sky's Cancer Blog

March 23, 2007

A seemingly innocuous back pain

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Around the time I was celebrating the fifth anniversary of my diagnosis, I began to experience lower back pain. I didn’t think anything of it. I just thought I had pulled a muscle or something.

The pain came and went but everytime it came, it grew worse until I could barely lift my right leg. I still thought it was nothing major, a pulled disc or something.

In September, I received word that my father was in the hospital, so I flew home to be with my family. I ended up staying a full month because he passed away not long after I got home. I was, however, grateful that I was there to see him before he died.

During that time, the back pain kept getting worse and the muscle spasms were excruciating. After I got back, I went to see a chiropractor. The treatments helped a bit but the pain persisted.

The Monday morning after Thanksgiving weekend, I woke up in excruciating pain. I could barely get out of bed. My best friend and I decided to go to ER. After some tests, the doctor thought I needed to see an orthopedic doctor so she was writing up a referral, but then she decided that, considering my history, to order a CT scan of my back.

The CT scan showed cancer lesions on my T12 vertebra and on my right hip joint. The lesions on the vertebra were so big that it eventually chipped and that was why I was in so much pain.

I was in surgery the following week to replace the vertebra with a bone graft. The oncologist thought radiation would take care of the right hip joint as well as the cancer cells that were present on the T11 and T13 vertebrae.

So how am I doing? I’m wearing a brace that I have to keep on me for about a year; radiation is over and done with; and I find out next week how I’m doing (I had a series of tests done this past Monday).

Emotionally I’m struggling. If not for the support of my family and friends, I don’t know where I would be. My life, better yet my world, has been reduced to a single room, when I was bedridden, and then expanded back again.

There are certain things I can’t do but here’s the thing: I’m grateful for what I have. If I die from this unrelenting disease, it won’t be because I gave up.

Posted on March 23, 2007 at 8:39:54 PM by Grace ( A seemingly innocuous back pain, 1 comment)

Sky – I am glad you are a fighter. Stay strong, we are all here fighting for you too.

Posted on March 24, 2007 at 7:45:06 AM by jill