Back Problem

03 May 2006 Back Problem

The progress on my project has ground to a screeching halt due to the worsening of my sore back. I believe I first injured my back while doing a “helicopter” with my then-two year old daughter on one arm, and then-6 year old niece on the other. We were spinning round and round, and all was right with the world. However, the next morning, I was in pain. It wasn’t too bad, and I even later went golfing with my then-brother-in-law Shawn on the beautiful Barton Creek Country club course. I played the worst game of my life, mainly because I couldn’t comfortably move my back.

Anyway, it got a bit better over the coming weeks, and then stabilized to be annoying, but tolerable without aspirin or any other pain medication. I just kind of accepted that I was going to have to live with a sore back. It seems hundreds of millions around the world have the same problem – why would I be any different?

Early 2005 I was returning on a flight from the US and my right buttock got really sore. I assumed it was just numb from sitting for a long time on an uncomfortable airline seat. Unfortunately, the soreness never really went away. This “pain” was also very tolerable, and I didn’t take any pain medication. I just sort of got used to it. I could still do all the things I liked, biking, walking, swimming, but not running or any other “high impact” activity. I also stopped carrying our little girls, even if they begged me to pick them up. I just couldn’t do it without a lot of pain.

In December of 2005 it got worse, and from time to time I felt I needed to take some aspirin. I decided to see our family doctor, Dr. Farve at the Centre Medical Neuchatel. He said I should just do some back exercises, swim, and perhaps visit a chiropractor. I visited one, who was ok, but I didn’t feel like I got any help from him. I tried to visit another in Lausanne that was recommended by Camille. I made the appointment, showed up 15 minutes early with a room full of patients. He proceeded to go through them rather briskly. Eventually, about 15 minutes after my appointment time, I was the only one left waiting. After another 15 minutes, I asked the receptionist if the doctor was going to call me. She said yes, soon. 45 minutes later I left. Annoying, since I drove all the way to Lausanne. I went to a third chiropractor, David Keith Ross, and while his manipulations sometimes provided brief periods of relief, nothing lasted past the drive home.

Things were getting worse, and my father-in-law suggested a doctor he has used for years in Geneva. I made an appointment as soon as possible, which was *very* difficult since his secretary seems to have an aversion to answering the phone, and they have no phone machine. The earliest date was over three weeks later. Wow – what’s the deal with medicine in Switzerland??? Annoying.

I knew I had some kind of physical problem, and I knew that they doctor would need a MRI, so I tried to find someone to do a MRI. I called all the “imaging centers” around the area, from Neuchatel to Geneva, and the earliest appointment I could make was one day after my above appointment. Again, a *three week* delay to get an image! Unbelievable. I guess if this were 1960’s Soviet Union, I could understand, but wow, this is supposed to be a modern country. Oh, well. it could be worse, I guess.

Between the time I made the appointment and I got it, things really got worse. I knew it was bad, so I called every chance I could to try to get the appointment moved up. No dice. By the time the appointment came around, I could not walk without great pain, sitting was worse, and the only position that was comfortable was flat on my back. The ride in the passenger seat to Geneva was not fun. Of course, the doctor’s jaw dropped when he saw my state, and asked why I didn’t come in sooner. It’s a good thing for him I could not move fast, or I would have been tempted to strangle him. I calmly explained that getting in touch with his office is almost impossible, and when I could, his secretary told me it was not possible to get an earlier appointment.

So, he prescribed a muscle relaxer, some anti-inflammatory drugs, and told me to go home and lay in bed until it gets better. I had to go get a MRI scan the next day, which was also very painful. Since the only position that was not painful is horizontal, I asked them when I arrived if they could find a place for me to lay down. Of course not. I tried to stand, but it got so bad while waiting for the scan that I had to lay on the floor in the waiting room. Amazingly as soon as I did this they found a bed for me to lay on. Nothing like people laying around on the waiting room floor to get their attention!

The scans showed pretty much exactly what I had been telling my doctors for 4 months – I have a herniated disc. Using information from the Internet, I was even able to tell which disc it was before seeing the scan. Of course, the scan confirmed what I already knew. The MRI scan machine takes a lot of pictures, and they even gave me a copy of them on a CD-ROM. Most don’t show anything I can understand, but this one shows the herniation. Many more pictures here: http://www.coggins.org/anne/scan/HTML/A.HTM

Now, according to my back doctor, Bertrand Auvergne in Geneva, there is nothing to do but lay in bed, take the medication, and wait. And wait. And wait. So, that’s what I’ve been doing since before Easter.

