the magic of physical therapy!

When I told my now ex-neurologist that whenever I walked too much, sat at the computer too much, or stood on tiptoes, my back muscles spasmed, locked up, and I couldn't walk until it subsided, he essentially said, well, don't do that any more, then. Huh? Passive is so NOT my style. So I asked him for a referral to physical therapy, which has helped in the past. I had my first appointment for evaluation on Thursday afternoon.

Best news for me - the therapist does NOT believe there has been significant nerve degeneration. She did a convincing demonstration, she had me sit in a chair and she did leg-strength measurements. Then she used a special lumbar support pillow to change spine curvature, and re-measured. On the second test I was noticeably stronger. That, she said, showed that the problem wasn't nerve damage - if it was, strength would have been the same either way. Instead, she attributes a lot to pressure from the bulging disk -- and that, she can address. I'll be 3x/wk for a couple of months. It's fantastic to work with someone who believes I will get well!!

Quick update

Been sick. Been really sick. Been two-trips-to-the-ER sick. But now I'm feeling optimistic, it turned out that my thyroid crashed and burned and that was the cause of the horrible muscle cramps, and maybe some other problems besides.

Went to NY one last time, hoping to have some time to write about that in the future.

Nervously watching the sky, anticipating a hurricane tomorrow - yikes!

Am really having a blast with my blog for the local paper. Now if only I could get the formatting glitches solved! Anyway, the link is here: http://www.hometownannapolis.com/blog_jlunsford.html