...the enemy hits you with a sudden surprise attack from behind. Why the military analogy? You may recall my earlier entries about my bulging disk were titled "Battle of the Bulge, something something". Anyway, it is obvious that the cortisone shot that I had on Monday August 30th has worn off, and it's likely that last evening's PT session has ignited another round of lower back and left leg pain.
I'm grateful that I went three week’s pain free from the date of the shot and made excellent progress in my recovery. I discussed this last night with my therapist and he decided that I would only have to come once a week from now on because my progress had been so good. So when I finished up last night I cancelled all of my Wednesday appointments. I can’t express how happy I was to do that. I was really looking forward to only going on Mondays to PT and having more free time during the week. Guess not. At last night’s session my therapist also thought it safe to get a little 'more aggressive' in the back strengthening and stabilization exercises. Seems he thought wrong. At 3:00 AM a shooting pain in my lower back and down my left leg woke me up. It has not stopped since. I am back to half speed and limping around. So, I need to call my doctor about another cortisone shot. I need to call my therapist and let him know what’s going on. I am also going to talk to both about not doing physical therapy anymore. I have been at it for three months and it has hurt more than helped. This is twice now that my therapist has gotten 'more agressive' in the treatment and twice that the aggressiveness has eff'ed me up. I mean what's the point of PT if it is not helping? I am willing to try another cortisone shot, but if that doesn't work (or only lasts a few weeks) I am seriously considering just asking the doctors to take the disk out and get it over with.
Trivia question: What was the historical "Battle of the Bulge"?
> Trivia question: What was the historical "Battle of the Bulge"?
Easy one! The Battle of the Bulge was the US counteroffensive in response to the German breakout attack through the Ardennes forest in December, 1944. It was the single bloodiest campaign of the European theatre: 100,000+ German, 1,400 British, and 80,000+ American casualties.
The German army was able to break through at Ardennes because troop concentration had been shifted to the flanks, leaving the middle of the line thinly protected. The 106th Infantry Div. was spread out over a front line over twenty miles long, more than four times what they should normally have been. Three German armies - the 5th, 6th, and 7th threw 21 divisions against an allied line held by five divisions of the US 1st Army. The resulting breakout in the center of the front showed on the map as the "bulge" for which the battle is named.
The 106th in St. Vith and the 101st in Bastogne slowed the German advance enough for the 1st Army to mount a counteroffensive from the North, joined by Patton's 3rd Army driving from the south in a pincer maneuver. By the end of January, the German armies had been driven back to the original lines and beyond, at the cost of much of their remaining war materiel.
By the way, you caught me right in the middle of reading Bradley's "A Soldier's Story".
Posted by: Rob on September 21, 2004 01:25 PMCan't you just go more often for Cortisone shots? Isn't the whole purpose of pain treatment to ... well, stop or lessen the pain? And I could have told you that physical therapy hurts. I had it on my "frozen shoulder" and it was so painful I eventually quit going. It was then I read that the condition would heal itself in time anyway! The things doctors don't tell you!
Posted by: Becky on September 21, 2004 06:44 PMSo sorry to hear you are in severe pain...again. Sending prayers in your direction.
Posted by: Donna on September 21, 2004 09:34 PM