Don't It Always Seem to Be

In 1970 I was a gangly 19 year old second year Physics student at Monash University. In that same year Joni Mitchell reminded us that "we don't know what we got till it's gone", Fifty years have now been and gone, but now I know what she was talking about.

When our backs are functioning normally, it is so easy to take it for granted. Simple tasks like putting on your shoes and socks we can do effortlessly. It is only when you have a problem with your back that you are reminded that absolutely nothing is easy any more.

Three days ago I awoke with a pain in my lower back. I have learned that, as you grow older, it is not uncommon to wake with a pain somewhere in your body that wasn't there when you went to bed. I must be getting more and more accident prone in my dreams as these sort of random nocturnal injuries are becoming more common.

I did not worry too much at first, however when the pain persisted for the entire day, my anxiety level went up steadily. Simply getting up out of my favourite chair became a painful and laborious exercise. I hoped that, since it had appeared out of nowhere while I slept, that it could disappear in the same way. It didn't.

The next morning the pain was still there. I spent much of the day sitting with a hot water bottle propped behind my lower back. We are now up to day 3 and the pain is still quite intense. About the only activity that I can do without stabbing pain, is walking. I am learning alternate procedures of getting in and out of the car. We had been planning to do a bike ride with some friends tomorrow, but that is now out of the question.

So what happens now ? Honestly I don't know.Read more