I still feel the exact same way I’ve felt since October of last year.  Pain and tingles come and go – and they’re back with seemingly no trigger.  They’re better today after a 1.5 hour walk, but were worse yesterday with not much physical activity.  The worst is the early morning… I wake up every morning with that tight ache in my lower back and can only sleep on my back.  Sides and stomach are too much and its been that way for years.  Just worse now than it was before.  I’m going to cut out the spinal stretch for now.

I’ve been reading a lot and am quite discouraged.  My formaminal stenosis and end plate changes are making me worried I may never be a candidate for an ADR.  Can an ADR even help that?

I’m back on the NSAID’s today and will keep using them until the pain begins to subside a little more.

I hate having to brace myself on my knee EVERY time I bend over, and flinch EVERY time I get in the car.

Conversely, I’ve read far too much about surgical complications with ADR, subsidence and migration.  Spinal surgery can be a nightmare and fusion sounds like it could make me worse off than I am now.  What’s a guy to do?  I’m working up enough guts to finally post on the spinal forums, but I really just want to talk to a professional that can tell me my real options.  Will I ever get better without some kind of intervention?  Will I ever return to the life I’m missing?

I got a call up for a Div 1 hockey game yesterday and was devastated when I had to tell a buddy of mine that I’m probably out for good.  I haven’t played in 6 months and I had been up to 3 games a week.

Yoga is still out of the question, though cat cow and low shoulder width squats help a little.

I can feel my core strength deserting me and I wasn’t able to lay any tracks this winter.

At least my kid is sill making me laugh.  Awesome style.