Since I do have wireless internet access and my laptop, I’ve been looking for alternatives to just waiting around. I’ve found a few, one of the more promising treatments was developed in Italy, and involves injecting ozone (O3) and oxygen (O2) into the disc to accelerate healing. They have had good success with this treatment, have written a lot of papers documenting their work, and are trying to get this idea promoted around the world. (http://www.eunionline.com/) From what I’ve read, Inda and Cuba have been two countries that have embraced this method of treatment, since it is fast, easy, cheap, and seems to be quite effective (over 80% according to the Italians). Unfortunately, since no one makes money with this treatment, getting it promoted is kind of hard. It’s too bad one of the Big Pharma didn’t come up with it, patent ozone as some kind of special drug, and then announce it to the world. Then it would be available everywhere.

Since the nearest place I could get this treatment is in Italy, it means either a 4 hour train ride or a one hour drive and a one hour flight. Ugh. Walking 10 feet to the toilet is about all I can handle right now, so how the heck am I going to get to Italy? Looks like that treatment will go on the back burner for now. Perhaps if I can get a bit better, I can go down there. Who knows, it might work, or it might be a total waste of time.

I’ve also bought what is called either a “gravity table” or a “inversion table”, which helps you hang by your feet to relieve pressure on the spine. I bought it from a company in Switzerland called Swiss Tombola, and it is a Kettler Apollo model. Amazingly, it was cheaper here than anywhere else I could find, including the US. They took about 2 weeks to deliver it, but I’m used to the leisurely pace things happen here.

I just started hanging from it about three days ago, and I can say that now I am actually starting to feel better. I knew this device would help, and I had asked my chiropractor if he had anything that would take the load off my spine. He didn’t. It seems kind of obvious that in order for the herniation to go back in, that the pressure needs to be removed. I don’t know why the doctors don’t agree. Perhaps I’m wrong.

So, as of today, May 3 2006, I’m just laying in bed, typing on my laptop, watching DVDs on another laptop, inverting my body for a couple of 15 minute sessions per day, taking my prescribed medications, and waiting. Not great fun, but it could be *a lot* worse. At least I have a loving wife to bring me food, and take care of me, and my little girls come up and play cards and board games.

I’m really looking forward to getting back to my normal life!

Update 2006-05-10: Another week has passed, and I don’t think things are getting better. I’ve stopped doing the inversion table, since I felt the net benefit was zero or slightly negative. This is mainly because getting out of bed and getting onto the table was quite painful. Also, I was a bit worried about doing this at the same time as taking the muscle relaxers. I could feel it really stretching out the joints in my feet, knees, and pretty much anywhere. This seems like a good thing to do *before* you get a back injury. My next appointment is Friday the 12th, so hopefully I can come up with an action plan with my doctor then.

Update 2006-05-19: At the appointment last Friday my doctor said we’ll need to operate, and he’ll coordinate with the neurosurgeon. I meet with this neurosurgeon, Dr. May, on Monday the 22nd. He’ll probably say, “yep, we need to operate. Let’s schedule ASAP. Hmmmm first day available is two weeks from the Tuesday following Christmas vacation.” I’m getting tired of waiting around. When people talk about the high cost of medicine, they never take into account the patient’s time that is wasted.

Update 2006-05-28: Got the surgery done on Wednesday the 24th of May, hung around the hospital until Friday, and now I’m home. It’s good to be back, since the Hospital didn’t have Internet access. That was a big surprise, since I called in advance to check that out. They assured me they had it, but turns out they can help you plug your laptop into a phone line for dialup. Ugh.

The doctor said that the surgery went fine, but he found a lot more herniation than we saw in the scans. Didn’t sound good, since that means he had to cut more stuff out. I’ve been ordered to “take it easy” for a week or so. I can walk around “as much as I like”, but sitting should be kept to less than 20 minutes at a time. It’s really not comfortable to sit, so I have not sat down yet. Walking again is nice, and I’m doing it as much as my weak muscles allow. I can also now eat standing up, and I can take a shower. He said no long sitting periods for several months. Wow – looks like Oshkosh is out of the question this year.