neck completely stiffened up and i had to be sent home there and then...I was a mess....I've actually been a mess since then. I did return to work in a supposedly less physical house, but in my opinion, wheelchairs and unsteady disabled residents where not a good place to send me....But we are talking about Work cover...they make up their own rules that make no sense in my opinion!!!!!! :x

I have since had another MRI scan which showed degeneration in C4/5, C5/6 with osteophytes and a disc bulging and mildly flattening my spinal cord (i'm pretty sure thats what it all said but ive written it in terms that were explained to me...the word stenosis has also been mentioned).... sounds sooooo scary to me to write that down...I cried for 2 days after i got the results!!!! :cry:

Anyway...If you have read this far, I thank you.... :D I guess i need to talk to people who understand this soooooooooo much... I am not coping too well with the pain at the moment...

I have the added issue of having to deal with my work cover and thier Insurance company....Everything i do has to be approved by them...They sent me to one of their assessors (An Orthopaedic surgeon who was older than Moses!!! ) and now everything he has written about me in his 1 hour assessment of me is being adhered too..... They are stopping the only treatment besides medication that I have which is Myotherapy!!!! I am sad about this as its helpful in relieving the muscles in my neck and shoulders and reduces the severity of the headaches i have 24/7!!!!!!!

I have a Neurosurgeon appointment in 4 weeks and an cautiously optimistic....

Anyway....I will stop babbling on now......

Thank you to anyone who has read through all my story :roll:

*HUGS*

Jas....... 8)

2

Welcome Jas. I am Ursula from rainy Yorkshire. You will find some lovely supportive people on here. :P

3

hi love welcome to our world, it is a daily grind of pain , pain, and more pain as i write this i am flat on my back and have been for the past ten days. as i have had this for the past 17yrs it shouldnt be a surprise. everyone wants to know why u havent gone to the docs again but i have run out of questions to ask. so good luck with your appointment in 4weeks with your neurosurgeon let us know how you get on. chris

4

[quote:9538ec9a67=\"jassyjewels\"]Hi All..... :D I am Jas from Australia... 8)

I have been waiting for Mods approval so I could write in here....yay....am officially a member now.... :wink:

I am feeling sooooo relieved that I have found this forum, as i have never been able to find any that are specifically for CS...

I just wanted to introduce myself and try to give a brief (hopefully) history about me and my woes.... :wink:

I am a 42 yr old Mum of 3 gorgeous teenagers....Wife of 23 years too!!!! :shock:

I have worked as a Disabilities Carer for just over 24 years...I LOVE my job and always have!!!! Way back before modern lifting inventions were made, I injured my upper back and neck when a disabled guy was falling off his chair and i lunged to stop him falling.....I was off work for a while but seemed to recover pretty well. Then back in 1997 i had another major injury to my neck at work which is when my issues started. I started getting headaches on and off....I refused to believe my GP at first when he told me it was caused by my neck injury. I had an MRI in late 1998 which showed up degeneration to my C4/5. I never looked into it further and just thought it would settle down. Over the years i have re injured or had flare ups of neck pain and headaches....I basically just coped and 'soldiered on' as they say. In 2005 i had another injury at work....From that day on, I have barely had a day without a headache to some degree!!!!! I still continued to just cope as best i could...At work, i learnt to do things in a way which would cause the least pain and strain on my neck...I also had developed vertigo when i was lying down flat...so i just avoided that position...

Last year in September i had another incident at work where my neck completely stiffened up and i had to be sent home there and then...I was a mess....I've actually been a mess since then. I did return to work in a supposedly less physical house, but in my opinion, wheelchairs and unsteady disabled residents where not a good place to send me....But we are talking about Work cover...they make up their own rules that make no sense in my opinion!!!!!! :x

I have since had another MRI scan which showed degeneration in C4/5, C5/6 with osteophytes and a disc bulging and mildly flattening my spinal cord (i'm pretty sure thats what it all said but ive written it in terms that were explained to me...the word stenosis has also been mentioned).... sounds sooooo scary to me to write that down...I cried for 2 days after i got the results!!!! :cry:

Anyway...If you have read this far, I thank you.... :D I guess i need to talk to people who understand this soooooooooo much... I am not coping too well with the pain at the moment...

I have the added issue of having to deal with my work cover and thier Insurance company....Everything i do has to be approved by them...They sent me to one of their assessors (An Orthopaedic surgeon who was older than Moses!!! ) and now everything he has written about me in his 1 hour assessment of me is being adhered too..... They are stopping the only treatment besides medication that I have which is Myotherapy!!!! I am sad about this as its helpful in relieving the muscles in my neck and shoulders and reduces the severity of the headaches i have 24/7!!!!!!!

I have a Neurosurgeon appointment in 4 weeks and an cautiously optimistic....

Anyway....I will stop babbling on now......

Thank you to anyone who has read through all my story :roll:

*HUGS*

Jas....... 8)

Hiya Jas :D

Welcome!! :D

Thngs can seem quite frightening at first can't they when you read reports?? Sometimes I think ignorance is bliss, but then.......

I don't think anyone copes well with the pain, to put things in perspective from my point of view, I'm 56 (going on 14) I first started with CS 3 years ago, I had a multilevel laminectomy 18 months ago which I'm still recovering from,

5

Thank you Ursula, Chris and Aunty Em for replying.... :D

I am having a bad time at the moment... On top of the usual daily pain i have, last night a abscess (sp?) in the root of a tooth decided to fester and take over the left side of my face....I spent the night in the ER on IV anti biotics and Morphine for pain..... Today i had a dentist appointment where they had to remove the offending tooth....6 injections later and it still wasn't numb enough, but i was determined to get rid of it!!!!! The pain was excruciating, but i got thru it!!! I am now still in pain...both neck/head and face/gums..... I'm sitting here waiting for pain meds to work so i can get some sleep!!!!!!

