Frankenspine!

Frankenstein
had nothing on this body of mine
the villagers still flocking to see
to see me
breaking free
breaking free

Thanks Jimmy....went to my doc in Silver City Wednesday to go over the results from my two MRI's that were done at the Gila Medical Center....one regular and one contrast. I remember a doc once telling me when I was 44 that I had the spine of a 70 year old. Hasn't gotten any better! I have disc herniations at 8 levels from my thoracic spine down to the bottom of my lumbar spine. None appear to specifically be pressing on large nerve bundles, but there are hundreds of smaller ones serving various parts of you lower body. On top of that, I have many bone spurs, bone crystals, and the areas where I had the 4 back surgeries has lots of bone growth where the body tries to fill the holes left by those old drills and saws. The only good news is that there are no signs of stenosis inside the spinal canal which would provide me with another level of symptoms. So, since there is no specifically identified nerve compression, no surgery or shots would be of use. He gave me a 5 day steroidal step down pack to see if that calms the nerves down in my feet and on the outside of my right calf. If that fails he wants me to take neurontin at night to at least shut that irritation down so I get good sleep, other wise, it is what it is. He had two other words of advise....keep running as long as the joy exceeds the discomfort, and never lift anything heavy again. So I will teach Deb how to pack lightly when we travel.....not like it is an evacuation! On top of that, my blood pressure has gone from the prehypertensive state to full blown high blood pressure (thanks suzi for your help!), so I am starting out with 10 mg. of generic lisiniprol to see if that helps to control it. Poor suzi has found out she has esophageal cancer, and we have just began to engage the medical industrial complex to get her staged and see what options she has. A horribly unfair disease in a post polio life that has been very harsh. All prayers are welcome......
So I always believed that the physically functional life of the average man was about 65 years....bye then all the physical sins of youth, labor, genetics, etc. transpire to end that portion of your life. I of course have exceeded my 100,000 kilometer warranty and may have gotten there a few years sooner. I will keep trying to run easy 4 times a week for about 4 or 5 miles, and keep my intensive cardio work to sprints on the exercycle at the gym. I will try and make my friends do all my heavy lifting for me, and try to keep on moving, weather running or hiking, for as long as it lasts. Breaking free, breaking free.....