MRI Results on My Back

Man did I cause a stir by Twittering about the fact I was on my way to get an MRI last week. Nobody really knew and it was one of those "Hey I got you an appointment and it's like NOW" appointments. I have been struggling with radiating pain and general low back pain. It was getting pretty bad.

Now I'm used to dealing with back pain. Most people have no idea how I struggle, but I still continue to bike but not much else because of it. I can't take the pounding of running, basketball, and such sports anymore. As much as I want to, and no matter how much I love them, that part of my past is just that, my past.

I've already discussed my results with a couple of people who say that it helps them understand my pain. Stuff that without explanation would make no sense to me. The one that my wife caught was "moderate bilateral neuroforaminal stenosis" which she explained to me perfectly and I believe is what is causing most of my pain. You can read about it on WikiAnswers HERE. Another thought is possible early onset of arthritis in the area. Great news there.

I had a "tube" MRI a few years ago that came back with a diagnosis of a spondylolisthesis. You will notice that with this new "Open" MRI that I am not diagnosed with that anymore which is a good thing. Unfortunately, I'm still dealing with the pain, but hey, life goes on and you'd be lucky to ever hear me complain when I'm out riding unless it's really bad.

Anyhow, I'm releasing ALL my info here for you, the experts, to analyze and comment on. Now you can't tell me that you don't know EVERYTHING that's going on in my life.

MRI Lumbar Spine
Technique: Multispin echo study of the lumbar spine obtained with images acquired in the sagittal and axial planes.

Positioning: Sitting neurtral, flexion, extension and standing.

FINDINGS:
T12-L1: The intervertebral disc is normal in morphology and signal characteristics. No evidence of disc herniation or bulge.

L1-2, L2-3 and L3-4 demonstrate minimal degenerative changes anteriorly. The thecal sac is normal.

L4-5: There is desiccation of the intervertebral disc. There is a small centeral protrustion. There is minimal impingement on the thecal sac. No focal disc herniations. There is moderate impingement into the bilateral neural foramina. Mild retrolesthesis L4 on L5 noted with flexion.

L5-S1: The intervertebral disc is normal in morphology and signal characteristics. No evidence of disc herniation or bulge. There is bilateral spondylolysis of L5. There is no evidence of spondyloisthesis. No subluxation in the standing position. Moderate bilateral neuroforaminal stenosis.

The vertebral bodies are unremarkable. No evidence of fracture or dislocation. The vetrebral bodies and posterior elements are well aligned.

The cauda equine and conus medullaris are normal in morphology and signal characteristics. No intrathecal masses or fluid collections.

IMPRESSION:
Mild degenerative disc disease as described. Spondylolysis of L5 without evidence of spondylolisthesis.


There you have it. Comment away with what you know/think you know.

Testing the Knee

The trip I made a trip to the coffee shop for a meeting about the MS Bike Ride and to suck up a little java before spin class proved that my knee didn't feel too bad. A decent push during spin class also showed no major ill effects of the knee. The only thing that seems to bother it is anything besides walking. I tried to jog towards the locker room and YOWZA...not so good. Back to walking and all was fine. Stairs are a little painful, but at least I can go up them like a normal person now and not like a 90 year old.

My "medical" opinion is that I bruised it pretty deep and it will just take a little while to heal. I did learn while lifting light that my elbow on that (left) side is also a little tender, but I think it too will be fine.

Seriously though, thanks for all your well wishes. Falling always sucks, and fellow cyclists know this. Once we get the kErnEl completely healed, may we all be done crashing for awhile!

Wasted Weekend

I had a horrible headache on and off all weekend. I went to band practice at church Saturday morning and by the time I got home, I knew that the planned afternoon ride with CDV was definitely off.

I had slept in until 9 in the morning (thank you dearest wife for diverting children for me), band practice 10-12, ate lunch, went back to bed until nearly 4:00. Went to the USD Basketball Doubleheader versus Minnesota State Mankato. Side note: congrats to the 4th ranked Men and Women for moving their respective records to 19-1. Got home, headache was back so the muscle relaxer was in order.

A decent night sleep and I woke up feeling great...until Church was over. I wanted to get a ride in to make up for Saturday. Not happening once again. Laura gave me a massage (it was FAB-U-LOUS) and I was perking up again. We went to a senior vocal recital at the University and then to the store. Shortly thereafter, I was struggling again. Luckily nothing was expected of me today, because a bump on a log was about all I was good for.

