Updates from the Back Front

I keep talking about my back, and the problem does presumably originate there, but really the pain is in my leg. Specifically my hip, thigh, calf, ankle and foot. (Foot bone connected to the... ankle bone...) So all my docs and ER techs and physical therapists keep talking about my back and in my head I keep correcting them over and over: my leg, my leg, you mean my leg. 

Yesterday I had my first physical therapy session. After a somewhat confusing drive over - I'd thought the office was in Verona, and in fact it was in Bloomfield (the towns go Verona, Montclair, Glenridge, Bloomfield) I filled out all the paperwork and met with the head therapist. He got the rundown of my symptoms and treatments, and when I mentioned the steroids he said, 'You mean the methyl-prednisone? The 21 pack? Yeah, I'm gonna try that too. I threw out my back in exactly the same place as you did this weekend playing golf. Man the pain is intense! Now I know what all my patients have been talking about!' 

Um.

Ok.

I let it slide, because at least NOW he's sympathetic, and met a rather beefy gentleman who was going to guide me through stuff that day. I got 20 minutes of tens unit treatment, which is patches that administer teeny tiny electric shocks to your muscles, and then some ultrasound treatment. Then I got a sheet of exermacises, and he checked off which ones to do and which ones not to do. (McKinsey: yes. Williams: no. Good to know, right?)

I'll be going three times a week for however long I need to. I tried to get some guidance on what I should and shouldn't do movement-wise in general. Their philosophy is, if something makes the pain worse, don't do it. 

So this morning I walked to my car and drove to CVS. The walk to my car was really hard. My calf was stinging and burning, and I had to go super slowly and take lots of breaks. I got in my car, and then I got right back out again and leaned for a minute. Then I got back in and drove, and it hurt, but not too badly. Then walking in CVS was ok, and driving back was ok, and then walking from my car to my apartment was better. So, it seems like once I get everything warmed up it's not making things worse to walk. This is a huge relief to me. I live for the day when I can once again walk to Raymond's and have orange ginger pancakes. (I miss you, pancakes! Don't forget me!)