Fogbow

I never did one of these the first time around so I thought maybe I should correct that.

I grew up in Illinois but lived in Seattle for about 10 years before moving back due to the declining health of both sets of parents. We now live south of Indy. The household includes my wife and I, my sister-in-law (in a large finished basement apartment), and our two dogs Adam (yorkie) and Evie (schnauzer). Our youngest daughter also came from Houston to stay with us while she's working from home during COVID.

I'm a semi-retired IT Architect and occasional woodworker and my wife worked for "a very large software company" in privacy compliance before she retired. She quilts and paints in her spare time.

It's been a long time but I think I came here from Doc C's website back in the birther heyday.

Hi, SP. You'll have a lot of time catching up the Trump toons thread

I know I haven't been posting toons lately but not a whole lot strikes me as funny these days.

We moved my sister-in-law out of her home here today to her daughter's house because she can no longer negotiate the stairs in our house. The cancer that invaded her body last year has now started to take over her brain and she has trouble remembering her granddaughter's names, much less being able to manage navigating a multi-story house. She's a lovely person, and I've loved every second she lived with us and she's never coming home again. As much as I'll miss her I can only imagine how my wife must feel. It's been a very rough day.

I’m sorry, Shizzle.

Yeah.

I’m so sorry, Shizzle.

Oh man, Shizzle. I can't imagine. Hoping for the best for you and your family.

Sorry to hear that.

So very sorry that you and your family are going through this. Much love to all of you.

What a sad year for you. So sorry.

I don't write much about my various medical issues because they're generally pretty well controlled. However, I've been fighting chronic back problems for the last 12 years. It's mostly been manageable but I'm never pain free. There's a long history of this that I won't get into but last November I started to get new persistent pain in my right lower back. November and December were busy months so I didn't do much about it other than my existing routine of PT exercises. January I mostly took off from working on the house or in the shop and tried to let it heal but every time I did even minor work it would flare up. Last week I had an appointment with my doctor and yesterday they did an X-Ray. The news is not good. We knew from an X-Ray about a year ago that I had a little arthritis in my lower back but now I'm told it's significant and has spread further up my spine. My mom started having trouble with arthritis when she was about my age (I'm 61) and by the time she was 75 she could do very little for herself. I'm back in physical therapy which will help for a while but with the rate of spread I had probably better do the things I want to do sooner rather than later. Oh, and to add insult to injury, I have kidney stones. Again. Always on the left side for some reason. At 3 mm I'll probably leave well enough alone for now. Below are the findings from the X-Ray which I only partly understand but have started reading up on.

FINDINGS:
There are 5 non rib-bearing lumbar type vertebrae. There is a mild levoscoliosis of the lumbar spine centered at L2. Vertebral body heights are preserved. There is grade 1 retrolisthesis of L2 on L3. Multilevel degenerative disc disease most pronounced at L3-L4 where there is near complete loss of the disc space, endplate sclerosis, and anterior and posterior endplate osteophyte formation. There is mild disc space narrowing at L2-L3. Scattered anterior endplate osteophytes at the remaining levels. There is moderate left-sided degenerative facet arthropathy most pronounced at L2-L3. There are no acute fractures or dislocations. The visualized portions of the bony pelvis are unremarkable. Multiple calcifications projecting over the left renal shadow corresponding to calculi seen on prior CT scan. These measure up to 3 mm.

IMPRESSION:
1. Multilevel degenerative disc disease which is most severe at L3-L4.
2. Grade 1 retrolisthesis of L2 on L3.
3. Mild lumbar levoscoliosis.
4. Multiple left renal calculi.

My dad had degenerative arthritis of the spine.

When his back started hurting initially 30 years ago, they thought it was muscular and put him on a TENS unit. My mother had to stick it on his back every morning and I asked her one time how she knew where to put it, since it wasn't exactly the same place every time. She said she just pounded on his back until he screamed and that's where she put it.

Well, that's one way to figure it out!

I had my physical therapy assessment this afternoon. That seems to be the way we figure out what's screwed up. I've gone through several rounds of physical therapy and the assessment is always the same. Do this and tell me if it hurts. Yeah, it hurts dammit. I took a muscle relaxer and tramadol as soon as I got home.

My mother dealt with arthritis most of her life, starting with juvenile arthritis. Sucks.

Oh man!

Feeling for you, SP.

Thanks. We'll deal with whatever comes along but I don't do sitting around the house well so I have to find a way to keep doing the things I enjoy doing. I have to admit though that the speed this has spread through my back scares the hell out of me.

Wishing you the best SP

:curmudgeon: Okay. Dagnabbit. That's it. No more gettin old around here. None. Nada.