LA/NY Bad Back/Good Back

It's been nearly a week since Mike and I returned from our too-short trip to LA on the redeye. We had an absolutely indulgent and glorious time, save for missing the baby. Witnessing the wedding of two soulmates surrounded by dear friends is one of life's greatest rewards. It was an especially intimate celebration, and every person belonged there in some way. Trust me, brides-to-be, the single most important thing about wedding planning is avoiding unwanted guests. Our friends in LA clearly averted my biggest mistake, allowing a pill-popping sociopath to invite herself and make every effort to mar my big day with egregious actions like grabbing the asses of my husband and close friends and intentionally insulting nearly everyone I care about. Her unwanted presence aside, our day was as lovely as the West Coast fete, a marriage of two minds and hearts and sensibilities.

Besides sharing in this lovely life event, it was a privilege to spend time with many of Mike's dearest friends. The camaraderie and warmth, combined with the sunshine and poolside pleasure at The Standard in West Hollywood, tempts me to relocate and ditch this dreary weather. On vacation, LA is OK, as long as you stay on Sunset and play in West Hollywood. But as soon as you need to trek to another sprawling neighborhood, it's time to shell out some $60 for cab. It makes New York seem cheap. Here I flinch if the fare is over $15, and I rarely cab it anyway, choosing to walk almost everywhere. The biggest burden of life in LA is the lack of adequate public transportation. The majority of motorists in Manhattan are tools or tourists, while those who walk the streets in LA are mostly mental patients or Manhattanites.

My back pain was a mere 5-to-6 on the pain threshold during our three-night stay in sunny LA. But after the redeye and subsequent train trip to pick up Michael Alexander from my mom, the pain hit a fever pitch. I got results of my MRI today. Besides the scoliosis and degenerated spine (I was diagnosed in 2006 while marathon training), I have a rotated spine and herniated disks and nerve damage. A myriad maladies which will never be "fixed," though I work to stave off or slow further injury and strive to keep the pain in that tolerable 5-to-6 range. After sitting on a plane and trains, the pain shot to a 10 and I was chewing the inside of my mouth just to cope. Sitting for an extended period of time is bad for every body and far worse for one like mine. I am thankful that I can bring Michael Alexander to physical therapy twice a week. The wonderful women who work there adore him and play with him while I do my exercises and then allow me to hold him on the table while I am receiving transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation. I do more lower back and core strengthening exercises after my daily workouts. As I've mentioned, my dear husband wakes before dawn to go to the gym before work so I can I go when he gets home from the office. But that's not enough. I need to be doing those exercises every hour while I am doing any sort of bending or lifting, actions required in my full-time role as mother to a very active six-month-old. Oh, and I am to avoid bending at the waist and lifting to reduce the strain and pain and symptoms and keep this from reaching the stage where surgery is the only answer. Ha! I do make every effort to use proper form when lifting Michael Alexander, but as anyone who has ever witnessed an infant in action can attest, there are few chances to prepare for the second when you have to lunge and save the baby from imminent peril. The best non-surgical treatment at this time is regular epidural injections. But that's not a baby-friendly environment, so for now I am trying a two-week course of gut-wrenching steroids, the strongest non-evasive treatment available in the U.S. I'm also working on getting a TENS (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) machine for home so I can step up the non-pharmaceutical treatment. The best pain med is Percocet, which makes my brain mush but is the only way to reduce the pain from a 10 to a 6 or 7 or so. I am trying to take it only when I hit 10, which happens far too often.

For now, we're staying in New York, but LA is always a temptation. Mostly, I can't bear the thought of owning a car and daily driving. That, and all the people I would miss madly here on the East Coast. As for being back home, that is good. So very good to hold my son and witness his every amazing action. The bad back, however, not so good.

Getting on my nerves

I was diagnosed with scoliosis and a degenerated spine six years ago when I went in for a patella tendon overuse injury while marathon training. I've long had pain in my left lumbar spine, but like with my other chronic pain (mostly in my neck and shoulders), I ignored it for years assuming everyone deals with some constant discomfort. The 2006 knee injury was caused by the scoliosis. The scoliosis diagnosis itself isn't a big deal, it's the degenerated spine part that's cause for concern and ceasing certain activities, like running for fear of far greater injury. Under a doctor's care, I trained for and ran the 2006 marathon, but then quit running for the most part. It's been a major frustration, especially battling post-preggo weight, to not run daily. I spin nearly every day and stair climb and use the boring elliptical on occasion, but no amount of cardio, no matter how intense, can burn enough calories to do more than maintain my metabolically-challenged body's weight. Surprisingly, my back pain didn't get worse while I was pregnant. I did a lot of core strengthening, holding planks and bridges for what seemed like hours a day, and did extra exercises targeting the lower back. While I worked out, even spun, until two days before I went into labor, I did pare down the intensity of cardio and cut back on heavy lifting. That may be why I made it through 9 months without more severe pain. My left lumbar pain has become unbearable lately. There's a constant dull pain which I long ago accepted as the norm for my body, but the periodic sharp pains that intensify the chronic, dull pain recently became too much too ignore. I saw a new doctor today. Based on a physical exam, she believes I either have nerve damage or a slipped disk. I go for a nerve exam a week from tomorrow and start my latest round of physical therapy on Monday. If there's no sign of nerve damage, I go for an MRI. I hope this can be treated without surgery. The best part about this office is the doctor, who is mom to a 6 1/2-month-old son, welcomes my bringing Michael Alexander to PT as well as office visits. A native of Ukraine, she spoke to my little зайчик zaitchick (bunny) in Russian. I'm optimistic about the PT, as the doctor promised the clinic treats athletes. I had one positive PT experience at a clinic run by a former (American) football player who didn't waste my time with exercises for sissies. Every other physical therapist I tried taught simple exercises assuming the patient is a weak, lazy sloth. Needless to say, those experiences got on my nerves. Backing away from the computer for now. Michael Alexander wants more organic apples.