I?ll be back, but it might take longer than I thought
I found out Tuesday of last week that I?ve been living with an untreated broken back for the past fifty-five years. This came as somewhat a surprise to me considering the gaggle of Orthopedists, medical professionals and one Chiropractor who told me I had some problems but it was not fractured. This has done little to enhance my opinion of doctor?s infallibility.
In the Antarctic Spring of 1964 I was one of the Air Cargo guys at Williams Field, McMurdo Station. I was cleaning and prepping a 20 ton cargo sled to load it for McMurdo. I did a classic slip and fall, cleared the sled deck and hit the tongue of the sled with the small of my back. I knew I was hurt so I laid there for a while. When I got up I noticed I had broken the sled tongue. I didn?t see any possibility that I hadn?t broken my back. I made it back to my Jamesway (an insulated fabric temporary building) and went to bed intending to go to Medical the next day.
I must have slept around the clock because when I woke up I didn?t have any pain. I assumed I had been luckier than a human has a right to expect and forgot about it.
A month or so later I was setting pins at the bowling alley. I jumped down into the pit and felt the worst pain of my life up to that time. It felt like my spine had been struck by lightning. It was ?League Night? so I finished setting for the match.
Next morning at sick call a Corpsman told me we didn?t have a doctor and there was nothing he could do for me.
At my next duty station, NAS Memphis, I was in my back yard refinishing a .410 shotgun. I dropped the hammer on the ground and bent over to pick it up. It felt like I?d been shot in the back. Monday morning I was the first person in line at sick call. I sat in a folding chair until Noon and a corpsman came out and announced they weren?t taking anyone else today. If you still need medical care in the morning come back at 0700.
That wasn?t what I wanted to hear. I was surprised that I stood up and I heard myself throwing a world class temper tantrum. I threw my rattle like a pissed off one year old. A Lieutenant Commander Doctor came out to get me under control and discipline me. He was my next victim. He invited me into his office and apologized for about ten minutes and sent me to the hospital.
The hospital assigned me to a four striper Navy Captain with four Lieutenants working for him. One of the Lieutenants said I had a birth defect. Another one told me my back definitely wasn?t broken but I should expect to be in a wheelchair before I was 40.
By the time I got to talk with the Captain I guess I was looking pretty depressed because he asked me what was wrong. I told him my back hurt. He said no, he was talking about the long face. I told him I make my living with my back and now I find out I?m not going to have a back.
He told me I couldn?t pay any attention to what these young kids tell me. He said we send them to school, put them in uniform and call them doctors and they think they know everything.
After he told me what he thought was wrong with my back, he said he had an operation he could do and was willing to do it if I wanted him to, but there was little or no chance it would help and was likely to cripple me. I told him I didn?t like those odds.
He said the only thing he could offer me was severance pay. At the time I was an E-6 with about eight years in. I?m no mental giant, but it didn?t take me very long to figure out eight months of E-6 pay wouldn?t last very long. I told him I would consider temporary medical retirement but if he tried to give me severance pay I would fight him until my last breath.
He told me he was willing to keep me in the Navy, but if I started trying to get medical relief from the Navy somebody would force me to take severance pay and he had no control over that. I asked him if he could at least give me something for the pain. He said ?that pain is there for a reason and I don?t want to make your condition worse?.
I went to see a civilian Chiropractor. He told me my left leg was a quarter inch shorter than my right leg and gave me the name of a shoe shop that would fix me right up.
My next duty station was a ship home ported at Rota Spain. I didn?t have any back problems the entire time I was there. That?s when I decided climate really does affect bone pain.
Somehow I made it to retirement without letting my back pain flare-ups affect my performance. I can pretty much depend on a periodic tour of hell that lasts for two to six weeks. This time has been over three months and not showing any signs of easing up.
My family practice doctor got me an appointment with an Orthopedist in Durham. I told him I was there to finally, after all these years, find out exactly what was wrong with my back and if there was anything short of surgery or narcotics that could be done to fix it.
I explained to him that at my age I don?t want to spend the time I have left recovering from surgery or in physical or drug rehab. He agreed that that made sense.
He showed me the X-rays and started at the top explaining what we were looking at. As an ?oh-by-the-way? he said ?of course you know about these two fractures?. Well, now I do. He also told me I have arthritis.
I asked him if there was anything he could do. He said unfortunately with the restrictions I put on him there isn?t much. He said he had a procedure that usually works, but as with all doctors he doesn?t give guarantees. He sold me a back brace and recommended that I stop breaking my back.
(If you think this post is too long, you should see it from this end. It took me three sittings and considerable pain to finish it.)
In the Antarctic Spring of 1964 I was one of the Air Cargo guys at Williams Field, McMurdo Station. I was cleaning and prepping a 20 ton cargo sled to load it for McMurdo. I did a classic slip and fall, cleared the sled deck and hit the tongue of the sled with the small of my back. I knew I was hurt so I laid there for a while. When I got up I noticed I had broken the sled tongue. I didn?t see any possibility that I hadn?t broken my back. I made it back to my Jamesway (an insulated fabric temporary building) and went to bed intending to go to Medical the next day.
