It's been fine in the intervening years. Periodically I felt twinges along the sciatic nerve in my left leg, now that I knew to recognize it, but nothing serious. It's not clear what set it off this time; the long drive back from North Carolina won't have helped, apparently, though I felt nothing amiss, and it didn't get bad until a couple of days after that. But I thought that, painful as it was, it might lay me low for a week like the last time, and then let me return, if at first wincingly, to active life. That was quite a few weeks ago! Apparently you self-medicate unless it persists for more than two weeks, so I dosed myself with Ibuprofin and Tylenol PM (sleeping was uncomfortable even though I moved to a futon on the floor). Some friends took me to their chiropractor the first week, which seemed to help; I've tracked my fitful improvements by what it takes out of me to get to his office (71st Street) and back, though I'm still not sure what chiropractic is. We didn't let it prevent us from going to the opera, or on a scheduled trip to the Adirondacks, where soft forest paths proved friendlier than hard New York City sidewalks. Although I still had to stop fairly frequently to sit or crouch, I managed to walk each day - 2.5 miles once, which felt like a major achievement!
After three weeks and feeling much better if still leery of walking (and uncertain each day what the next day would bring), I went to see my GP; I told him I wasn't happy taking pain-killers several times a day. He prescribed some muscle relaxants and a steroid and recommended I make an appointment with a pain management specialist in a week, even if I was feeling better. A week of steroids and stretches later I was feeling better, and the pain management specialist confirmed there's no residual weakness in my leg joints. I should do stretches, perhaps see a physical therapist (as I did last time) and, in case anything's changed in three years, get a new MRI; even if not, it would be what was needed were these pain management strategies not working and we chose to take the next step, injections in the spine. MRI's scheduled for next week.
When it first hit, after days when I couldn't even leave the apartment, I went outside for short walks, and saw a different city. There are always people of all kinds on the streets here, and this time I sensed every step every one of them took. Many were labored, more than a few must have been painful. I remember something similar from last time, when climbing the stairs in the subway was the hardest thing and I noticed the many others for whom it was a hardship. I remember that often as I walk past people suffering the steps (most New York city stations have no elevators, a condition unlikely to change now that our embattled and long awaited congestion pricing scheme was halted in the eleventh hour). Often I slow my own steps down so as not to seem to be flaunting my relative ease of movement. This time I felt some gratitude for deepening my empathy - but also impatience to get on with it: I'd learned a lot, thank you very much. I realized I was still assuming that painful mobility was just a passing (if regretably recurring) phase for me, not a new stage of life. We'll see.
All this uncertainty and, yes, pain - there were days and nights when I couldn't stay in any position for long, or when none offered full relief - put all plans on hold. I was glad to have some books to read which involved movement (like this one and Tristan Gooley's natural navigation book How to Read a Tree) but also didn't require too much concentration: I suppose I was logie from pain meds much of the time. All planning for the next few weeks went out the window too. At some point my planned trip to the cloud forest in Costa Rica got shelved. Sort of a bummer, all in all - and fewer of the pleasant aha-moments I put aside for the blog. Hope it - and I - are up and running again soon!
[Update 6/17: I think I'm out of the woods! No meds, no pain, undisturbed sleep. It's not completely gone but I'm up and about, pretty much footloose and fancy free. Hope it lasts!]
