4 months Post Op - Intensive Physical Therapy Continues

I have been religiously following a very targeted Physical Therapy routing for a month now with the new therapist. He is head and shoulders above any others I've seen. I have some minimal improvement in both neck and low back but not nearly where either of us hoped I'd be at this point. I have an hour of neck and core strengthening to work on twice a day and a walk. Some days I can walk 2-3 miles at a decent pace but it usually means the next day I am much slower due to the low back. The therapist is saying I just have to keep working on the strengthening work that he is giving me to increase my endurance. The only reason I am able to stick to this strict regime is due to my mom and her husband who have taken my two little girls with them. If it were not for them, I think I would be stuck in the viscious cycle of daily life getting in the way of this rehabilitation.

We walked all day at Carowinds on Friday and I used a whole tube of Ben Gay to get through it. My left arm went numb that day but I realized that was the first time that had had happened in over a week so that was good news. The neck pain is constant at level 6 all day and gets to an 8 by the night time. Again that is some improvement over my being at painful, crying level pain by mid afternoon.

My low back is averaging a 4-5 but I actually had a day this week where I didn't notice it at all until 3:00 pm which was something that hasn't happend in 3 years so that is pretty great.

The therapist encourages me to stay as active as possible without increasing pain level. He's also helped me through some of the psychological aspects of this too because I'm getting pretty pissed off that I am working so hard and not feeling great results. He understands the whole aspect of looking good yet walking around at a pain level of 7 and feeling so bad and tells me its just a "cross that spinal patients alike have to bear". Put that energy into rehab and it should all fall into place.

Again the only reason I can do any of this is because of my mom, her husband and my husband's support. Thank you all so much!

At this point two spine doctors have read my MRI and neither believe surgery is necessary (thank god) so time will tell where this goes.

Just typing this post hurts the neck so I've got to sign off.

In the meantime my mom and I will be off to the beach with the girls for a few weeks which is always relaxing and a great place to walk.