Went back to Dr. for MRI review

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Joined
Jan 7, 2015
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Location
Western North Carolina
My Car
Multiple Mustangs!
I have been suffering with lots of pain last couple years while trying to get garage in order. I actually cliched my teeth so hard I broke 6 of my upper teeth and having to do implants. I bite my lip until it bleeds quite often when working.

I had to stop working on the 72 Q vert the pain was just too much. Been doing work on console, wheel covers and buffing some trim pieces.

So I had MRI done last Friday and went back to my family Dr. yesterday to review the results. I knew it was not going to be good. I have worn out pretty much my whole back. Some areas worse than other but it is gone. One big area of concern is between # 5 & 6 I think. That is where the nerves go to my R.H. thumb and fore finger. It is almost to the point I will loose function of them. So I am waiting to hear from the surgeon they referred me to and send copy of MRI to Laser Spine in Florida also.

Pretty much cannot be fixed way too much damage. Just temp relief but nothing can stop it or reverse it. So I will probably be selling several cars in the near future. No reason to keep them if I cannot work on them and my son has zero interest. Might put a couple in MOM Mustang Owners Museum if they want and try to keep one or two to drive.

My other passion is Africa so sell cars and go walk in the bush of Africa.

I was never big on going to gym or exercise I just worked, lol. So keep in mind that your body is just like your car it has so many miles in it and then it wears out. I have taken couple friends for knee surgery that was caused by jogging. About the only exercise that helps the body is swimming and also riding a bike has much less impact on the joints.

So if you want to extend the years you have to be able to enjoy life please take care of what you have. Each time you lift too much or exercise you are wearing out those joints and they cannot be fixed back. Yes you need to do some exercise but choose it wisely.

I have heated my home with wood since the 1970's. cut the trees, split the cuts by hand and carried all those tons of wood. Probably not worth it.

So will get couple of opinions but I know too many that tried to get it fixed and just made it worse. You patch one area and then next fails.

This is why there will be so many old cars hitting the market in the next few years. All of us baby boomers are wearing out.

D

 
Sorry to hear this. Three pinched nerves in my neck so I sorta feel what you are going through.

Hang in there. Even with all the opioid scare, hydrocodone seems to help me.

I pinch nerves when I look down and bone to bone when I look up.

Another tip for people is not to keep looking down at your phone. It is not helping you. Lift your phone up to see it.

 
That sucks big-time, David.

I had surgery on my lower back last year, sciatica, pain down both legs, left leg would just quit working occasionally, usually in the back aisle at Lowe's and I would have to lean against something until it passed. I feel farly good, now, but it's temporary, fusion will be next. I'm trying to get one car done, is all.

I've exercised most of my life, didn't help the disks in my back, I'm 2 inches shorter than I was 20 years ago.

My thoughts and prayers are with you, let us know how things are going.

Whoever said grow old gracefully either hadn't tried it, or led a pampered life.

 
Hi David,

Sorry to hear about that. I'm not as old as some on here, but I have slowly been progressing from the age where you suffer the pains of stupid to the pains of time.

Gravity is our biggest enemy. That and supersize anything. Spent a few years climbing billboards (20ft to 120ft) and many years lugging heavy stuff around for work and pleasure.

I used to fight sciatic pain, had a limp for several years but I make a point of laying flat on my couch every night with my heels hooked on the arm. Gets the compression weight off the spine and puts a little traction from my feet to maybe mid back. No more sciatic issues.

Since your son is not interested in the car hobby, I just want to note that I am available for adoption.

 
Pain is intolerable especially when there is no relief or end to it. I just about function on 5 differant painkillers including opiods. Its a balancing act. You take too many painkillers and you cant think straight and too little means you get no sleep because the pain is too sharp. For me it was accepting the pain and learned what i can and cant do. Knowing my limits and making sure i stick within those limits. Though sometime you just got to get on with it regardless of the consequence. Hope you find the right solution for your situation

 
So sorry to hear about your back. I'm sure you are very disappointed to give up your cars especially after building your dream garage. Hang in there and good luck.

 
my wife has chronic pain . pain killers and all the good stuff that goes with it, now the government wants to get rid of opioids all together . with that being said my wife goes to acupuncher and it helps with the pain it is not or will never be a cure but it helps ease the pain

 
Sorry to hear this David. Back pain is no fun for sure. I know I am not looking forward to about 10 years down the road as I have 3 herniated discs right now that they do not want to do surgery on. I do my best to control it with exercises, have about 30 different rubber band things they gave me that I use daily to keep everything stretched out and loose. Also the trick mentioned above using the arm of the couch works well to help take some pressure off.

 
Sorry to hear that David. I too, as many on here are going through pain on a daily basis. I take opioids daily and have a variety of issues that was not discovered until I retired from the Army almost 2 years ago. We push ourselves because for most of us, that is how our fathers raised us, to never quit. I spend most of my painful days and nights not showing it around my family so that my kids will learn that just because something is hard doesn't mean you have to give up. Hang in there David.

Tom

 
Sorry to hear that,

Pain changes folks. I always hate that feeling right after you do something that future self instantly regrets. I lost some weight this year and it was odd to look in the mirror and really see my healed up old injuries, like my collar bone and ribs that don’t look OEM anymore.

Just think if you lived a risk free life how fruitless it would be.

 
David,

Sure sorry to hear about your health issues. I know life doesn't guarantee or promise us anything. It just seams to be a kick in the teeth when we make it through getting an education, surviving the 60's and 70's, wife(s) and children, and then when we want to slow down and enjoy the fruits of labors, the train wants to jump the tracks!

