Saturday, October 20, 2007
The injured new dad
As you might have read on my August 4th post, Comedy or Tragedy? the final analysis is tragedy. Almost two weeks ago this coming Monday, while my son was just over a week old, I decided to take a walk with Sonya's mom in the morning. But before I left, her mom and Sonya thought I should bring Julian with us. So I grabbed his car seat, stuck him in it, and proceeded down the stairwell out our back door. While walking down it, I felt an intense pain in my hip. Something so painful it was not like anything else I'd experienced but somewhat reminiscent of the pain I'd experienced in August. I almost dropped him but made it down to the parking lot where I thought maybe I could walk it off. Not a chance, the pain intensified and I had to call Sonya to come down so that she and her mom could take the boy up. The pain lasted all day and I couldn’t do anything comfortable but stand. I tried taking a bath but couldn't bear it. All day I was miserable until around 8pm when I realized I couldn't sleep because laying down hurt. So Sonya, Julian, and I headed to the ER. The car ride over was the worst part of the entire thing. I felt like my hip was broken or that I was in labor or something, and by the time we got to the hospital I almost passed out. My breathe was erratic and eventually had to put my head down so I wouldn't completely fall over. Eventually we were in a room and the doctor said I probably pinched my sciatic nerve. He then gave me a shot of Dilaudid which worked wonderfully then prescribed pain meds and sent me home.
Next up I visited my doctor. Since the injury I've experience some numbness in my right foot and calf and felt like I blew out my calf, so I've been limping. At first I couldn't even walk right at all, but since then my walk has improved a lot but not completely. My doctor gave me a reflex test and noticed not much reaction from my ankle area which is why I've been limping. He then had me get an MRI and this Monday will tell me the results. It's possible I have a slipped disc, maybe two, who knows? When a disc slips, this gel-like substance can ooze out and hit the sciatic nerve causing intense pain. Plus inflammation can occur exacerbating it even more. So last Weds I went in for my first ever MRI. I'm not claustrophobic so the whole thing didn't bother me plus the noise emitted from the machine sounded like some industrial symphony or communication to aliens. I actually enjoyed the whole thing and it almost put me to sleep.
In addition to seeing the doctor, taking pain meds, and trying to take it easy, I've been seeing a physical therapist. This has been the best medicine for me since the PT has been training me how I should walk, lift things, and move. She said my pelvis on the right was a bit high so she gave me exercises for that. Also my back is very long which increases the chances of me injuring it. She continues to stress "core exercises". These are the fundamentals of a strong body. So I've been exercising the best way possible based completely on her program. She also got me a little device that sends electrical stimulation to my back. It both massages the area and tells the brain to send endorphins. It's been a great help.
Ok, so here I am 12 days after my injury. I'm still in pain, it's still hard to sleep painlessly, I'm limping, and yes, I'm a new dad. The part about being a dad has been more difficult that anything else. This means that Sonya has to do almost all the work, and right now we're really in hard times. To add to this, Sonya had an infection from her C-section that wasn't healing so she had to get on antibiotics. Well that didn't work so they said if these new antibiotics that they're going to give her didn't work, she'd have to be admitted for 48 hours and Julian couldn't come with her. It tore her up, plus the fact that there's some super bug staph out there. The good news was that the new antibiotic did work and she didn't have the super bug but did have a staph infection. We were pretty ticked off that she picked up an infection at a hospital! Never mind the fact that the four days we were there, I slept on some of the worst beds for fathers imaginable which definitely wore my back down.
So whoever reads this, send us good thoughts. The good news is that Julian is doing well, aside from eating continuously. He's a lot of work, like any baby, but he's a good kid and Sonya and I are hoping for a quick recovery so we can get on with being functional parents.
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