The perception of Annie

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The perception of Annie

Category Archives: invisible illness

There’s a New Kind of Spinal Fusion Surgery

24 Friday Apr 2015

Posted by SexwAnnie in Chronic pain, Health, invisible illness, Just do it!, Life, Love, Post a day

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Arachnoiditis, Chronic pain, Faith, family, Florida, friends, life, living, medications, Minimally invasive, Pain, stenosis, surgery

I’m sure by now you all know that I’ve had spinal fusion surgery. I was on the fence about this newer surgery called minimally invasive. But now that I’ve had it all I can say is it was the best decision of my life.

My family and friends were the ones who assured me I had nothing to lose. And I just had the best feeling once I met the surgeon face to face at the Orthopedic Laser Spine center in Jersey.

It’s hard to believe that the pressure I’ve lived with for 26 yrs is all but gone. And half of the meds I have had to take to take just to get the edge off are gone too.

I can’t believe I’ve gone from seven Fentanyl pops a day to zero. Now I know my pain is never going to be totally gone. Besides the stenosis that was crushing my nerves I also live with something called Arachnoiditis, it’s a clumping of the nerves.

This was one thing that worried other surgeons I spoke too. In fact they told me not to have this surgery. They couldn’t understand how any surgeon could do a fusion and not touch my Arachnoiditis.

Minimally invasive is the way to go with something like this. The surgeon and his team of experts took all the precautions they could so that they didn’t disturb the Arachnoiditis. This is something that surgeons who do open back surgery need to understand before they try and discourage patients.

If my surgeon asked me too I would be a spokes person for minimally invasive surgery. And that’s because he has given me part of my life back.

With Minimally invasive surgery there is no cutting through muscles or nerves. There’s no five to seven days in the hospital. No physical therapy. And all the work is done through the two small incisions.

The day after surgery my surgeon told us that it wasn’t an easy surgery. And that I was a strong and brave woman to have lived with that kind of pain for so long. Then he said something that blew my mind.

If I hadn’t had this surgery I would have lost the use of my legs within two years. The stenosis in my spine caused by the bone spurs was closing. It would have completely closed without the surgery and that’s when I would have lost my legs.

I made the right choice. And having it done in Florida surely made a huge difference too. I was able to walk outside every day. I believe the warmth was just what I needed. My husband watched me like a hawk. He was afraid I would do too much. On the fifth day after surgery I started walking up and down the street.

Everyone who see’s me tells me I’m walking taller. I’m not hunched over or limping anymore. And that’s because that pain that caused so much pressure is gone. When the stenosis closes in on your spine canal you bend forward to ease it. I didn’t realize I did that.

I was promised fifty percent less pain and I’ve got that. Sure I still have to take pain meds. But I’m weaning off of them slowly.

Minimally invasive surgery is the way of the future. Why would anyone put themselves through open back surgery?

The one on one care you get at a surgical center is the way to go. Yes there is always the chance that something could go wrong. But that can happen in the hospital too.

In fact I got an infection when I had my first surgery (three level lumbar Laminectomy) in a hospital in 1989. That infection almost killed me. In fact I wanted to die. When you are having those kinds of spasms for five weeks straight you just want it to stop.

It took another five days in the hospital to stop those horrific spasms. And another five months to walk on my own. Along with two years of Physical therapy.

These are the kinds of things you don’t forget when told you need to have another spinal surgery.

Then when you are told that a surgeon can actually do a two level spinal fusion in about three and a half hours you don’t believe it. Or that you will be leaving the surgical center that same day. But you can’t help think about the possibilities.

Was I scared? You bet I was. But I had so much faith in my surgeon that I just had to give it a try. We met him here in New Jersey two months before the surgery.

Of course I did get sick from anesthesia. Then again I always get sick after any surgery. And it was my poor husband who had to watch me all night.

I don’t remember much of the next day. And that’s because I slept the entire ride home and into the night.

When I got up the next morning I could feel that the pressure was gone.

Life is good. I got to hug my Mom when I got back to Jersey.  I was so worried I would lose her while I was having surgery and recovering. We just had a nice Easter with my entire family. So all’s good on that front for now.

I’m six weeks in and I can’t wait to see how I’m going to be in five months. My hope is that I am off most of the medications I take. But then again I don’t really have a choice in this matter.

In Florida it doesn’t matter if you have a prescription from a legitimate doctor. The pharmacies are in charge of your pain. They decide who gets what pain meds. It’s horrible to think about the people in Florida who live with chronic pain. They are treated like drug addicts.

It’s one of the reasons I took the chance with this surgery.

But since I will never be out of pain completely I will have to do what other Floridians do. Yea you guessed it, Marijuana and wine, lol. When in Rome Right?

Just another reason why Marijuana needs to be made legal in every state. But that’s for another blog.

If you’re living with chronic back pain pick up the phone and call a surgeons who does minimally invasive surgery. You won’t be sorry you did. Thanks for listening.

http://www.orthopedicandlaserspinesurgery.com/

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Update: My Spine is Doing Fine.

