Back Pain and "the Protocol" -My Multiple Myeloma Journey (Part I)
40th Birthday Celebration
January 7th, 2017, Happy birthday to me! It was my 40th birthday and that morning my back “snapped, crackled, and popped” a little differently than ever before, but it was a day to celebrate so I didn’t think anything of it except “I am officially old”.
I was in Orlando, Florida with my family ready to celebrate the big 4-0. We had all of the itinerary planned out for the weekend. Dinner at the Yardhouse by the Orlando Eye, a visit to Old Town in Kissimmee, Cirque du Soleil in Disney Springs along with another dinner in Bongos, and on Sunday a visit to the "Boston Lobster feast:, one of my father’s favorite all you can eat seafood places. (if you are wondering yes, my family likes to party.)
Everything went perfectly and we had a wonderful time together, however, little did I know what the future had in store for me.
Special Visit, Must Keep Going
Along came April and we received two special guests, my mother-in-law, and her son. It had been 2 years since we had last seen them, so off we went to Disneyworld and all of its parks in Orlando. Since this was such a special moment, I decided to take our larger digital camera to capturer some amazing photos.
The entire trip I would feel a constant pain in my back that was not a typical discomfort from carrying a camera around, but again I just pushed through by taking some Advil at night. Until that one day….
The Push I Needed to See a Doctor
Memorial Day weekend May 2017. A coworker of my wife was moving to San Diego from Miami and was selling a large Plasma TV (around 80 inches) cheap so I decided to buy it for my sister, all we had to do was pick it up.
We first hung out and had dinner at a local bar to say our goodbyes. Afterwards, we walked to his apartment to load up the TV, in my mind I am thinking a quick 10 minutes and done. As soon as we picked it up, I felt a lower back spasm and pain unlike I had ever felt before. We managed to load it into a cart and bring it to the car. When we lifted the plasma to load it into the car, again this spasm began, I held on as long as I could and we were able to load it. I believe that the only reason I did not feel the full pain that night was because we had some drinks and CBD. So as much as it hurt, the pain was reduced and I was able to drive home.
The following morning, I walked to the bathroom to brush my teeth and this spasm hit me again. I fell to the floor and could not move, because if I did it would react again. Luckily my wife was home and she handed me some Advil and I waited on the floor in a curled-up position until I could get up again.
As a Gen-X male, it is normal for us to never go to the doctor until something is wrong, and this pain finally pushed me to go to Urgent Care. The “protocol” had begun, and the doctor handed me a prescription for a muscle relaxer and ibuprofen.
I felt better, but I scheduled an appointment with a primary care doctor to investigate what was going on. She requested some X-ray images so off I went.
About a week later, I went to the follow-up appointment. She saw me in a hurry and said “I looked at the images and it’s no bueno”. She suspected that I had some type of spinal arthritis and handed me a list of about five neurosurgeons. I chose the one I believed would be the best fit, a future blessing I was not aware of, you see I believe “Everything happens for a reason” and will write an article about the many life situations that have happened that I did not understand in the moment, however, now with a broader view I see it.
I called to make an appointment, but to my surprise, the secretary stated that before I spoke to a neurosurgeon, she would have me go to a back specialist. I had to wait about 4 weeks but I finally saw the specialist. He asked for a second set of X-rays so off I went again.
Arthritis and Spondylolistheses?
For some weeks I felt fine. I was going to the gym, getting massages, and we booked a Disney visit to see the Halloween decorations, something I had been wanting to do for a while and had never seen before.
A week before we left, I had the follow-up appointment and he concluded that I had “spondylolistheses” (yeah, I get some weird things) in my lower back, which in short means I have one vertebra moved slightly forward which causes some discomfort. In addition, he mentioned I had some back arthritis and issues with the cartilage in between my discs and this was causing the pain in my upper back. He handed me a prescription for a steroid that was to be taken for 4 or 5 days and he said this should resolve everything.
The "Big Apple" is on my Back!
In November 2017, we traveled to New York to enjoy Thanksgiving with a friend, tour the city, and its enjoy the Christmas decorations, my wife's first time in the Big Apple.
On the first day, my friend generously picked us up from the airport and started driving us around Queens, the area he had grown up in. When we were younger and in Chile we would always compare which city was tougher, New Orleans or New York, of course I always said NOLA, it has been in the top 10 in crime since I can remember.
That night we went out to a bar where he DJs to have a bite to eat and way too many drinks. Unfortunately, we had not eaten much and drank heavily, and there are consequences to that. My wife and I "got sick: all night, taking turns in the bathroom until around 6 a.m.. Needless to say, Thanksgiving Day was a bit of a blur. It was a great event even though we were all zombies from the night of partying.
After a couple of days at my friend’s house, we headed to our hotel in Manhattan to start wandering, after all, it was my wife’s first time in the Big Apple, and there was lots to see. However, something was off. A huge lump appeared on my back that looked like a medium size apple, and it was hurting. (What I believe happened here is that the night of alcohol had lowered my defenses to a minimum and this activated something that was in my body) I have a high pain tolerance, so as always I took a 500mg aspirin and we continued touring the next few days. We had an amazing time and I highly recommend that you add going to New York for Christmas to your bucket list.
Once back in Miami, I scheduled a doctor’s visit, and he suggested an MRI (finally). It was the end of the year, so I thought to myself “I will get it done after the holidays and use next year’s deductible while I am at it”.
Christmas was great, but on New Year’s night I was in pain, but my family really enjoys going out on New Year’s so I just took the pain.
For my birthday we went to Epcot in Disney and again I spent many days just pushing through the pain. In between the festivities, I was going to a chiropractor, getting massages, doing some yoga, and lifting weights. But nothing was helping and I still had this lump in my back.
Where you in an Accident?
On January 26th I finally went for my MRI, luckily, I found a place that had a standing MRI machine. I do not think I could have laid down on a hard surface, the pain was hard to control. I entered the stand-up machine but I had to stop the technician after about 10 minutes due to the pain. I was prepared. I would always carry a bottle of Biofreeze anywhere I went, is is the only over-the-counter spray that would give me relief fast.
I sprayed my back and completed the MRI. When the scan finished, the technician walked up to me pale, as if she had seen a ghost. She asked “Have you been in an accident?”, I innocently and in a relaxed manner replied, “no why”. She just continued to stare and said “I will send the doctor the results and he will reach out to you.”
The next day while at work, the doctor called me and said “I made an appointment with the neurosurgeon for Monday, January 30th, I confirmed I would be there. My "common sense mind" thought, "if a doctor calls you the next day after an exam that usually takes 5 or more days to get a result from, something isn't right. I still had hopes this was some type of disc hernia, but I was in for a surprise….
Part II coming soon... 