Anndd... apparently pushing/pulling a heavy carpet cleaner is on the 'not good!' list :( My arm is pretty fired up at me now. And I have a permanent lump in my throat, I think that may be neck related.

But I got a lot of kitty and dog hair/crud off the rugs!

I had acdf c4-7 in 7-2010 about 2 yrs after I had some wicked shoulder issues going on and scapular problems again --3 fingers still numb --no regrets surgery gave me my life back. I had MRI done again post surgery and showed on c-5 the nerve was passing the foreman but barley which causes me major flare ups at times--- esp in right shoulder. Steroids did work but took 3 months before they helped(oral). The surgeon said it was not worth the risk to do a revision surgery because the chances of failed fusion increase with revision. Last resort he suggested we could do ESI if the pain goes beyond 6 months-- but its more difficult I assume because of the hardware. Then i picked up on things like I cant sleep on right side will cause a flare up. I cant look up sky or down -- like chin to chest---boom a flare up. Knock on wood-- if i pay close attention to posture thing do improve. I hope thing do get for you .Personally therapy made my symptoms much worse. Again as spine patients all respond so diffrently to things-- its hard to say what will or wont work. I have had friends avoid surgery with the ESI--found relief. I was considering it before my symptoms improved.

Just for the record, I was told by my Neuro that Vacuuming or ANY kind of "push/pull" activity for a spinal patient was ABSOLUTELY FORBIDDEN. That goes for raking in the fall too! :eek: He said that's one of the worst things a spinie can do!

So -- those jobs have to be "farmed out" to someone who is better suited to them. LOL

Just thought I'd pass that on. Hugs, Lee ;)

ROFL... well I'm not surprised, I do flare up quite a bit when I do those things. Which is why there are animal hair tumbleweeds floating around here quite often :( LOL I pushed my limits last week and tried to run the edger AND I trimmed a small tree, paid the price for that as well.

I did have my older son do the vacuuming today, but I had to run the floor cleaner b/c no one really does it 'right'.

I'm just running out of things I CAN do, it's frustrating and then when I DO do something, it's humiliating b/c I get sore muscles from it. I used to work out, lift weights, etc, not crazy, but I was nice and fit. Now I'm a weak flabby mess. My kids are young, I feel like and invalid mom. /end sob story

Hey, I just got my image disc to take the the NS and figured I'd post some on here for anyone who likes to decipher these things. I can clearly see the bulging parts on the upright/profile image but the ones he put together I can't make heads or tails of what's going on. He even put arrows b/c it's all Greek to me LOL.

what I REALLY want to know, what is that bulging area on the lower right quadrant of the top two images? I don't think I look that crooked in real life :/

Ok, saw my NS today, I really do like him, fwiw. Long story short, he does not recommend surgery at this time, and I was glad to hear him say that. We will try neck strengthening and attempt to get a traction device (not over the door, something else, need to check on insurance coverage). He mentioned injections but says he himself is not a huge fan of them, he'd rather work on the actual mechanics of the problem.

He was also very impressed with how good his old handiwork still looks ;) He did my fusion/discectomy 8 years ago. Something I found interesting/hadn't heard before, he said that if I do eventually need surgery, he would plan on removing the plate at the current fusion as I "no longer need it" and fuse the bad area above it.

I haven't been doing much physical activity lately and my neck has been doing pretty well. Things flare up pretty quickly when I sit at the comp, even my leg starts tingling, so maybe that's just the PN kicking in, I don't know. But I do want to try biking again soon, taking it easy, cross your fingers my neck doesn't get angry b/c I really need to get my butt back into shape.

Our ins. wouldn't cover any other types of traction units (yours may), but in retrospect, I prefer the over the door because I can maneuvre myself at slight angles to better "aim" where the traction goes by moving my chair or rotating my orientation. Couldn't do that on the other type. YMMV.

Doc

Yeah, I did the over the door type several years ago and it killed my jaw (TMJ)... I'm not sure any type of traction would work better than my husband just pulling on my head while I lie down, but he's not really up for holding that position for 20 minutes LOL

I just looked them up, Saunders, they are a lot of moolah.

Might be a way around that with a little padding/re-engineering of the head harness. I always crack up when I've got it on cuz all I can think of is....


Doc