05 Sunday Apr 2015

Posted by SexwAnnie in Health, invisible illness, Post a day, spine, surgery

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

a new day, Annie, family, life, love, spinal fusion, surgery

Just trying to re-blog to this page to catch some of you up on what’s been going on in my life..

SEX w/ Annie

Update: After twelve days, one spinal surgery, and two horrific setbacks, I’m really doing well. The immense pressure that once plagued my back is mostly gone.

That in itself makes the choice of having this minimally invasive spinal surgery a complete success.
With the pain levels dropping already I have no doubts that my life can and will only get better.

I’m so thankful I didn’t listen to the Nay-Sayers who told me that the T-lift surgery, bone graft with fusion couldn’t be done on my back, Or that I would only get worse.

All I know is how I feel today. Twelve days post-op. And that’s pretty damn good.  If I didn’t have this surgery I would have wondered my entire life. Also the stenosis which ew bone spurs as they call them would have closed my spinal canal completely and I would have lost the use of both…

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John Morgan: Right before my dad passed

02 Tuesday Sep 2014

Posted by SexwAnnie in Adult, Chronic pain, Education, Guest Author, Health, invisible illness, Life, Post a day, writing

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

life, Marijuana, Medication, Pain, Pain management, quality

Since I’m moving to Florida in 2015 I’m going to need Medical Marijuana. I live w/Chronic pain. Fl. doesn’t have pain management. In order for me to have quality of life I will something to ease my pain. Re-blog, Tweet, and Vote.

MARSocial Author Business Enhancement Blogs

John Morgan John Morgan

I am posting this post verbatim from http://www.unitedforcare.org/right_before_my_dad_passed because it is vital that Florida enact this law, I beg all Floridians to get out and vote for this on November 4, 2014. Although over 80% of Floridians believe Medical Marijuana should be available to people like myself who are suffering the measure requires over 60% of the voters to vote in favor for it to pass and become law. Strangely, many of the opponents to this measure are not residents of Florida and I have read that the largest contributor that funds the opposition movement supports Medical Marijuana in Israel, but opposes it in Florida. Please get out and vote and consider volunteering to knock on doors or contribute to this effort in anyway you can.
Coleman Weeks

Then in June 2013 we found out my Hepatitis "C" was chronic and had a test result that showed I was prime for developing cancer. Then in June 2013 we found out my Hepatitis “C” was chronic and had a test result that showed I…

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FIBROMYALGIA is a Four Letter Word

27 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by SexwAnnie in acceptance, Chronic pain, Education, Health, invisible illness, Life, Post a day, Spoon Theory, writing

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

blog, exercise, Guest author, ignorance, illness, invisible, laughter, People, sick, understanding, words, writing

It would be great if people looked up invisible illness before they made a comment about it. Chronic pain, Fibromyalgia, Lupus, arthritis, Arachnoiditis. But they won’t. There are over a hundred million people living with Chronic pain in the U.S. alone. Just think before you tell someone that some exercise is all they need. We all wish that was the answer.

yadadarcyyada

This isn’t a whiny post (at least I’ll try, no promises) or it can be fixed blog or whatever. Just a few thoughts about why people think Fibromyalgia isn’t a real syndrome, that it’s just lazy, unmotivated people and why I don’t have all the answers.

fibromyalgia8

Let’s begin at the end; I don’t have all the answers because I don’t sleep enough.  Also, I’m not a million years old.  In addition, I’m certainly not a super genius.  Oh, did I mention I don’t sleep enough?

People prefer to think people with disorders such as Fibromyalgia are lazy because they don’t want to accept that you could wake up one morning and have something like that or ChronicFatigue Syndrome or Lyme Disease and so on.

Instead of doing the whole there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I thing, many people just decide that people with these illnesses could do better if they just got…

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That Sucks

27 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by SexwAnnie in Guest Author, Health, invisible illness, Life, Post a day, writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

author, blog, family, friends, Guest author, laughter, life, love, Oxygen, post, relationship, smile, words

When you’re feeling down about what has been thrown your way look what others are going through. Life sucks sometimes. But sometimes it’s a good thing, Ask LaRae Parry..

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worthit

My lungs suck. No. Wait a minute. They don’t suck. That’s the problem–they don’t suck at all. They just sit there—in my chest cavity—taking up space. It’s cruddy. No kidding.

Complaining about it doesn’t make my rotten lungs any better, so I don’t do it . . . all the time. Not everyday, anyway.

Because of my nonfunctioning lungs, I have to wear supplemental oxygen all the time. That sucks. Really. I have a machine that sucks pure oxygen out of the air and pumps it into my lungs. It’s great to suck.

There are some days, however, that I wonder if it’s worth the hassle to even get out of bed. I’m serious. Getting out of bed means I have to breathe more. Then, when that happens, I have to get clean. Then I see pictures of my children, grandchildren, and get on my computer and see my friends…

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Windfall

22 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by SexwAnnie in Cancer, Daily post, invisible illness, Life, Mom, Post a day, writing, writing prompts

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

blog, Cancer, cruelty, Dreams, family, Florida, friends, home, hope, life, lottery, love, rainbows, storms

10361027_10203927133448985_7307627031914621716_n (1)

 

DAILY PROMPT

Gone with the Windfall

You just inherited $1,000,000 from an aunt you didn’t even know existed. What’s the first thing you buy (or otherwise use the money for)?

