Spondylodiscitis

How fast can you say this word?  I’ve gotten pretty good at it in the mean time.  Comes with practice.  Spondylodiscitis is the name of what has been keeping me bed tied and on drugs for the last 8 weeks and counting.  After 20 years of recurrent disk protrusions and related back trouble, this latest round, beginning last August, just didn’t seem to want to yield to my otherwise very adept therapist.  After initially trying to stave off the endoscopic surgery prescribed by a specialist in Munich to remove the core of two disks and patch up the protrusions, I finally surrendered to this “minor” surgical procedure 8 weeks ago.  Five days later I was home again reading Jonathan’s book, “Ink Heart,” getting myself acquainted with my new Macbook and generally taking it easy until the surgery wounds would heal, and I could get around to business as usual.  It was not to be so.  Although the surgery wounds did subside, another pain on the opposite side grew stronger with each day.  Several trips to both our family doctor and the surgeon in Munich, days and nights of pain that truly deserve the word excruciating, and disaster morphine reactions brought me back to the hospital in Munich.  Diagnosis: spinal infection of the vertebrae and disks, ie Spondylodiscitis.  Heavy dosages of antibiotics, lots of anti-inflammatory drugs, two weeks in the hospital, nine IV’s, bed rest and tons of patience. I was naive enough to think that after giving birth three times, I had had the worst behind me.  I had some of my darkest moments ever during those two weeks, and it was in many ways a total eye opener for me regarding certain facts of life I am prone to ignore.  Laying only on my sides, i was in no position to write, nor did I have the concentration to read.  I am allergic to day-time tv, so I had lots of time to observe and to think.  I am hoping that in the next few blog entries I will be able to share some of these reflections.

I’ve been home for two weeks now and am in considerably less pain.  I still need quite a large dose of patience, for it could be another couple of months before I am over this.  Thank God for my Macbook!