Health Update

Current status:
- standing: can stand normally for a short while (a few minutes)
- walking: about 5 minutes or 1 short block, on a good day, without pain. Then my leg starts hurting and my gait becomes less symmetrical and I start putting weight on the cane.
- biking: to avoid falling (very bad) given that i have a weak leg, I cannot be on busy streets and I must have a curb to stop/start. Starting from a standstill, with good foot on the ground, is dicey. Mounting and dismounting the bike is also dicey.
- driving: no can do. Weak leg still not ready to use the clutch in my manual transmission auto.
- swimming: no can do. Painful to be on my stomach.
- carrying or lifting things: nothing remotely heavy. A thick book in my bike bag is probably the max I should carry.

- working: I just got clearance to work part time, up to 2 hrs/day, as pain permits.

Thus, I am still fairly house-bound, and often need to be horizontal. (Once I am in pain, the best way to get it to dissipate is to lie down.)


Medical Details:

I am just home from my appointment with the physiologist. The upshot:

The cortisone shots I received 3 weeks ago have not been sufficient. I have two nerves impacted by my disc, and she thinks one of them is now doing ok (L4), but the other (L3) is not.

my choices seem to be additional cortisone shot(s) or surgery. My brother the doc, who readily admits this is not his area, suggested a treatment where they inject an enzyme into the disc in question to speed up the dissolving of the material pressing on the nerve. The physiologist and I looked this up in google. The enzyme my brother mentioned is a form of papaya juice, which is something the physiologist had talked about. But: it's no longer approved by the FDA as of many years ago.

I have chosen to have additional cortisone shots, since surgery isn't really what I want. I may get a second opinion from a surgeon ... but surgeons tend to believe surgery is a good solution. Unfortunately, I couldn't get on the schedule for shots until July 22, which is two weeks away.

I also couldn't get a physical therapy appointment before this Friday ... so I'm starting p.t. on Friday.