Overcoming Neck, Back, and Sciatic Nerve Pain One Step at a Time!
Well, TuffGuy and I are back at it, dealing with neck pain, back pain, and sciatica one step at a time! We started walking a couple of days ago after taking the winter off.
Wow are my legs sore!
I tried to walk with the little guy a few times when the weather first started to change, but being a short-haired dog, a Puggle, TuffGuy just wasn’t suited for the cold. Add to that, the fact that the salt and ice were tough on his paws, and I quickly realized I had to rethink my exercise program.
I had lost my workout partner!
A funny thing happened on my way to overcoming chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica…I got my life back!
As I started feeling better and eventually started walking, then finally exercising, I also started to think about working again. Anyone who thinks retirement is a good thing is nuts! Between the pain and the boredom…I was going bonkers! But every once in a while someone would still say, “Oh, I would love to be in your shoes! I’d fish and travel and do all sorts of things!”
Not!
I remember one trip I took, the girls were still playing soccer. We drove from Ohio to North Carolina for a huge tournament, the Raleigh Invitational Tournament.
I thought I was in Hell!
Very few times in my life have I experienced pain like that and I swore I would never travel like that again.
Back to the sectional!
But I tried!
I really thought my life was over, that for the next twenty or thirty years I was doomed to a life filled with pain, boredom, and Law and Order reruns.
I couldn’t read! How could I?
Between the chronically acute neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, and the pain medication, I was lucky to be able to concentrate on anything for more than a few minutes.
Read? Impossible!
One of the things I enjoyed most in life, after my family and my dogs, was reading. I hadn’t been able to read a book in years!
I really had no idea I would ever be able to work again!
Heck, I wasn’t so sure I would be able to walk more than a few feet without passing out ever again!
Exercise?
Work?
As they say in the movie Donnie Brasco:
“Fahget abaat it!”
Interestingly, as I first started walking, finally exercising, and then even jogging a bit, I began to believe it just might be possible to reclaim my life.
I imagine that? After 10 years of fighting for my life. Was it possible?
Over the past year I have come to believe it is not only possible and probable, in fact, it is a reality.
I can work again!
Starting slow, first helping others deal with the same chronic neck pain, back pain, and sciatica I was beginning to overcome, I branched off into other areas and, before I knew it I was busy again, making a living, rebuilding my life, building businesses!
However, when winter came and I lost my walking partner, combined with the demands of building businesses and rebuilding my life, I slacked off! In doing so, I gained back a few pounds…and so did TuffGuy!
TuffGuy & The Bad Back Guy: Shedding the Winter Weight!
I also noticed an achy feeling from time to time. No, nowhere near the acutely chronic pain I used to experience, but enough remind me that if I didn’t get my act together, get back in the gym, and start walking again, I would pay!
So, with the weather breaking and both TuffGuy and I in need a exercise…we have commenced to walk again. The first 2 nights we did 4.4 miles. Not bad for a guy who couldn’t get from the sectional to the bathroom without passing out in pain, literally, less than 2 years ago.
No kidding!
Permanently catheterized because my bladder didn’t work properly due to the pain, passing out daily and to the point that my wife was afraid to go to work and leave me, and taking enough Oxycontin and Fentanyl to kill a horse (hundreds of 80mg tablets and fentanyl lozenges prescribed monthly), I started by walking to the end of my driveway and back…with Connie’s help.
By the time the snow fell this past winter, TuffGuy and I were up to 7-8 miles a night; and, I was also working out, riding a recumbent bike and lifting weights (Yup!) in the gym every single day, six or seven days a week.
How great is that?
Interestingly, with the snow, the loss of my walking buddy, and the increasing demands on my time building my life, again, I started missing workouts at the gym. Walking was out, it was lonely without my buddy along side, and ultimately I was worried about taking a spill on the ice. As good as I was feeling, after a broken neck, 14 back operations, and a complete shoulder reconstruction (plates, screws, wires, the whole shabang!) , all it would take would be one fall.
So, ice skating, hockey, playing for the Cleveland Browns (well, maybe!), and eventually walking through the snow and ice were out.
I could have continued to go to the gym or even bumped up my workouts a bit…but I got busy, started seeing dollar signs, and forgot what had worked, what had been responsible for my ability to walk, exercise, and work again.
Dumb!
But we are all human, right?
Getting back to the story:
We have started walking again and, a guy who could barely make it out of bed two years ago, less than two years ago, went 4.4 miles his first night…little dog right beside me!
It felt great! Even the soreness felt great! Compared to chronic and acute neck pain, back pain, and sciatica, and all the complications that came with it, the soreness was almost as good as….
Well, almost as good as!
Finally, I want to apologize!
I know I have let my readers down and I will make it a point to keep you informed, offer tips and advice (anecdotal, of course), videos, and articles, here and at Neck Pain, Back Pain, and Sciatica Relief Strategies to help you reclaim your life, as well. It is do-able! It can be a reality for you too! If I can reclaim my life after all I have been through, you can too!
If you need help, want to walk, or whatever…just ask!
Contact me any time!
John
Professor John P. J. Zajaros, Sr., The Bad Back Guy
216-712-6526 (home)
440-821-7018 (cell)
Skype: johnzajaros1
johnz@ultimatebadbackstrategies.com
excellencepaidforward@gmail.com (personal email)
Link to this page
