Physiotherapy

Best thing that has happened to me thus far was being referred to my Pelvic Heath physio, I wish my bowel specialist had thought of that sooner! what a weight off my shoulders. After spending most of the appointment listing all my ailments we finally got to the assessment I had been sent to her for and brilliant news! yes I have a short pelvic floor but given my history, that is better than a long one and is much much better than what it appeared on my Functional MRI. No need at this stage for surgery or really even physiotherapy as meds and monitoring of diet should reduce risk of further complications and we even did a Bladder diary to rule out any systemic issues and that also came back really positive news, my bladder issues definitely stem from my bowel issues and if stay healthy I should have minimal issues going forward. She wasn't impressed with the outcome of my MRI as my second appointment with her was after my follow up appointment with surgeon and she still is concerned my nerve pain hasnt been addressed and may be contributing to other abdominal pain her and I have been discussing, she was nice enough to refer me to someone she works with that she believes could benefit me in some way with a plan for my Spondylosisthesis and getting more cardio/movement and reduce my pain and fatigue. Yay, a win!

So ultimately this is where I feel like I should be now, at the point where surgery at this stage is not yet necessary on my bowel, pelvis, uterus or my spine, money well spent on specialists I think and is all good news really!

I had my first appointment with my new physio this week, yes I now have two. Luckily they know each other well and are working together. She did look a little overwhelmed when she saw the size of my file and the notes my Pelvic Health physio sent over in preparation for my appointment.

So, not going to bore you with the entire appointment as I do have the tendency to ramble (ask anyone in my family, esp my DH), long story short the new physio wasnt impressed that the spinal surgeon only wants to see me back again if I decompensate "In medicine, decompensation is the functional deterioration of a previously working structure or system. Decompensation may occur due to fatigue, stress, illness, or old age. When a system is "compensated", it is able to function despite stressors or defects". In other words when i physically and mentally cant cope anymore. That means I have to find the best way to cope even better than I am now and the hopes are I can stay that way for many many years to come. I dont actually want surgery ever, its risky business!

My first physio appointment was trying to get everyone out and noted on what has led me to this point, still we are able to determine what is causing, or has caused my sciatica, physio commented that MRI's dont show nerve damage only nerve compression and even then not always detected so she has slight concern that I still could have compression, irritation or even a torn/damaged nerve somewhere. Potentially I could have damage further up in thoracic or even cervical spine as nerves are continuous from top to toe and the pain im experiencing is from extra strain on a already 'bothered' nerve so where ive been pushing on, maybe I should just take it easy. She gave me stretches to do only on my left side for now to gradually work on it, and work to do on my posture when sitting down for work each day, it has been challenging today but can see the benefits of being more 'aware' already. Just need to work on my posture at home now, as I type im cross-legged and slumped back on the desperately ergonomically lacking couch own, time to get my dream lazy-boy suite I think! Im going back in 2 weeks time to see her to do a bit more work on creating a long term plan for me as I am really in the chronic category when it comes to pain, i never have a pain level of 0... so not necessary for me to be in there every week as we are not going to find a magical fix. After that if Im doing ok and not worse we are looking to book me onto an 8 week program of physio targeting my core strength, then if successful I can start some proper exercise like getting back into Yoga, potentially doing some proper cardio, in the meantime my personal goal is for me to be out walking for at least 30 mins every two days.. does shopping count? haha.

I really feel lucky that I cope well...im part of a few social network groups and see people battling everyday...and that I have a great quality of life despite what is going on, it could be so much worse, never take the ability to 'get up and go' for granted. Truly grateful and hope it stays that way going forward.