A Glimpse into the Life of a Mom with a Herniated Disc

The sweetest daughter ever comes to me many times a day with something like, "Oh, mommy, you are in pain? I'm sorry, mom. I love you mom." "What is it mom? Is it sciatica? It's okay, mommy."

As I lay in bed in a pain-filled, drugged-out haze I have conversations with Jane like this: "I'm hungry." "Get a banana from on top of the fridge." "I can't reach." "Get a chair, push it to the counter, climb onto the counter, get the bananas, and bring it to me." Ten minutes later she came in triumphant with 2 bananas. Later on I gave her the tutorial on how to get into the pantry to reach the bread. Now if only I could teach Jack how to climb out of his crib, crawl to me, and begin nursing.

I have the Utah Department of Health pregnancy and nursing hotline number on speed dial. I have called at least half a dozen times to check on taking different drugs while nursing.

After a misdiagnosis and the prescribed muscle relaxants not helping at all I packed up the kids and made the very painful drive back to my doctor's office in Provo for a shot of toradol. I was told it would work in 15-30 minutes. Luckily I had to nurse Jack in the waiting room. As the minutes passed and my pain did not subside I started to panic. ( I started to bawl). I waited a full 35 minutes then went up to the receptionist and begged her to help me. I said "I canNOT drive home in pain like this only to call you guys to tell you the shot didn't work." So she fit me in with another doctor, as the first one I saw was not there. The new doc thought it might be a disc problem. He gave me prednisone to decrease the swelling of the disc. He also gave me a list of new exercises to try.

The next morning I wake up at 4 in a lot of pain. I down two percocet. Fall in and out of sleep. Jack woke up at 6:15. I step out of bed only to realize I can't put any weight on my leg. I manage to stumble down the hall, get Jack and nurse him. I army crawl back into my bed. My leg feels like it weighs 50 pounds, and feels all seized up like a gigantic charlie horse or something. I take one muscle relaxant, and two prednisone tabs. Matt only got home a couple hours earlier from work so I try to wait out the pain. An hour or more passes and no relief. I take two more percocet and call it quits. I call my doctor, tell them I can't stand on my leg. They tell me to go to the E.R. And the bawling begins. I feel awful to make Matt take me when he has a cold, is working 16 hour days and has barely had any sleep. I feel awful calling around trying to find someone who can watch our kids. Thankfully I got a hold of Candis who was immediately ready to help-ran to the store for formula, picked up our kids, and made me feel a thousand times better by assuring me she is happy to help. So Matt dresses me, lays me in the back of the car and takes me to the E.R. Eventually I get a shot of morphine. It helps a little. I wait for my MRI. Matt leaves for work. I have moments of wanting to freak out while in the MRI tube but manage to talk myself into keeping calm. The morphine wears off. They give me a shot of something "Ten times stronger than morphine." that didn't help at all. The doctor comes in, tells me I have a herniated disc between my last vertebrae and the top of my sacrum. He prescribes me percocet, (thanks, but it doesn't work) and tells me I will hear from my original doctor when he sets up an appointment for me to see a specialist. I call Candis, who comes to pick me up. We grab some dinner, get the kids and head to my house. As we approach I realize I don't have any house keys and I can bet 10 to 1 that Matt has locked both doors. We try just in case, then head back to Candis's house to wait 4 more hours for my helpful brother to drive to SLC, get the keys from Matt and drive them back here to Lehi.

What will today bring? I HOPE it brings a call from my doctor telling me my appointment with the specialist is very, very soon!