Life with a hernia

Since the second half of July I’m confined to being at home. I already had backpains for quite some time, but that day it was worse than ever and I decided to stay at home. Not long after that, the physio-therapist, my GP and the neurologist at the hospital confirmed what I feared: a hernia. That means that the soft disc between two vertebrea has moved out of place and is pressing against one or more nerves.

In the past a hernia was mostly immediately treated with a surgery: remove the disc and if necessary lock the enclosing vertebrea in place (with rods and screws). This is no longer the case. The doctors want you to rest, to do certain exercises and to mind your posture (sit straight, walk straight, lift things with a straight back, and absolutely no bending). For me that already means about 6 weeks of being at home. Doing the exercises, doing the occassional walk outside (when the weather allows me to do so), doing naps a couple of times a day.

I wear contacts. Doing a nap several times a time would mean taking the things out and putting them in solution. Take a nap. Wake up. Put the lenses back in. It’s okay if you do that once a day, but several times a day is a pain. Not in the back fortunately, but very close to it 😉 So since being at home, I wear my glasses. That’s okay, but it has some disadvantages. Try peeling an onion. Or looking from the corner of your eye. Walking in the rain. Taking some food out of the steaming-oven.

Today I picked up a new set of lenses. It took about 5 seconds to adjust, but man….this is a big improvement. Being at home suddenly feels just a little less like a punishment. I know, it’s just a simple thing. But now you try to be in your home for about 6 weeks. You can’t sit very long. You can’t sleep all day (muscles need exercises). Exercising is limited to what you are allowed to do. Not too much! Just what seems like a little improvement is a big improvement to me.

I don’t know if it was my state of mind or something physical, but today was a reasonably good day. Not too much pain. No painkillers needed. Let’s hope things will stay this way.