Hey there 28.... So far I don't think we are friends.

As I mentioned before I had an injury 9 weeks ago (I think...I'm loosing track of time now so it could have been 8 weeks ago). Regardless, it was a Wednesday and it happened to occur around the time of my 28th birthday. I think I gave a brief description HERE.

So it's kinda confusing and I have this natural reaction to suddenly have a massive head ache and want to fall asleep when I think about it or talk about it but I'll try to break it down the best I can.

- Spondylolisthesis
- Fracture in the Spine
- Degeneration of the Disc
- Nerve is pinched in the spine (in between the vertebras? the vertebrae and disc?) Just know it's pinched and there is pain.
- Someone else told me I have a pinched nerve in my flexor muscle?

Yuck.

So they gave me an oral steroid that did NOTHING. I'm back on an anti-anflamitory that makes it possible for me to walk. Which is nice. Come to find out you cannot do physical therapy for this pinched nerve business going on. You have one of two options:

1. Have a spinal injection of steroids into the spine. It's done in a surgery center, I'm sedated and they inject a steroid into my spine. Fun. Even better is I can only have this done three times in my life time into this one area. It wears off eventually- oh wait....that's IF it even works at all. The good news is it will get rid of the leg pain. Bad news is it won't get rid of the back pain. That is something I'm kinda stuck with....you know for life. So eventually option #2 happens. It's just a matter of when.

2. Spinal Surgery. The doctor goes in through my stomach, around my abdominal muscles and REMOVES my deformed vertebrae. He replaces it with a "cage". If that doesn't sound like enough fun he will then flip me over and puncture my back (his words, not mine) to place rods and screws into my body and screw/ bolt everything into place by using my existing bones...... Good news is I will never have back or leg pain again! Apparently. Where do I sign up???

So....I'm opting for the injection. Hopefully it will take. The good news is he said I can still run, even now, and I'm not doing any damage. So as long as I can work through the pain I'm fine. So I've been running this week and every time I do I want to die, but at least I'm out there I guess.

He probably doesn't realize I'm still pushing Georgia in the jogging stroller as I hack out 3 miles at Memorial (Did I mention she will be 6 next week?)...but hey those are just minor details. I have a marathon to prep for. So what if I can barely walk when I'm finished running- he said it's just my nerve.

Did I mention I don't like getting older so far?