[mmglobal]

Those who know my story know that for years I was 100% low back pain and 0% leg and foot pain. In the year before my surgery (now 4.5 years ago), I had become 50% LBP and 50% foot pain. My foot pain had become as disabling as my LBP, my gait was altered and I often tripped over my left foot. When I went for my surgery, I thought I was going for the LBP pain and that my foot pain was due to already permanent nerve damage.

I was pleasantly surprised when my gait immediately returned to normal and my foot pain and numbness was reduced by 95%. What had been disabling was now just a minor annoyance. After my surgery, I immediately got off the opiates, neurontin, anti-depressants... all with little trouble. However, whenever I tried to stop the anti-inflammatories, my foot would hurt a little more and the numb spot on the bottom of my foot would get a little bigger.

I've been in good enough shape that I could forget to take the NSAIDs for a day or two, but I would always notice it after a couple of days. "Damn, my foot is hurting more, I hope I forgot to take the anti-inflammatories". I was always relieved to discover that I had forgotten them. So most of the 4.5 years since my surgery, I've taken Voltaren. (Bextra was the best, but it went off the market with the other NSAIDS when the heart-attack issue surfaced.)

In the past few months, I've seriously cut back on the Voltaren and have mostly stopped it. I'll go for weeks at a time without taking it and when my activity level gets high, I'll take it for a day or two. (Standing in the OR wearing lead aprons for hours is the worst.)

The reason I'm posting now is that I recently realized that I'm not taking Voltaren at all now and my foot is better than it has ever been since before the surgery. It still has some minor issues, but it's at such a low level, I feel stupid talking about it. However, this is interesting. Maria is in a period of remission. Others I know are feeling better than they have in years. Our issues are such a moving target with so many variables, it's tough to say why we have our setbacks or good periods.

All I know is that it seems that when we think that our symptoms are stable.. when we think we know everything about our issues... our bodies surprise us. I know people who were sure their surgeries were failed at 9 months post-op, only to have an amazing turn around at 10 months. I've seen another patient with a similar recovery at almost 2 years.

Spine is too complex... I wish that none of us lived in this spiney world that occupies too much of our time... but here we are. For many of us our diagnosis and path is an impossible task. For others we seem like a slam dunk. Most of the slam dunks go on to success, however, we know too many that don't.

OK... that's enough of my disjointed ramble. Anyone else out there with unexpected or unexplained changes in their symptoms?

Mark