No matter where you go, there you are.

I would love to say I'm back to my 100% pre-TC surgery self, but I'm not for other reasons. I know at this point that my surgery was a 100% success. But, the chronic pain and living in bed lifestyle had its consequences. I developed mild atrophy in my lumbar spine. My piriformis muscle was still very unhappy from sitting so much. (That's in your buttocks.) My scoliosis began to strain my back muscles more. I gained 60 pounds over the last two years. I still struggle with stamina issues but not nearly as bad as when I was on 11 prescriptions. My back is so temperamental and mean to me. Such a drama queen of a back! Things like taking sheets and blankets off the bed and putting them in the washer, lifting a laundry basket, pulling the kitchen trash bag out of the bin, lifting or placing boxes of sodas in the bottom of my shopping cart, bending over for pretty much anything, hurt up my back. But, the good news is that I am in PT now and after 2 months, I can already tell I'm getting back on track. Most days are good days where I can run around to appointments and do errands, pick the kids up to school, etc. I'm tired and sometimes sore when I get home and have to rest. But, as long as I'm careful and don't do a lot of bending or lifting, I'm ok.

As I mentioned in a previous post, it wasn't only the pain and fatigue that kept me in bed. It was also the FEAR of pain. I was scared to do anything that could make that horrible pain flood my body. Sometimes I just went for it because I thought it would be worth whatever experience I was going to have. And sometimes, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have pain. I think it took me going through several experiences and milestones to help me get over the fear and see that I could be active without that backlash I had in the past. 

In April, my sons and I flew to Florida to visit my

Mother-in-law. Unfortunately, she got sick so I had to take the kids to Animal Kingdom by myself. I had come off of all of my medications by this point so my body would take a shocker from a long active day. I hadn't driven more than 30 minutes in over 2 years so I was very nervous about that hour drive and stand still traffic. But I did it and made it throught the day without problems. I rented a scooter for fear I'd crap out and ruin it for the kids. I'm glad I did. I rode roller coasters and felt great and lasted until it was late in the evening. I was exhausted and sore the next day and needed a recovery day where I did basically nothing.

Later that week, I took the kids to Sea World's Aquatica water park. Hol-eeeee Cow! I don't know how many flights of stairs I went up, also carrying my and my youngest son's mats. We rode a bunch of water slides, swam in the wave pool, played in the kids area and rode the rushing river (many, many times.) My body was hurting all day the next day and it took me a few days to recover from the entire trip. It was much more intense. But the point is that I did it! I honestly couldn't believe I was climbing stairs and carrying mats and tubes! And NONE of that would have been a remote possibility or reasonable expectation before surgery. When I came off of all of the medications and realized surgery was a sucess, I called my friend Earline who had surgery the same day I did. While we were healing I think, like many, she regretted having surgery because she felt like it made her worse and she had to have another surgery for another back issue. It took us both a lot of pain, frustrations, doubts and time. But I was thrilled to death when she told me she was doing great and back to playing tennis again! Yay Earline!! I couldn't even do that before I had symptoms!

The most frequent questions I am asked on Facebook support forums are: 1. How long did it take you to get better? 2. Are you glad you had surgery or do you regret it?

So, answers. #1. 15 months on lots of meds and around exactly 2 years I came off of meds. I could tell I was getting better because the backlashes from activity became shorter and shorter. I was gradually able to do more than before surgery without paying for it as much. Eventually, the nerve pain faded away, despite whether I was active or inactive.

#2. Without a doubt! I have no regrets. I made the right decision. (I had a little help from the Man upstairs making that decision. It was very clear what I needed to do.) I did have a lot of pain during recovery but I knew it would be that way before I went in. Sometimes it was worse but I knew it was a good sign. My body was still healing because when those nerves are healing and regenerating, it causes pain. Pain after surgery is a good thing. It was long and rough but at least I knew I was hurting while healing, not hurting while getting worse. But in the end, my Tarlov Cyst Symptoms are gone and I consider it a 100% success.

My challenges now are to build muscle strength and more stamina. I believe that, back when I was still on the medications, I had the same muscular "shock" that my body didn't feel until now when I'm active. But, I think the medication prevented me from feeling the full impact of long activity. 

So far, since I simply started to become more active and less sedentary, I've lost 10 pounds! I started the Keto diet 2 weeks ago which is supposed to help inflammation. Hoping to get back to my pre-surgery size. I'm sure getting some of that weight off will help my back issues as well.

I still have many things to share. Updates on research, other personal health related matters and some more God winks! Stay tuned for that in the upcoming posts.