Any survivors on here, cardiac arrest, heart attack, cancer....

[Effyb4]

I'm really sorry that things aren't going too well for you SNSSO. I'm pleased you are able to get out on the trike. I had to start very slowly and build up the cycling after my heart surgery, but I found it really helped with the depression. My mantra is 'Just keep spinning, just keep spinning, all you got to do is spin spin spin'

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Most of you probably know I'm not doing to well, so it is good to see that most are doing better.

I had been on course for a 10,000km year then, back at the beginning November, out of the blue and with no warning, my back went. The L5-S1 disc ruptured badly and left me with little use of and feeling in my right leg. Emergency surgery followed to save some use of the leg but full recovery was never on the books. Full recovery hasn't happened either.

So to add to a dodgy left leg which was already unreliable and slightly paralysed, I now have an even more unreliable right leg which can't hold my body weight, doesn't work properly and has left me on crutches unable to walk very far or very quickly.I can't stand without crutches and not for long, I can't sit and am pretty useless really. I'm suffering from depression, on morphine 24/7 and looking at the prospect of having to get a wheelchair if I can ever sit up again! Sadly there is obvious paralysis in my right leg even still after 5 months.

On the bright side i have a new bike. I can manage 9 miles a day on my recumbent trike (10 miles is still too much , but if I pick up the courage to try using roads or the strength in my legs I may manage it soon). I have almost made it to 140 miles for the year!

I wont put a like on your post, it wouldn't be right, but much respect for the way your coping and best wishes for an acceptable outcome to this.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Thanks everyone.
I saw my consultant yesterday and whilst she is hesitant to fuse my vertebrae (don't actually know it will cure the pain) she is referring me to another consultant and if he agrees that it may help me, then she will go ahead with the surgery. As far as we can see, provided that she fuses the vertebrae in a non-neutral position, rather than a neutral position, it should help with the pain because it is a non-neutral position that I lie in most of the day and it is that that is mostly pain free. (A neutral position is the position you are meant to hold when you sit or stand, and the one that you see the spine in in all diagrams...)

On the brighter side my GP put me on 24hrs morphine 2 weeks ago (12hr time release capsules) and I have been better in my movement and feeling better within myself. I can't say there has been any improvement in walking or cycling, there hasn't and I am still needing 2-3 doses of additional morphine and 3-4 of paracetamol during the day plus the nerve pain meds have been increased as well but like I said, I am feeling a touch better in myself. When I raised getting addicted to morphine with one of my health care professionals, the answer was a shrug the shoulders and that there are drugs that can be given to me to help me off it and not to worry about it! Oh well.

 

[ColinJ]

When I raised getting addicted to morphine with one of my health care professionals, the answer was a shrug the shoulders and that there are drugs that can be given to me to help me off it and not to worry about it! Oh well.

That kind of response annoys me!

I have raised questions about my anticoagulation options with quite a few doctors and some have been helpful, but one or two stopped me mid-sentence and effectively said "Take the drugs and live, or don't, and die". A false dilemma, if ever I heard one!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

What have I had??

Brain damage as a baby, Leukaemia at 16, and Ulcerative Colitis at 28.

Lucky white heather me!!

 

[classic33]

What have I had??

Brain damage as a baby, Leukaemia at 16, and Ulcerative Colitis at 28.

Lucky white heather me!!

Offered you some the other morning.

 

[Stonechat]

That kind of response annoys me!

I have raised questions about my anticoagulation options with quite a few doctors and some have been helpful, but one or two stopped me mid-sentence and effectively said "Take the drugs and live, or don't, and die". A false dilemma, if ever I heard one!

These choices are often difficult
Mrs Stonechat is on Tramadol (an opiate)
She is worried about addiction, but to be honest she needs to also worry about the amount of ain and the impact is has on her

 

[ColinJ]

These choices are often difficult
Mrs Stonechat is on Tramadol (an opiate)
She is worried about addiction, but to be honest she needs to also worry about the amount of ain and the impact is has on her

Sure, but sometimes the doctors make it seem like there is no real choice, when there are real alternatives.

For example, there are at least 2 alternative NICE-approved drugs that I could take.

If I stick to warfarin, my dose could be increased or decreased. (In theory I could also try coming off it and take my chances, but when I tried that in 2013 I ended up with lungs riddled with clots again!)

