L4-5 Spondylolisthesis

So, I've been experienceing low back pain since Christopher was about six months old. I always figured it was just the extra thirty pounds I carry, plus the extra 25 or 45 I also routinely heft about. My chiro called it "lumbar disfunction" but his treatments didn't help much, so I quit going. On bad days I would take Tylenol or Motrin, but mostly I just lived with it, blaming myself, and hoping I wasn't being a nag about my back.



Well, JR setup an orthopaedic eval for me, so we went in together when he went in for his post-op check-up. JR is healing nicely, no longer needs the neck brace or any pain meds, got his stiches out, and is reporting total and complete relief. I, however, have a bone spur in my L4-5, probably arthritic. So now I get to take arthritis meds, and they're going to do some physical therapy to stop any spur-induced slippage toward what might have become a real slipped disc.



I'm glad I went in. I'm glad it's not just that I'm fat and lazy. I'm glad the pain in my low back will diminish with once/daily pills and six weeks of specific exercise.