It’s been six months or so since my surgery. I’d be back to normal afterwards, they said.
What they didn’t say was that back to normal meant back to the time before your surgery when you had sciatic pain.
It’s appeared in the last few days. I got an inkling of it on Thursday, and Friday was confirmation. I can feel a pressure again. Sometimes standing up (or lying down) hurts. Not as badly as it used to, but that’s scant consolation right now. I had an uncomfortable night last night (you think I always get up at this time on a Saturday?); a little targeted prodding near the site of the surgery had some effect, which suggests it may be treatable (I’m speculating).
I can’t think of anything specific that might have brought it on, except maybe carrying a bit too much shopping from the car on Monday (god, couldn’t it have been something a bit more exciting?). There was no “Ow!” moment that I recall. Maybe my body has just noticed that I’m doing some work for Tarantella again, and associates Tarantella with sciatica.
So, what are my options?
- Do nothing. The typical-man approach that I took last time, which led to two-and-a-half years of pain, two hours of surgery, two months of recuperation and four months of painlessness. Probably not the best approach.
- Hit it with a hammer until it stops hurting. Tempting. But percussive maintenance is not, I think, a recognised treatment for spinal problems. Even so…
- Go back to the physiotherapist. There’s no guarantee that a physio will be able to fix it, but they are trained in the art of prodding backs so they might do a better job than me.
- Kill myself. Long term, we’re all dead. Shorter term, however, the gains are small and the losses considerable.
Since I want to (D) live, (B) walk, and (A) do something rather than nothing, looks like I’ll be (C) ringing the physio first thing on Monday.
Bah.
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