The start of my journey.  There are more pages in the drop down portion of the menu that will give each stage of this discovery journey.

Since I do not know how long I have had the Tarlov Cysts (3 so far) I can’t honestly tell you where the journey began.  I do know that I have caused trauma to my tailbone area.  Several years ago I was cheating and sitting on a step stool trying to pull some stubborn grass out of a flower bed.  The hand rake I was using broke.  The rake part stayed in the ground, and the handle and I went flying backward.  Yes, backward, over the top of the stool and one of the legs ended up completely under my rear.  The pain was so strong that I literally saw stars.  Being embarrassed and in my front yard, I just hopped back up and cried.  The next time I remember doing “damage” to the tail bone was going up stairs.  I was climbing over a child’s (doggie) gate and slipped.  No, I did not land on the gate.  Where I settled  was on the corner of the hand rail stabbing my tailbone area again.  I was inside and no one but the dog saw me so I bawled, but I did not sit down.  There have been several such incidents in my life; and no, I refuse to think of myself as a klutz, but I think I’m as graceful as a ballerina.  It’s not in how you fall, it is in how you keep the show going, make that recovery BIG!

But what had me seeking the doctor’s expertise is the winter [2013-2014] I could not recover from shoveling ice off of my deck.  Thus, the journey of recovery begins.

The family doctor put me on muscle relaxers and told me to take Naproxen.  I did, but that only shorten my temper and did nothing for me.  The relaxer she gave me has that effect on my system.  (Remember I’m graceful and I’m also sweet natured.)  After going back to see her and telling her that that wasn’t working, she orders an MRI.  Boy, what fun that was!  I laid on an ice cold metal table without moving for close to an hour.  The poor assistant had to dry my eyes and help me up,  He was even sweet enough to guide my feet into my slide on shoes. Of course when you have an MRI you can’t have metal on your clothes, so no bra.  Let me tell you, I could not figure out how to get it back on after the test.  So, I drove all the way home with it nicely tucked into my purse.  I was driving a small car at the time and literally fell into the seat, then when I got home ….. I took my time to open the door and get out.  It literally took me having to lift my left leg over the door frame and then the right.  Being short, my seat is very close to the steering wheel, I didn’t even have the strength to push the seat back to help.  Yes, the steering wheel did stay in tack when I used it to pull and push myself in and out of the car.  All this let me know that I really had a problem.  Not just pulled muscles.

A week later I get a call from the doctor’s office.  She wants me to do physical therapy.  My MRI results show a slight irritation in the lower L and upper S area of the spine.  She didn’t give me more than that and I didn’t think to ask what exactly the irritations were.  I was learning, so don’t jump on my back about not informing myself.

Later for the physical therapy……

What is so funny, and sad, about the whole time of the above, I don’t think anyone listened to my description of my “pain”.   When asked to rate my pain, I told her that I couldn’t truly rate it since I had burned my hands and feet with grease that was close to 400 degrees.  I also told her that the “pain” was nothing like that but closer to child birth.  The pain felt like I had a  “funny” bone in my tail bone area and that it is constantly being hit.  (Yep here’s the name of my blog again.)  Not a bruise, not a soreness; but a tingling, stinging type of discomfort.  Also, the discomfort went down my legs and was bothering my feet.  Now, I’m not a doctor but I don’t think that is muscle related.

I hope you continue to read about my journey, there are several more pages under the drop down tab of  “My Journey”.