Broke Back Mountain-bike
by taj | May 29, 2009 |
No reason for this dog other then I’ve decided that all of my posts dealing with back issues should have a dog for a thumbnail.
Just got back from the first visit with my new doctor. All went well. He is a spinal surgeon, but he didn’t seem to think that surgery was the guaranteed way to go. I kind of baited him with the “I think its time to get surgery” routine and he said there maybe some other alternatives and not to resign myself to that. That was good and he seems pretty easy to talk to so far. Of course, the usual drill ensued… “Go get an MRI and come back”. After calling 15 disconnected numbers given to me by my wonky health insurance I finally found a working one and made an appointment for monday. Hopefully by later next week I will be able to have the prints read and have an idea of what can be done for me and when.
That’s the problem area, but the xray is very faint and hard to see. Disc squished between L4 and L5 and probably worse between L5 and whatever is below that.
Going a little stir crazy so I talked Giant into sending me a MTB to ride. I’m hoping some suspension will help me at least be able to put in some cross country miles and get some desperately needed exercise. Although, I’m pretty afraid of trying to put it together. Hydraulic brakes and gears and crap… I have no idea. Really makes you appreciate how amazingly simple BMX bikes are. I think that should be the rule for all you BMX designers. Keep it simple. If its not simple its not BMX.
I asked the Indian doctor who made this xray what the dark spot was and he got really embarassed and red and said, “this is your poo poo”.
Yesterday I had the bright idea to do some concrete work at a new ditch I found. How could anyone have guessed that lugging 80lb bags of concrete around would make my injured back sore? I really don’t know what I’m doing with concrete and have never used it before. I smoothed out one kink a little bit though, but it looks like its going to wash away in the first rain. I did find a really cool ditch right down the street from my house. 15 years in Austin and I’ve never heard of it before. Lots of potential with just a little work (assuming I can figure out how to do the work).
I don’t understand how the little sharp metal bits from my spleen surgery can be ok to leave inside me. Seems like they would poke through something to me?
May 29th, 2009 on 10:39 pm
Wow, I hate to hear about your back pains. I have one suggestion, try looking into Myofascial Therapy. I’m 35 and it has helped me immensely over the years with my back pains. There has to be someone in the Austin area that specializes in it. It’s worth a shot. Here’s the wiki link to read for yourself. Good luck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myofascial_Release
May 30th, 2009 on 7:15 pm
So your back in Austin then? Still selling your house or have you already moved?
Advice, take the Giant to a bike shop to have it assembled. I was he same way with my first MTB. It came in a box and I messed it up pretty good, nothing major but small adjustments will make shifting and brakes suck.
It’s worth it to have pro’s do it. Some shops offer classes on how to maintain your own stuff which are helpful.
May 31st, 2009 on 12:01 am
OK, one more suggestion. I was talking this evening to a professional drummer here in Nashville that was planning on having 2 disks in his neck fused because of years of abuse. He ended up avoiding the surgery and getting completely off pain medications by using magnets. I know it sounds crazy but check out this link.
http://www.quadrabloc.com/