I'm alive and living well

[Knock, knock] Anybody home?
Wow, it's been so long! I haven't seen you in gawd, forever. How have you been? Me? I'm starting to kick ass now. No sign of cancer. Yep, not even a peep. Gained some weight unfortunately. Yep, that's from sitting on my butt all day and not doing anything. But I have an excuse for that. Yah, it's been my neck. See, a few months after all my treatments were over, I decided to take a nice long walk to celebrate my ability to take nice long walks. Then my legs started to vibrate and get all numb. Yah, I know, right after I started feeling better. So it kept vibrating for a few days, so I go in to the doctor to see what's up. He gets me to take a MRI of my lower back and sends me off to neurology. Neurologist says nothing looks unusual, and orders me a MRI of my upper back and neck, as well a spinal tap, in case there's some cancer in the nervous system. I did not like that last possibility.

Have ever seen a spinal tap? No? Well basically they take this needle. It's so large that when the doctor pulled it out, the guy in the next room feinted. Then they stick it not so gently into your spinal cord to extract spinal fluid. Not so fun. You know what else isn't so fun, the head exploding can't stop it headache I got afterwards. Yah, apparently I had a CFL leak, where the spinal cord fluid leaks out the hole from the spinal tap. It gives you a excruciating, head is going to explode and no amount of excedrin or coffee will help, type of pain. And lying down in bed helps alot, enough where it's barely tolerable. That basically means I couldn't sit or stand up for more than 5 seconds without hitting the floor in pain. Yep, I was pretty much bedridden for 2 days before I went into the ER for a blood patch. What's a blood patch you ask? Why that's where they take some of your blood, and inject it right into the spot they did the spinal tap, that way your own blood can coagulate and stop the leak.

After all of that the doctor tells me the MRI shows that I have a herniated disc in my neck, pushing against my spinal cord. That's what was causing all the issues with my legs, which I also started to feel in my hands. He then tells me not to do anything strenuous. No lifting heavy weights, no running, no jumping, no snowboarding, no racing, pretty much no anything that puts any type of stress on my neck or shoulders. My Physical Therapist told me to go to the gym and do some very light weights with the lat bar and row machine, along with a couple of neck exercises.

So basically I've been sitting on my butt doing almost nothing active. I did that for about 8 months, and basically replaced active things with video games and work. Wouldn't you know it, after 8 months, I develop tennis elbow. Doctor said stop using my right arm and let it rest.

Finally my necks is feeling good. Not quite enough to run, but enough to start lifting weights. Tennis elbow is feeling better now too, so I'm starting to slowly hit the weights with light to medium weights. I'm hitting the elliptical or walking more now as well. Trying to lose the 10 lbs I gained, and get myself back into some sort of shape.

Oh look at the time, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later, ok?