On Monday Kefford went with me to The Spine Institute to ask about my back issues. The first thing they did was take an x-ray of my back, while he was taking the pictures the x-ray tech commented on how straight my back is which I think is a good thing. I liked it because my Grandma had osteoporosis and since I am not a milk drinker I was always told I could follow her path and it has made me very nervous. But so far so good, I hope.
So what the Dr told me is that the disks between my lower spine, where the arrow is pointing in the above picture, are degenerating. The bottom one has completely left the building which is putting strain on the one right above it which is starting to degenerate and once that is gone it will strain the one above it and so on and so forth. I like that we have answers and can see what is going on but basically there is not much that can be done about it. He said we could do surgery to fuse some of the spine together but it is not a guarantee that it would help. Maybe someday down the road we can explore that option but for now light exercise like walking, jogging, light weights and physical therapy could be beneficial. I have been walking every day and hopefully that will help keep me feeling good. I was bummed leaving his office not having a clear path forward but hope that I can do things to help lessen the pain.
On the advice of our neighbors, the Lambs, we bought some Japanese food from Costco to try. Arin served her mission in Taiwan and Sean served in Japan. Kefford and Avynlea went over one day and had a long chat with them, the Lambs gave her advice and talked to her about what to expect on her mission. It was a good chat and Avynlea left feeling a bit better about what was to come.
Kefford was having me take a picture of the boxes instructions but my camera focused on him.