Tomorrow is a new day and hopefully its a better one!!!!!

*HUGS* Jas..... 8)

6

Hi Jas and welcome from me too smile .......... what a rotten time you're having, I hope the pain is subsiding a bit now, you must be exhausted! Like you say, tomorrow is a new day so let's hope for the best smile. Look forward to seeing you around the boards.

Lou x

7

Thank you, Lou.... smile

Today had been a better day than yesterday....I guess thats something to focus on...I do TRY to stay positive as much as i can.... :wink:

I think I have been able to cope better with all this tooth/infection stuff cos i had what we call a 'melt down' or a Yentl breakdown' :lol: on tuesday afternoon after my Myotherapy session. I cried in the session and all the way home...managed to calm myself before i walked in the door at home, saw my hubby and fell apart again..... :? My hubby was wonderful and just held me as i sooked like a baby!!! Later that evening is when the toothache got worse and etc...you know the rest.

I thought i might give a bit of background to you all on my life.....maybe for no other reason than to give me something to do while i wait for the headache to ease up a bit so I can sleep...( It's 1.05am here in Aust.)

I have a wonderful supportive hubby who has his own issues he deals with on a daily basis...I guess i deal with them too, but over the years I have had to learn not to 'carry' his problems or try to fix him...Hubby has Post traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety disorder...He has been off work on Workcover for 6 years since he witnessed a co worker and close friend die of a heart attack in the carpark of his workplace. My hubby saw him go down, tried to resuscitate him until the Paramedics arrived...everyone else around him backed off and left my hubby to deal with all of this alone..... :roll: :cry: Even the boss who was this dying mans brother!!!!! :evil: ALL of this eventually caused my hubby to have a breakdown and he's been battling it all since then. Nightmares, meds not working, daily panic attacks, being completely cut off by his boss and their family have all contributed to his condition...but he is doing a lot better than a few years ago!!!! He is a very gentle, humorous and compassionate man and as you can tell, I Love him still...even after 25 years together..... :wink: We have had our ups and downs over the years, but we know at the core of it all, we are meant to be....we fit together.... It may sound soppy and corny, but its the truth....and we make sure we focus on that.

Have you figured out yet that i talk a lot...???????

:lol:

I will continue my life story tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a GOOD day tomorrow with no pain.....or at least good drugs if you do!!!!! :lol:

*HUGS*

Jas.... 8)

8

Hi Jas,

It's great that you have such a positive attitude, I really think it helps smile . And great that you and hubby are supportive of one another, what an awful experience he had. My other half is struggling a bit at the moment, his mum died a couple of weeks ago plus things not going well at work, as is the case for a lot of people, but it doesn't help. Not a lot I can do, but like you, be there, keep saying \"be kind to yourself, give yourself time\" ......... . Bless 'em, we'd take the pain away if we could wouldn't we?

Ah well, like you say, tomorrow's another day, hey we're going to have 27 degrees here, now that's got to help the old necks a bit hasn't it? :D Well, I'll give it a good go anyway :D

Keep smiling, I'm off for some 'solar therapy' aka skiving on the beach ............

Lou xx

9

Hiya Lou.....Thank you for your reply.... smile

It's hard enough when one partner is suffering in some way, but even harder when both of you are having issues.... Hubby and I have noticed a bit of a pattern, that when he is having a crisis or really bad time, I seem to find the strength to be his support and the same goes for when I am having a crisis...... :roll: :wink: Sending you both *BIG HUGS* We lost my hubby's Mum 8 years ago to a brain tumour....Its very hard...but not to be cliche, it really does get easier with time......In this case, time is a healer....Not so with CS sadly.... :cry:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm going to have a little ramble on here...Today has been a day of thoughts for me... Allowing myself to think ahead to my future in not something I allow myself to do too much.....I was getting too overwhelmed at the lack of prospects for a healthy life I HAD imagined for myself. Last night i had another 'Yentl breakdown' I was in a lot of pain and had a hot shower to ease my muscles a bit.....I had a terrible spasm in my neck in the shower and felt like i was going to pass out... :shock: :x :cry: I can usually manage the usual everyday pains i have...mostly... :roll: but on top of the pain in my mouth and face from the infection, I also have a common side effect from the anti biotics that is a bit too personal to say here, if you know what i mean.... :wink: Heap that on top of the other pain and I melt down...I wish i knew how to cope when i have added pain.... :cry: Hubby held me again while i bawled....he started trying to 'fix' me, but i told him i just need his shoulder to cry on and that right now he can't fix me...something he is finding very hard to learn!!!

I saw my Doc this morning...yes my GP works sunday mornings.... :D We talked about my pain and that i will have a hard time finding any drug that takes the pain AWAY....... It got me thinking about my future....I don't like what I see ahead for me...... I have soooooo many questions about this disease!!!!! I hate having to wait to see the Neurosurgeon.... I want to know stuff NOW!!!!!! I know...Im sounding like an impatient child....but i feel like one sometimes.

Anyway.... enough of my ramblings for today... :lol:

I hope everyones day has laughter i it....Jas..xx.. 8)

10

Today has been a pretty good day.....Pain is bearable, not stressing about things, did some beading (my best therapy) :fairy:

Tis nearly midnight here so I should be in bed...but i LOVE the silence in my house....Its the only time I seem to have all to myself!!!!!

Tomorrow is a new day......

Goodnight everyone......Jas..xx.. 8)