Not again...

About 3.5, 4 years ago, I went through a period where I experienced severe lower back pain. It was to the point where I would be crawling on the ground in pain because I couldn't stand up or walk without stabbing pains shooting down my back and literally taking my breath away. I remember one night in particular. I was lying in bed and B walked into the bedroom. As he walked in he asked me, "How come I hear so much sniffing?". It was because I was crying from all the pain I was having and because I didn't know what was causing it nor did I know how to stop it. After countless visits to the doctor, physical therapist, an MRI and x-rays, there was no explanation to the pain I was experiencing. Then suddenly one day, the symptoms disappeared as suddenly as they appeared. Needless to say, I was relieved that I was "cured" of whatever was plaguing me over the past couple months.

Fast forward to today. I planned to head to the grocery store before the large Thanksgiving crowds stormed the shelves so I hopped into the shower around 8:15. I turned off the water and grabbed my towel. As I was drying my back, I reached down to start on my right leg and as I came back up...BAM! A lightening bolt of pain shot down my back taking my breath away. I grabbed onto the shower ledge and yelped in pain. "What the heck was that?!" I thought to myself. I stood there for a second catching my breath and when I thought it was safe I started to bend over again to see if the pain would repeat. Yep. I knew I couldn't continue drying myself off so I hurried to wrap the towel around me and I started to exit the shower. I could barely move without pain radiating through my body. Then I realized that I was feeling faint so I walked to the bed where I sat for a few moments thinking of what to do next. As I sat there I could here my son playing happily in his Johnny Jump Up just feet away. I thought, "How am I going to take care of him like this?" I called B and being that he hadn't made it to work yet, he turned around and started home. After I hung up the phone I walked into the bathroom to put some clothes on. Still feeling faint, I walked to the toilet and sat down. After a minute or so I got up to finish putting my pajamas back on and as I walked towards the sink I looked at myself in the mirror and my face was completely white. I then noticed that my eyes were beginning to form fuzzy clouds around the outsides of my vision and I knew I was close to passing out. I walked quickly to the bed where I laid down on my stomach. What was happening? Not only was I having awful pain in my back but I was almost losing consciousness. I couldn't wait for B to get home. Finally after several minutes I rolled to my back and laid that way for a bit longer and eventually made my way to a sitting position. I was beginning to feel a bit better so I finished putting my clothes on and B arrived.

While my back was still aching I didn't feel faint any longer so I continued getting ready and sat on the couch with a heating pad and took some motrin. Finally I was beginning to feel better but my back still didn't feel normal. I had to make it to the grocery store so B drove me and together we got the job done. I remembered that I was scheduled to work that night and so I decided that once I got home I would lay down and rest. I left for work around 4:30 and my shift ended at 9:45. The entire night I was feeling pretty good except for a little bit of time after my break. When I was driving home I decided to stop at Taco Bell for some dinner and it was at that point where another wave of pain shot down my back. When I finally got home I could barely get myself out of the car. Walking was torture. Tears poured down my cheeks and I knocked on the door. B let me in and noticing my emotion immediately took care of me. He got me some pain reliever and turned on my heating pad. He then began looking on the internet for doctors who treat back problems. He was so sweet. He also helped me get up off the couch and walk around from point A to point B.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do now. I guess I'm not really cured after all. I hope that I can spend Thanksgiving with my family and not with my bed and pillow. I'm really bummed. I just can't believe it's back and I have no idea where to start.