that was the month that was

[kindkit]

Hello, everybody. I had quite a December.

It all started when I got my Moderna booster on November 29. It hit me pretty hard and I spent the next few days mostly in bed. On an air mattress, which doesn't provide very good back support AT ALL.

Once I was up and about again, I had a backache. No big, they happen sometimes, although this one didn't seem to want to go away. And I was occasionally getting mild sciatica-like pain down my left leg.

Fast forward to December 13. I was doing a little cleaning, carefully because my back still hurt. And something went very, very wrong. The sciatica pain got very bad and did not let up, in fact got worse over the next day or so. I couldn't stand or sit for more than a few seconds without unbearable pain.

Called out sick from work. Called my doctor's office, spoke to the triage nurse and got (delivered to me) a prescription for extra-strength ibuprofen and a muscle relaxant. These did . . . a little, so that at least if I lay very still on my right side with my left leg carefully positioned over my right one, the pain was reduced enough that I could sleep for an hour or two at a stretch. Also, the muscle relaxant had the fun side effect of making the pain worse for the first hour or so, along with leg tremors.

Tried to contact my doctor's office again. Left messages, no response. (It's a big clinic and there's basically a phone screening system where you can never, ever speak to doctor or even their assistant directly unless they call you.) Finally I got through to the triage nurse again--she'd been out having surgery (!) and all my messages had gone astray.

The triage nurse managed to get me a same day telephone appointment with my provider (I couldn't leave my bed long enough for an in-person appointment and there weren't any available anyway.) At that point I finally got the good meds--prednisone (a steroid) for the inflammation, plus hydrocodone (an opioid painkiller), a different muscle relaxant, and gabapentin (which is mostly an anti-convulsant but also helps with nerve pain like sciatica, since sciatica happens when the sciatic nerve from your spine down to your toes gets trapped and compressed).

I finally started to get a bit better, for a value of better that means "can stand/sit for up to a minute, maybe, and also you'll be shaky and likely to fall over because you are on ALL THE DRUGS and also your muscles have atrophied."

It's only in the last couple of days that I've begun to function at all normally. I am sitting at my computer desk to type this, which would have been unthinkable even four or five days ago. Yesterday I had my first shower in over three weeks!!! (BTW, when I say "in bed" for any time after the sciatica started, I actually mean "on the floor." I deflated the air mattress on the grounds that the floor was probably better.)

I'm partway through a second course of prednisone, an awesome drug that unfortunately fucks up your blood sugar and makes you temporarily immuno-suppressed. And I should be back to work, possibly on light duty, next week.

Yes, I've been off work for a month, which has cost me all the PTO I was saving up for top surgery, and also some of my saved money. (I'm absolutely fine financially, it's just frustrating, because I had plans for that money and that PTO.) I more or less missed Christmas, which I resent. (A lot of those first couple of weeks is now a blur, and I can barely remember Christmas day. I think I ate crackers and yogurt?)

And that's where I've been for the last month. 0/10, do not recommend. I'm genuinely much better now, but I never ever want to have an experience like this ever again. The absolute helplessness of not being able to even stand up.

I'm very grateful to the clinic pharmacy for having free delivery, and above all to one of my work colleagues who very kindly dropped off groceries at my door.

Comments

[vilakins]

Yikes, how awful! I'm glad you're getting better and had help from colleagues.

[kindkit]

Thanks! It was so kind of my colleague--when I get back I'm going to get her a flower arrangement to say thanks.

[sovay]

And that's where I've been for the last month. 0/10, do not recommend. I'm genuinely much better now, but I never ever want to have an experience like this ever again.

I am very glad you are much better now and I am very sorry about everything else. *hugs* if useful.

[kindkit]

Thank you! *hugs*

[shewhostaples]

Oh goodness, that sounds horrible. I'm glad things are better now.

[kindkit]

It was pretty dreadful, and now it's a huge relief to be doing better. Thanks!

[glinda]

Ooft that sounds utterly miserable, glad to hear you're doing better now though.

[kindkit]

Thanks so much!

[lilacsigil]

Oh no, that's awful. I have an ongoing case of much milder sciatica (still waiting to see rheumatologist) and that's bad enough, but I can do things like sit and lie down and mostly walk, sometimes with a walker. I'm sorry you had to wait so long to get any help and all that PTO and money is gone. So frustrating! So painful! So pointless!

[kindkit]

It was super frustrating, and the worst thing was the delays and communication problems with my doctor. They came from system failures and weren't her fault at all, but if I'd been able to get the right meds right away, I probably would have been mostly recovered two weeks ago. (Of course these kinds of medical system problems are something you know all too much about!)

I hope you're able to get an appointment soon. My doctor wants me to go to physical therapy, and I would gladly go except the US is having a huge, terrifying surge in COVID cases.

[starlady]

Ugh, that sounds awful. I'm glad you're feeling better now, at least.

[kindkit]

Thank you!

[torachan]

Oof, that sounds awful. Glad you're over the worst of it.

[kindkit]

Thank you!

[lilliburlero]

I'm really sorry to hear this, and glad things are improving a little now.

[kindkit]

Thank you! I'm relieved to be doing better--I was beginning to worry. It does make me concerned for the longer term, though. I love living alone, but this was a bit of a wake-up call to the pitfalls of it as I get older.

[oursin]

Sorry you've been having such a grim time: glad things are getting somewhat better.

[kindkit]

Thank you! The weird silver lining is that these days, the recovery is new enough that it's a genuine pleasure just to be able to stand and sit more or less normally!

[princessofgeeks]

I am so sorry! That kind of pain is the worst!

[kindkit]

Thanks! Yeah, nerve pain is really miserable.

[silveradept]

I am glad you had the time for our and Peele who were willing to give you the good stuff to help out, but yeah, that does put a cramp in your style when you have to spend planned things because your body decided it didn't want to play nice.

[kindkit]

I didn't even have any real plans, just an enjoyable quiet day. Now that I can move around again I've been keeping the Christmas tree lights on, calendar be damned.

Thank you!

[schneefink]

That's awful. All fingers crossed you will continue to recover.