I have swallowed a small drugstore this weekend. This headache issue needs to disappear soon. Serious training needs to start NOW. I'll gladly give my headache to the first person who wants it.

The Best and Worst of Days

As mentioned over on Mr. Bite's blog I emailed him to see if he could go for a very late lunch. It's always good to talk to another obsessive cyclist to know that cycling all year round is very normal and efficient. Discussions ranged from winter wear, the coolness of the Surley Pugsley and how great it really is on snow, to the upcoming Gut Check '08.

What I failed to mention was that I was already suffering the mother of all headaches when we went to lunch. After lunch it only got worse. I started getting the "I'm-about-to-hurl-sweats". I struggled through until 4:00 and was heading back to Vermillion in much pain. I made it to the Worthing exit at which time I pulled off the ramp and went to the on ramp on the other side where I opened the door and spread multi-colored joy all over the pavement.

All better...away we go. Well, all better until about the Beresford exit. Nope, can't pull off here, it's too busy. Made it five more miles to the Wakonda/Alcester exit and repeated the door opening procedure to a much lesser extent.

All better...again. Well, to the Vermillion exit now. Called Laura and told her to meet me at fleet with the van as I didn't feel good enough to ride home. After loading the van and leaving fleet we had to stop so I could "call a couple more dinosaurs" by the recycling center. I wasn't quite finished yet as we had to stop a half block later.

I went home, slept for a couple hours and couldn't even hold down a couple pieces of toast or Sprite later on. Finally I gave up and went to bed. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling better and starving so I had my midnight snack.

Mr. Bite, if this was your plan to eliminate me via some kind of heinous plot, it damn near worked. However, I still made it to work today and I feel pretty good so you better up your poison dosages next time.

I hadn't thrown up in nearly five years and I can't say that I missed it.

The Weekend That Was

The weekend that was supposed to be relaxing. Laura was out of town, helping move her Grandma (also named Laura) back to Spearfish. It was just "me and the three" for a fun-filled weekend. For the most part, it started out that way. After a moderately lazy Saturday morning, I gave them a choice of cleaning for an hour or going to the USD Women's Basketball game. Tough choice there!

USD thumped 22nd ranked Nebraska-Kearney 84-51. Weekend is going great so far. A quick trip to the store with the kids to pick up some necessities was going good. Then it happened, I started to not feel too great. By the time it was time to leave the store, I cheated and grabbed some chicken from the deli. We got home, I threw the chicken on the table, laid down on the couch and let the kids to fend for themselves.

I tried to enjoy the Oklahoma victory over Missouri in the Big XII Championship (okay, I DID enjoy that), but I was miserable. I chose not to eat at all after a visit to the bathroom that I will not get into (this IS a family show).

Sunday we didn't go to church and I'm glad we didn't . I. FELT. HORRIBLE. By the time Laura made it back from Spearfish, I was starting to perk up a bit. Wishful thinking. Within a short time, I was back to square one. I would feel good for the first couple hours being awake and then miserable until I rested again.

Waking up this morning, fully expecting to be ready for work, it wasn't to be. Then to top it off, my oldest boy Austin has it now. I didn't think it was possible to mope around more than I when sick, but he's a pro.

To tell you that I'm feeling great would be far from the truth. My stomach just will not settle down. I rested most of the day (when I finally stopped checking work email). I plan on chilling out watching the Patriots/Ravens tonight if I can survive the whole game.

At any rate, that's the excitement at the Brady house. Here is hoping that YOU all are healthy and feeling well. I'm anxious to be over this funk and over my body aches and back on to some cold weather riding.

I Think I've Been Sassed!

I think I was sassed tonight. Let me check, yes I WAS sassed! Maybe somethings shouldn't be said in blogs, but then again that is half the fun of rambling on here.

I pick on Craig a little. Oh wait, maybe more than a little. Okay, okay, a LOT. Giving him crap for his "day off" on the Tour de Kota when he rode with the ladies (which got backlash from the ladies as well---I just can't win). One of the only times that I finally got a comment out of him via the blog was about whose gastric disturbances were nastier on the Tour (his were worse, mine had more casualties).