I must have slept around the clock because when I woke up I didn?t have any pain. I assumed I had been luckier than a human has a right to expect and forgot about it.
A month or so later I was setting pins at the bowling alley. I jumped down into the pit and felt the worst pain of my life up to that time. It felt like my spine had been struck by lightning. It was ?League Night? so I finished setting for the match.
Next morning at sick call a Corpsman told me we didn?t have a doctor and there was nothing he could do for me.
At my next duty station, NAS Memphis, I was in my back yard refinishing a .410 shotgun. I dropped the hammer on the ground and bent over to pick it up. It felt like I?d been shot in the back. Monday morning I was the first person in line at sick call. I sat in a folding chair until Noon and a corpsman came out and announced they weren?t taking anyone else today. If you still need medical care in the morning come back at 0700.
That wasn?t what I wanted to hear. I was surprised that I stood up and I heard myself throwing a world class temper tantrum. I threw my rattle like a pissed off one year old. A Lieutenant Commander Doctor came out to get me under control and discipline me. He was my next victim. He invited me into his office and apologized for about ten minutes and sent me to the hospital.
The hospital assigned me to a four striper Navy Captain with four Lieutenants working for him. One of the Lieutenants said I had a birth defect. Another one told me my back definitely wasn?t broken but I should expect to be in a wheelchair before I was 40.
By the time I got to talk with the Captain I guess I was looking pretty depressed because he asked me what was wrong. I told him my back hurt. He said no, he was talking about the long face. I told him I make my living with my back and now I find out I?m not going to have a back.
He told me I couldn?t pay any attention to what these young kids tell me. He said we send them to school, put them in uniform and call them doctors and they think they know everything.
After he told me what he thought was wrong with my back, he said he had an operation he could do and was willing to do it if I wanted him to, but there was little or no chance it would help and was likely to cripple me. I told him I didn?t like those odds.
He said the only thing he could offer me was severance pay. At the time I was an E-6 with about eight years in. I?m no mental giant, but it didn?t take me very long to figure out eight months of E-6 pay wouldn?t last very long. I told him I would consider temporary medical retirement but if he tried to give me severance pay I would fight him until my last breath.
He told me he was willing to keep me in the Navy, but if I started trying to get medical relief from the Navy somebody would force me to take severance pay and he had no control over that. I asked him if he could at least give me something for the pain. He said ?that pain is there for a reason and I don?t want to make your condition worse?.
I went to see a civilian Chiropractor. He told me my left leg was a quarter inch shorter than my right leg and gave me the name of a shoe shop that would fix me right up.
My next duty station was a ship home ported at Rota Spain. I didn?t have any back problems the entire time I was there. That?s when I decided climate really does affect bone pain.
Somehow I made it to retirement without letting my back pain flare-ups affect my performance. I can pretty much depend on a periodic tour of hell that lasts for two to six weeks. This time has been over three months and not showing any signs of easing up.
My family practice doctor got me an appointment with an Orthopedist in Durham. I told him I was there to finally, after all these years, find out exactly what was wrong with my back and if there was anything short of surgery or narcotics that could be done to fix it.
I explained to him that at my age I don?t want to spend the time I have left recovering from surgery or in physical or drug rehab. He agreed that that made sense.
He showed me the X-rays and started at the top explaining what we were looking at. As an ?oh-by-the-way? he said ?of course you know about these two fractures?. Well, now I do. He also told me I have arthritis.
I asked him if there was anything he could do. He said unfortunately with the restrictions I put on him there isn?t much. He said he had a procedure that usually works, but as with all doctors he doesn?t give guarantees. He sold me a back brace and recommended that I stop breaking my back.
(If you think this post is too long, you should see it from this end. It took me three sittings and considerable pain to finish it.)
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Sorry to hear of your pain and VERY sorry to hear my government gave you this pain as a "thanks for your service".
Always puzzled by the drug addiction fear though. Maybe you watch too much fake news, or maybe you've had a med problem in the past and know your weaknesses.
Not judging either way.
Just can't understand why you would be concerned about becoming "addicted" to a substance when it could bring you some measure of lifelong relief.
We have been brainwashed to the point where we no longer differentiate between "addiction" and "dependence".
Speaking for myself, I'd worry about rehab AFTER I didn't need the comfort and improved quality of life provided by the medication.
In many cases, that is NEVER.
Best of luck to you though, James.0 -
Go with the painkillers, at least you have an option that in case you have to do something now short of going to the hospital. At the hospital they will give you xray, pain relief, and tell you to go home and live with it.
At some point you will have no choice but pain relief. Be glad that you could cope with it so long. Back pain is a b...., and as you know at times there is no choice but if you have the choice at hand and can not get to treatment, doctor, hospital, then you have some relief close at hand. It is an option, the others, none. I have made mine.
Good Luck0 -
Leave it to Navy doctors. Your story is like mine however mine in no where is as bad as what you had to go through.
When I was 16 I was into ski jumping. One weekend did a jump and fell. When I fell I heard a breaking sound and had a sore shoulder when I got up.
Went to doctor he said I had a sprained muscle put heat on it. Did that for a week and pain was still very strong.
