Life has strange ways of making us realise what we are blessed with.
I was a "healthy" (no fat shaming okay) person all through my life. In my mid 20's,a bad food poisoning rocked the boat. Lost a lot of weight in a few months and have to admit, I was happy to fit into a lot of new dresses. I watched my diet to not gain all of it back. All that was for a couple of years. Then came marriage, a healthy pregnancy and post natal "care". Gained all of them back and more. I was now a "healthier" at home mom, busy taking care of my son. My only form of exercise at this point was slow walk around the apartment while busy gossiping with neighbours.
One fine day, I woke up with a bad back ache. Went ahead with the usual routine not realising what it was. After a couple of days, had to go to the doctor (Dr. N) as the pain was worsening. One look and he diagnosed it as a slipped disc. After a lot of resting and self pitying I was kind of getting better. only to have a relapse in a couple of months. This time it was worse and I wasn't able to lie down or move without pain. Panic ridden, this time we went to an orthopaedic surgeon.
He clearly advised me to get admitted to have a surgery as there was no other way out of pain. He even gave me a drawing of where the screws would go and how the additional rod would help the spine. I asked the doctor what is the worse thing that would happen with the operation - he said partial paralysis. But he was kind enough to pacify me saying there are operations to reverse the paralysis as well!
I was alone at the hospital as we did not want to take the little one there. This diagnosis shocked me and I cried right there holding the MRI. But I was very clear about one thing - there was no way I was adding any kind of screws or rods to my back.
Then the next day, we went back to our Dr. N, who actually laughed it all out and asked me to not worry. He not only ruled out surgery, but also did not prescribe any medicines (his logic was, if I took pain killers how would I know if the pain was getting better!). Not the one to be easily convinced, I did check with a couple of doctor friends who shared the same opinion as Dr.N.
Our doctor also recommended a few simple exercises to begin with (which I could hardly do at that time). He was truly God sent at that time.
Slowly, very slowly, the pain subsided and I was improving. I remember the first time getting back to walking after all this. It wasn't easy but it was a start.
I was a "healthy" (no fat shaming okay) person all through my life. In my mid 20's,a bad food poisoning rocked the boat. Lost a lot of weight in a few months and have to admit, I was happy to fit into a lot of new dresses. I watched my diet to not gain all of it back. All that was for a couple of years. Then came marriage, a healthy pregnancy and post natal "care". Gained all of them back and more. I was now a "healthier" at home mom, busy taking care of my son. My only form of exercise at this point was slow walk around the apartment while busy gossiping with neighbours.
One fine day, I woke up with a bad back ache. Went ahead with the usual routine not realising what it was. After a couple of days, had to go to the doctor (Dr. N) as the pain was worsening. One look and he diagnosed it as a slipped disc. After a lot of resting and self pitying I was kind of getting better. only to have a relapse in a couple of months. This time it was worse and I wasn't able to lie down or move without pain. Panic ridden, this time we went to an orthopaedic surgeon.
He clearly advised me to get admitted to have a surgery as there was no other way out of pain. He even gave me a drawing of where the screws would go and how the additional rod would help the spine. I asked the doctor what is the worse thing that would happen with the operation - he said partial paralysis. But he was kind enough to pacify me saying there are operations to reverse the paralysis as well!
I was alone at the hospital as we did not want to take the little one there. This diagnosis shocked me and I cried right there holding the MRI. But I was very clear about one thing - there was no way I was adding any kind of screws or rods to my back.
Then the next day, we went back to our Dr. N, who actually laughed it all out and asked me to not worry. He not only ruled out surgery, but also did not prescribe any medicines (his logic was, if I took pain killers how would I know if the pain was getting better!). Not the one to be easily convinced, I did check with a couple of doctor friends who shared the same opinion as Dr.N.
Our doctor also recommended a few simple exercises to begin with (which I could hardly do at that time). He was truly God sent at that time.
Slowly, very slowly, the pain subsided and I was improving. I remember the first time getting back to walking after all this. It wasn't easy but it was a start.
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