I like Tom's forum name "Vintageman". That seems to be where a lot of us are heading that remember when our 71-73's were new on the lot. We were young, dumb, and ....invincible! Ruined my knees years ago running and jogging not knowing you were supposed to wear $500.00 running shoes! Messed my back up one night during some very illegal drag racing when I turned a car over running a triple digit speed. Sometimes we can be our own worst enemy. I (along with most of my equally off center friends) did a lot of crazy and stupid things growing up. But as Bentworker posted, if we had lived a risk free life how fruitless it would be!

I know distance keeps a lot of us from being able offer you the help you deserve to keep your fleet going, but if there is anything you feel that any of us can to to help, please let us know!

David we are all Family here so keep us posted on how your doing.

 
So sorry to hear about your declining health. The older you get the more time seems to fly. I've dealt with sciatic nerve pain and I've been a diabetic for who knows how long but there no pain per se. We're all working our A$$es off to have a good lifestyle and send our kids to good school. You just have to try to live with the pain, more or less. Hang in there Dave!

 
David I too am sorry to hear about your health issues. However, as you can see from the others who replied, you’re not alone  and many of us can relate to what you’re going through. I believe you have a very good support group  here if you need it!  I won’t bore you with my tale of pain and back surgeries, but like you, I kept trudging along before finally deciding to go to the doctor. Had a perfectly good disc removed so they could get to the cyst in the spinal canal. It definitely changed my ability to work on my cars, but that same ‘keep moving’ mentality that I’ve always had remains. It’s pretty funny - my 22yr old son who is in excellent shape has less stamina than I do, and when I keep going after he’s stopped, he says it’s because of the hardware in my back lol!

If we can help in any way, let us know.

 
Sorry to hear about your back giving you so much trouble and pain. Sure sounds like a lot of us are on the pain train. Not a fun ride. I’m also on that crappy ride with multiple broken bones, 3 cervical sprains (neck fractures) and a brachial plexus injury, which means I tore 4 of the 5 main nerves in my left shoulder and my left arm is extremely paralyzed. Burning pain with pins and needles is what I feel constantly.

But with some meds I can get by good enough for now I guess. I just the other day removed and reinstalled my steering gear box all by myself, so we can find ways to do stuff, just takes a little longer. I have to tell myself a lot, that whatever I’m working on I don’t have to finish it all in one day. I hate leaving things not finished, but sometimes I just get to tired. I’m only 54 and been dealing with this for 8 years now.

So ya David if you have another passion that you’re able to do, then I say go for it while you can! Plus you will still have a few cars to mess around with a bit. I really hope you can find a way to not be in so much pain and still do the things you love. Good luck!

 
Thanks for all the kind words of wisdom.

It is like always when you are in a bad situation just look around someone will be in a worse one.

I did spend several hours sitting at the drafting board masking off the Sport Wheel covers and got them all painted and together for the show tomorrow. It sounds like all of us just cannot let go of working on your Mustangs. Some people are content to sit and watch TV all day and some just have to be doing something and discovering something new.

Thanks again for your support sounds like we need to open a clinic where we can all go and work on our cars, lol.

D

 
From the tales being told, maybe the best thing to pass on to the next generation (and the one after that) is advice on what not to do. I remember reading an article about the guys involved in building and racing the Shelbys (Cobras, GT40s and Mustangs). One of the anecdotes was of some of them being all manly and stuff by seeing who could lift the new Ford motors in the shop. One of them supposedly got a 427 or 428 off the floor for a few seconds. I guess that was fine and dandy when you lived in an era when a a massive coronary took you down at 60 instead of now where we live so long they have to invent new words for old age ailments.

David, sounds like your garage could be a club house? The admission is doing something on your cars!

 
Yeah, I look back at the stupid things I did, like lifting one side of a VW Beetle off the ground, or loading a bare V8 block into the back of my pickup. I started my working life on a ranch at 14, lot of hard work, bucking bales of hay, branding cattle,building fence, dawn to dark 7 days a week in the summer and on weekends and holidays during school, 3 dollars a day. Built muscles and character, but started the wear out process early.

 
Hi David, I am sorry about the pain that you are in. The one thing I can say is explore as many options as you can for relief. And with medical stuff you have to be your own advocate. My neighbor is 61, had to retire because of his back,after surgery, a15" scar, a year of pain killers and being miserable. He had some type of gel put between the vertebrae that they had worked on. He is now off the pain killers and doing pretty good. I'll ask him the specifics. Good luck with this battle. And thanks for the thermostat!

 
Sounds pretty typical, Dave, for all of us old-timers. I had to sell my 66 fastback (Midlife) when my peripheral nerves didn't allow me to do fine work such as putting a small nut on points while bending over the car, at which point my back gave out. I've had neck surgery to fuse vertebrae due to spinal stenosis but it did not help much. Now my lower back is giving out and my lower legs and feet are pretty much numb all the time due to lumbar stenosis. Surgery for this is harder to recover from than the neck, as I would be waylaid for 6 months. I take 2400 mg of ibuprofen daily, which barely is enough to stop the chronic aches/pains. I take an occasional opiate about twice a week, which is not nearly as bad as others here on the forum.

Fortunately my mind still sorta works, but occasionally I still have to look all over the house for it...

Keep your chin up! You've led a most interesting life so far, time to take it a bit easier and enjoy things. Oh, I am also available for adoption.

 
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