It’s June 8th 2014, Not sure if or when I’m going to post this one.

If and when I do it will be an easy one to answer.  I’d take care of my Mom.

My dad passed away suddenly four years ago. Mom and dad had a thirty five year love affair. They taught us how to treat our spouses. How to be kind to one another. And how to love with everything you’ve got.

This past winter mom finally got the courage to take off and go to Florida. She stayed with friends for three months. This was the first time she had ever done anything for herself in fifty two years. (My older brother is fifty two, my baby sister is thirty seven).

With no husband, children, grandchildren or great grandchildren to take care of Mom actually took time out to live her own life.

She learned to play Mexican dominoes, and Marbles. She drove a golf cart on her way to and from the pool every day. She did water aerobics three times a week with other seniors. And Mom made all kinds of friends, from all walks of life and she just had the time of her life.

When she got home all she wanted to do was to get back to her life and friends in Florida.

My mom hasn’t had an easy life. She had Rheumatic Fever as a child. Married an abusive man when she was still a teenager. Had two children fifteen months apart before the age of twenty.

She finally got the courage to leave my biological father with three children in tow, my sister was a month old when we left.

Then she found the love of her life and they had one more child to make that four all together. We lived a middle class life while mom raised four kids and did the very best she and my dad could. My dad was a trucker who hauled flammables for thirty five years. While mom drove a school bus she took care of all of us. Made us all a happy home.

When you are raised in a middle class family with four children its usually the mom that does without.

Fifteen years ago she went through a liver transplant.  It was a crazy time in all of our lives.  But together with the love of her family she made it though. We all thought we wouldn’t have to worry about her health again.

But Then my dad passed away suddenly four years ago. They had only been retired for 18 months.  We didn’t know if mom would ever snap out of that depression. So when she decided to take her friends up on their offer to spend three months with them in Florida we were all thrilled.

Then Three weeks ago she fell. My sister thought to be on the safe side she would take her for some ex-rays. The ex-rays showed a spot. Well that spot turned out to be Cancer.

So for two weeks she was stage one with two fractured ribs.  Then she just went through the final biopsy on her spine this past Friday. We all held our breath waiting for the results.

Yesterday we got those results. Stage four lung cancer that has spread to her spine. And now four fractured ribs. So you ask what would I do with all that money?

All she wants to do is get back to Florida. Once we figure out the radiation and chemo part of this horrible disease we just want mom to live her life any way she wants.

I would buy her that little home she wants.  In the Senior village she wants. Furnish this little home in the sunshine state. And let her live the rest of her life without having to worrying about money ever again.

Nothing else matters. Just when you think there are no more storms and only rainbows another storm rolls in. Another whack on the back of the head.  And this time we are all praying with heavy hearts that this woman who has always been there for us through thick and thin gets to live the rest of her life where she wants to live it.

This woman who has been through so many tuff times and somehow made it though. Who only deserves the best that life has to offer. This amazing mom, grandmother,wife and friend who would give the shirt off of her back to a stranger. Who has always put others first. My Mom deserves to live the rest of her life without worry.

Mom goes to church every week and believes that Jesus and God will help her through. I have my doubts as I write this. Where have Jesus and god been and where are they now. God supposedly helps those who help themselves. To me that says we are all on our own. And with all this family has been through time and time again we somehow have made it through but this time I’m scared.

Mom will turn seventy next month and she sure doesn’t look seventy. In fact you would never even know she was sick. I only hope she gets the chance to finally dance for herself.

I do believe that it was my dad who pushed her that day. Yes that may sound crazy to most but I believe that he is our angel and that he watches over us. Of course mom believes that it was Jesus himself that pushed her. At this point I won’t argue with her. But the rest of us believe it was dad too..

Money may not mean a lot to the people who have never had to worry about it. But to most it could mean the difference in a life full of hopes and dreams, or a life full of actually living out those hopes and dreams.

To my beautiful Mom I just want to say; It’s your turn to dance. You are loved more than you can imagine Mom. There’s no doubt that you’re surrounded by the love of family and friends.

Somehow together we will make it through this storm too. I wish with all my might that I could give you Mom the life you so deserve. I will find a way to get you to Florida. I’m not giving up just yet. You have a life to live.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it..

Update; Yesterday the 21st of June we had a celebration of my Mom’s life. It was a great day with family and close friends. She even got to meet her great grandson for the first time. It was a day full of laughter mixed with tears. Life can be cruel. My faith is dwindling. And I would scream if I thought it would help.

The Anti-rejection drugs Mom has had to take to keep her liver functioning seem to have let the Cancer do what it wants.

My mom starts Chemo and radiation tomorrow. If you can say one prayer for her I would appreciate it.. Thanks for reading my blog today..

 

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  5. Daily Prompt: Freaky Friday | A mom’s blog
  6. Daily Prompt: Freaky Friday | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss
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