Steve's Saga

OK, where the heck have I been lately...

Life has been a roller coaster for the past few weeks.

Two Saturday's ago Steve hurt himself running. Initially we thought it was a bad calf strain or IT band problems. A Monday visit to the chiropractor and a few strength tests later, he was getting an MRI on Tuesday.

Wednesday we got the results. The results were not good. A herniated L4/L5 vertibrea pressing on the S1 nerve. He was in a lot of pain and basically was relegated to lying flat on the living room floor. Thursday was a visit to the spine doctor who confirmed the diagnosis and suggested a course of action to start with an epidural steroid injection. 5 days later, on Tuesday he got the injection.

Things really started looking up. He was far from fine but we were able to get out for a little bit and walk around Home Depot and Lowe's.

Sunday, all hell broke loose. He woke up with a lot more tightness and took a hot shower to loosen it up. I got in the shower shortly after and about 5 minutes later I heard him calling me to come now. He was completely laid out on the floor in more pain than he had even been in. I was thinking that I would have to call 911 as I did not think I could get him up into the car to go to the ER. I was able to get him into the car for the 7 mile trip to Baylor Grapevine.

Baylor ER shot him up with some heavy-duty narcotics and a strong NSAID and sent him home. Pain level went down but mostly he was able to rest.

This Monday we were back at the Spine Dr. Steve's pain level was so bad that by now he could not sit, stand or really walk. Just going from the living room floor to the bathroom was a horribly painful experience. At the Dr's office, he had to go into the PT area to lie down until we were called. Once the Dr. saw him and did some strength tests on his leg, his first response was "How do you feel about surgery?" No messing around with more shots or PT. He was concerned about his weakness, and if it was not addressed it could become a very big lifelong issue.

He went to confer with his partner (who is the chief of surgery at Spine Team texas), Dr. David Rothbart. After doing the same tests as Dr. Kibuule, he agreed and said he could do the surgery, a minimally invasive microdiscectomy, the next day (Tuesday).

Not a lot of time to process, but we knew we had to do something and felt comfortable with Dr. Rothbart. (he is a triathlete so that gave him some immediate credibility)!

Off to the hospital for pre-surgery tests and then just make him as comfortable as possible for the next 24 hours. Tuesday comes and we get to the hospital at noon. The normal activity of 1,000 questions, IV's and lots of people coming in to talk to us. They took him back at about 2:00 (only 30 minutes late).

About an hour later the Dr. comes out to talk to me. Said everything went great. There was a lot of material impinging on the nerve, but he got it all cleaned out and the prognosis is very good. About an hour later, I got to go back to see him and there he was, SITTING UP in the bed drinking some juice. This was the first time in over 2 weeks I have seen him sitting. But the best news was when he told me that he had no pain. Zero. None. From a 8-9 on a scale of 1-10 to a 0.

2 days later, he is still pain free. A little soreness around the incision site, and some tightness which we were told to expect, but pain-free! We are walking 4 times a day. Nothing big, around the block but he is up and moving and doing fine.

There does not need to be anything under the tree this year as I feel like I have gotten the best Christmas gift ever.

So, after all of that, where does that leave us? Obviously IMTX is out for him. I have to admit that I did waver a lot during this time. How could I go out and race when he can't. We were in this together. We talked a lot about it, and I know that I want to keep going with this. As for Steve, it is going to be a slow process back, but he will get there. PT starts on the 15th.

As for now, we are taking it day by day. So I am going to be back. Still planning on running White Rock Half Sunday. May be a big mistake as I am so competely undertrained but, I have no expectations but to go out, enjoy the day and finish when I finish. I figure by Sunday Steve will want to get rid of me for a few hours as we have been together 24/7 (with a few breaks for supermarket runs) for the past 19 days.So, onward and upward!

Little steps which for both of us will turn into big steps!