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Chronic Pain members - Welcome, please introduce yourself
Chronic Pain | Last Active: 16 hours ago | Replies (6906)Comment receiving replies
Hi all, I’m a new member to this site but not new to chronic pain unfortunately. Following an injury, I ended up having a fusion of C-5 through C-7 Sept 2, 2014. The orthopedic surgeon used allograft which took a long time to bridge. He explained stabilization was considered “successful “ I was left with the original nerve pain with added bonus of pain to the other side. I was medically retired from a career I loved. Following “ retirement “ I blew out both knees which added to the pain as well as inactivity. The first part of Jan 2023, I was having symptoms which I couldn’t explain and had a Cervical CT w/ contrast which showed hardware intact, bridging stable but showed severe degeneration of the atlantoaxial joint. Now just waiting to see how it will be treated. As far as pain control, very little due to the opioid issues which in all honesty I’m glad I never went down that road. I’ve tried the medical marijuana once but didn’t like the effect. So other than 10 mg Flexeril, I just grin and bare it. Quality of life is not great , things I used to do are a distant memory. But I just take it day to day.
Replies to "Hi all, I’m a new member to this site but not new to chronic pain unfortunately...."
I can emphasize with you. Doctor's consider it a success if the incision heals properly even though you still have pain in the underlying tissue and the reason for the surgery to begin with. Good luck and God Bless. I've been through it too.
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Hello @dabbs, welcome. It's nice to have you join us on Connect. Unfortunately, the usual "pain" is what brings us all here. I hope you receive support and learn from others experiences while receiving and sharing encouragement.
So sorry things turned out in an unfortunate way for you after what sounds like some bad luck. How sad to walk away from a career you loved. The term you use, "medically retired" is a good way to put it. I might steal that from you. I always hate saying I'm disabled when people ask why I have not been at my job of 27 years anymore.
Kudos to you for not going down the opioid path. Grin and bear it, huh? That must be tough some days. I give you a lot of credit. My pain journey went down some embarrassing paths. Panic and denial never helped my quest to find a fix or a cure to which there was none.
Taking it day by day is the best way to see it. Sometimes you have to get through a moment, an hour or just the next 5 minutes. Please know that while quality of life may change, it does not have to define who you are. My mindset nowadays is more about what I CAN do not what I can't. It took me a while to get there and I still work at it, but hope goes a long way. How about you? What ways do you find joy? Do you have hobbies or any new interests that you can do?