Ooooh the pain…..

Well, I will try and keep this long story short although you may have noticed by now that I’m not actually good at short stories! Over the next year in work, my painkiller use got very heavy. I was constantly wiped out and my poor husband was doing everything – cooking, cleaning etc etc. My next visit to the doctors and he was telling me that the only thing he could give me for the pain was morphine and he would prefer me to take time off work and get some rest and try and get on top of things. Being in constant pain is so tiring for both your mind and body and drugs don’t help. Getting onto the track of possible morphine addiction seemed like I’d gone too far down the slippery slope and I took the advice (something I’m not good at). I had a month off, then another month and then another. It was 6 months before I went back to work. 3 weeks later I was off sick again – almost back to square one and my employer decided to medically retire me.

I haven’t worked since and it was the best thing that could have happened to me. Now I’m not working if I wake up with my back in spasm, I stay in bed until it’s settled down. If I need extra sleep or to lie down in the day, I do so. As a result of this, I am happier and healthier which is good for me, good for my husband and good for everyone around me as I’m much less crankier!

Some years after I finished work I noticed my pain starting to spread to other areas in my back– I was referred back to the specialist. I raised the scoliosis – was this the cause? You should never see a blunt consultant – his answer was “well you can’t expect these things to stay the same forever” – was there anything that could be done I asked – no – you just have to put up with it was the response. I must add at this point, this guy was not a scoliosis specialist, just a regular orthopaedic surgeon – SO – take my advice – insist on seeing the right guy!

After couple more years I looked in the mirror and thought – gosh, that’s funny, I know my one shoulder dips a bit but I don’t ever remember dipping that far to the right….

I looked very crooked – like I was bending sideways. It was back to my poor long suffering doctor who referred me to the scoliosis clinic (yay!) – well so much for the if you have any problems come back. It was on the waiting list for me. It turned out to be a very very long wait! But hey, that’s another story…. (I like saying that!)