Went to another Doctor who did an X-ray and found that I had fractured collar bone. They had to break and reset it.
I was supposed to go back to original DR for follow up. Went to his office and they said he is gone no longer worked there.
Fast forward, I joined the Navy at 17 to avoid draft. While at Boot camp my mother sent me article from local paper that original doctor who misdiagnosed the broken collar bone had joined the Navy and was stationed at Great Lakes.
Made sure I never went to Sick bay while in Boot camp.
I hope you can get some relieve and start feeling better.0 -
I read every word of your post. Back pain is strange; you can't see any deformity or injury but when bad it can take a strong man to his knees crying. BTDT, do not like it at all. 0 -
Good to hear from you James. You're doing what you think is best, hope you can find some relief and get back to action. 0 -
It?s good to hear from you, again, James. We were worried.
Sorry to hear about your misfortune. Unfortunately, something like that almost always turns to arthritis.
Folks who have never had back problems don?t know what it?s like to have a condition that follows you around for the rest of your life.0 -
So glad you checked in,but sure wish it was a better report. Best wishes for you. 0 -
So sorry to hear of your back trouble,James, but darn glad to see you posting. Nobody knew where you went, and many , including myself, were highly concerned. 0 -
JamesRK wrote:...considering the gaggle of Orthopedists, medical professionals and one Chiropractor who told me I had some problems but it was not fractured.
I would want a second opinion on what the doctor told you last week. All these other doctors didn't see anything but this one last week did????? Hmmmm.0 -
Glad to hear from you. I hope you find something that works for you 0 -
Wow, James, you've really persevered all these years! Hope you can get some relief!!!
As a friend of mine says; that's why they call the profession of doctoring "A PRACTICE"!0 -
As a person with significant chronic back pain I can literally relate to your issue. My back was significantly injured during a heart surgery procedure when they overspread my body cavity.
Besides that injury I have been trying to save my right leg for as long as I can - due to staff infections received when they put a knee replacement in the leg. They removed my first knee implant but failed to kill the infection before the second implant. They do not do a third.
I was not in the service so all this was civilian workmanship. I mention this because we are now at a stage where many doctors will not give you pain medication, and those that do will not give you enough to be of much comfort. The war on opiates, which like most all government failures is leaving chronic pain sufferers to live in hell because of the abusers who use drugs for a fix.
At the age of 71 I could care less if I was addicted yet I struggle every day with probably enough pain that would warrant putting a dog down.
My oldest brother had back injuries as well but did not seem to have a problem getting what he needed via the VA. Now that was a number of years ago but perhaps the VA may still be more lenient .. I hope you get some relief soon.0 -
when I broke my back in the navy on parachute ops, I knew it. you for fortunate. laying motionless in ft dix walson army hospital wasn't fun in 1981.
they found my boot footprint on the back of my helmet.... if that will tell you what it was like.
the fact that I was up and jumping again in 90 days was the miracle.
welcome to the broken back club.0 -
James, sorry to hear this. I know how bad it can be. Broke my back in six places. Have a cage, spinal fusion, pins, clips and cadaver parts in my back. I went until I could no longer walk, and my dad and wife had to drive me to the hospital. Today I am working with little pain and no pain meds. Surgery six years ago and Been off the opioids for two years now. Thank God. I was highly addicted to the percocets. Even though I had my wife regulate my meds, the craving was unreal. Best advice I can give you is, stay away from that crap. James, I wish you the best of luck my friend and I will keep you in my prayers. Oakie 0 -
Well that sounds pretty bad to me. I highly recommend going to a spine clinic, even if you have to pay out of pocket. Hope you can get some relief James. 0 -
Best of luck, James! Chronic pain of any kind is miserable to say the least. 0 -
Oakie - glad you no longer need the opiates. Withdrawal will send you through hell. I left the hospital after my injury using 240 mg a day. (that's not a typo). I managed to get off them and stay of them for a number of years.
I went through it once and never want to again. But as time passed my injury has forced me to go back on them. I am at a lot lower dosage but certain I would have at least a hard time to give them up, both pain wise and withdrawal wise. They are not a problem until you have to stop them, but they also require high dosages as time goes by.
Again I hope the OP can find relief somehow and without opiates. But one has to do what life forces you to sometimes.0 -
Glad to hear you're still with us James!
I'm quite familiar with horrible back/neck pain, and am actually going tomorrow AM for another cervical MRI to judge if it's time for neck surgery. I've been putting it off for years, but I've been getting mind numbing headaches, visual disturbances, extreme tinnitus, and can't even sleep for more than an hour or two at a time. These are all new issues for me, but they feel it's related to my neck problems.
Hope you find some relief buddy.0 -
Sorry to hear that but glad you are still kicking! 0 -
I'm so sorry you are in pain......anyone with back pain has my sympathy because I've had a few tiny spells that I had to deal with in the past. My small adventures with back issues have been just enough to make me realize how lucky I am that I haven't had to deal with anything major. If I find a duffel bag full of money I will take us all to Spain so we can enjoy the climate. I hope they get you fixed up so you aren't hurting very soon. 0 -
prayers 0
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