Moving on...remember the scene in Men In Black where the Bug (in his "Edgar Suit") says "Ever pull the wings off a fly? Care to see the fly get even?". Well, that night was tonight. After blogging about my struggles in training for the Gut Check, along with my newly acquired affliction of unknown origins, I received the inevitable phone call this evening from Craig. Highlights of the call (in no particular order):

1. Man, you're getting old
2. You do sound horrible
3. Maybe you should bag the Gut Check
4. Maybe we should do it as a team
5. Maybe we all should bag it and just go on a biking vacation
6. Through your blogging we see a chink in your armor.

#4 & #5 sound like AWESOME options, but I've told too many people and I'm way too committed this year to back out now. Next year maybe I can be persuaded to do something else, but don't mess with my Gut Check in 2007. I've got to do this, if for nobody else, for me. I just have to see if my body can handle this or not. If not, fine, I'll admit my defeat. It will make me MORE likely to try it again though! If I make it, mission accomplished (again, not in the GW Bush kinda "mission accomplished"). The chances of me walking away from the Gut Check, at least as an individual, would greatly increase if I can complete this solo in the alloted time.

So, sass away, I deserve it and I'll take it like a man. Oh, by the way, ill or not, I still got in 16 miles on the tandem with Laura tonight. I'm liking the tandem very much. With the wind at our backs Laura and I hammered the pedals for a short bit and hit 34.8 on the flats. Just wait until she gets stronger, this is going to be dangerous!

Is somebody trying to tell me something?

Forecast for today was 100 degrees. To be honest, I'm not sure it made it as I didn't get out of the house much after 11:00 am. I was, once again, going to try to ride at LEAST 100 miles and hopefully 150 or so, and I wanted them to be tough miles in preparation for the Gut Check. I got out on the road a little after 5:30 am and was intending to go to Wayne, NE which is about 55 miles away. I noticed when I left that I had a pretty harsh sore throat. The first 10 miles was "sinus cleansing" time, which isn't unusual, but this time it was a little worse than normal. As I approached the climbs of Nebraska, I was feeling "okay", not spectacular, but good enough to hit the rolls of Highway 15 south to Laurel.

One good surprise, the first six miles from Hwy 12 to the Hartington turn, which used to be moderately brutal with decent sized cracks is in the final stages of being resurfaced. It's as smooth as a baby's bottom now and I loved it! I rolled along at what felt like a snails pace into a slight wind and finally made my way to Laurel. When I stopped, it was only 8:00 in the morning but is was already nasty hot.

I went into the Cenex and grabbed a couple Gatorade Rain's and a breakfast burrito that was one of the best I've ever had at a gas station. Then, much like my last trip to Laurel and my conversations with the locals at the Pizza Ranch, a gentleman came right up and started talking to me asking most of the usual questions: "Where ya from?" "What time did you leave?" "How do you battle this heat?". Finally I invited him to sit down with me and we chatted and ate for about twenty minutes. I told him that I better get going and that I was abandoning my thoughts of going to Wayne as my sore throat seemed to be getting worse. He thought that was a good idea anyway with the heat.

I cruised on back home with the wind at my back and more downhill than up. Just before the bridge crossing into South Dakota I caught up with Holly S. and rode back the rest of the way with her.

Upon arrival, I sat around for a bit trying to decide if I could do a couple more loops to at least get 100 miles in. I decided that I was done for the day shortly thereafter as my throat was still hurting. I showered and then it was downhill from there. I was feeling worse. My head was stuffy, I didn't feel like moving, and just lacked energy. I tried to take a nap with Carson and that didn't go well as my head plugged up and couldn't breathe.

For the most part I was a slug on the couch watching movies with the kids today. Sometimes those are nice days, but not when you feel like I did today. I am probably feeling better now at 10:30pm that I have all day, and that still isn't saying much. All these recent attempts for long rides are being thwarted in one way or another. I have to wonder if these are all "signs" to give up on the Gut Check. Yeah well, I'm too stubborn so you know I have to give it a go at this point!

On another front, I just set up the kids road bike for Laura so she can ride to the bridge in the early morning. She is getting hooked and I love it!

Profile for today's ride is below. Other info from the Garmin can be found by clicking HERE.