 

[geoffnelder]

I should've known from family heart disease but I assumed all my bike touring (about 5000k per year since retiring 12 years ago) and being vegan would make me immune. This time last year I started getting pains in my sternum when riding up the steeper Welsh hills. I wandered into A&E just to ask what kind of pains you get with angina. I was ambulanced to Broad Green in Liverpool and after 3 stents and meds I am again pushing up the same hills without the pain.
Reading this thread has had me in tears of laughter from your black humour and knowing now that I'm not alone and not to be ashamed only averaging 9-12 mph on long days riding. Thanks guys and gals.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

These choices are often difficult
Mrs Stonechat is on Tramadol (an opiate)
She is worried about addiction, but to be honest she needs to also worry about the amount of ain and the impact is has on her

I was on tramadol for around 12 year or so. Had no issues with addiction to it. I had a bigger issue with the drowsiness it caused. It actually seemed worse than the morphine I am on now which I have helpfully been told not to worry about being addicted to, there are drugs they can give me to help me off it afterwards! Good to know....

Pain management (she says as she lies in pain yet again) is about taking the pain killers before you need them, so that you can do what you need to do. So if you need to do your morning walk, like me, you take the painkillers roughly 45 mins to an hour before you go out and do the morning walk. Not when the pain prevents you from doing the walk, or cutting short the walk because the pain.
See if you can get her referred to a pain management clinic or at least a therapist. It really does help.

 

[loother]

Thanks everyone.
I saw my consultant yesterday and whilst she is hesitant to fuse my vertebrae (don't actually know it will cure the pain) she is referring me to another consultant and if he agrees that it may help me, then she will go ahead with the surgery. As far as we can see, provided that she fuses the vertebrae in a non-neutral position, rather than a neutral position, it should help with the pain because it is a non-neutral position that I lie in most of the day and it is that that is mostly pain free. (A neutral position is the position you are meant to hold when you sit or stand, and the one that you see the spine in in all diagrams...)

On the brighter side my GP put me on 24hrs morphine 2 weeks ago (12hr time release capsules) and I have been better in my movement and feeling better within myself. I can't say there has been any improvement in walking or cycling, there hasn't and I am still needing 2-3 doses of additional morphine and 3-4 of paracetamol during the day plus the nerve pain meds have been increased as well but like I said, I am feeling a touch better in myself. When I raised getting addicted to morphine with one of my health care professionals, the answer was a shrug the shoulders and that there are drugs that can be given to me to help me off it and not to worry about it! Oh well.

Hi SNSSO. Sorry to learn that you are still having problems with your back. I have had L5/S1 root nerve pain for over two years now. I had a second MRI done six weeks ago, at the request of my consultant. My initial diagnoses were a grade one spondylolisthesis, disc degeneration, and foraminal stenosis. The recent scan showed that I also had bilateral "pars" fractures to L5.
Well, I had an L5/S1 fusion two weeks ago. I am in considerable discomfort around the surgical site, but my lower leg pain has lessened markedly, and I still will have some loss of sensation.
I guess you will need to weigh the pros and cons of surgery, as there is always a risk. I will not know how successful the outcome for some weeks, but I decided it was better to go ahead with the surgery as the alternative was retirement and being unable to live an active life.
I hope all goes well for you, you come across as a fighter. I hope I don't sound patronising, and I wish you well.

 

[gbb]

I survived Sepsis almost two years ago.

I would say my full physical recovery took around 9 months. Psychologically, of course it takes it toll, Ive been ecstatic that I'd survived, frustrated I wasn't recovering quickly enough, terrified it would happen again etc.

Although its not been diagnosed, it's really clear to me and my family that its definitely left me with some short term memory loss and I've had to develop some strategies to manage that.

I was always slow on the bike anyway, am probably back where I started from that point of view.

Anyway, interesting to hear everyone's stories, always good to know you're not alone.

My BIL has just survived sepsis..christ that was a scary bolt from the blue. Very nasty indeed, absolutely life threatening. Hes on the mend now thankfully...I can imagine how you feel / felt Sara. Surely lightning won't strike twice ?

Me., as told in other posts, pneumonia, pleaurisy, incredible incredible tiredness and lethargy, collapsed lung, tuberculosis at 55 The TB was caught at work, we have a very large immigrant workforce. I say that not in an accusing way, rather I thought like so many tb was a disease from the past.
TBF I have very little noticeable after effects, I do have some restriction in my lungs and tethering of the lung to the chest wall but lately I'm not finding it a particular hinderance.

What I do find hard is regaining fitness. 3 years ago I was very fit, commuting daily, rides of up to 80 miles, a good average speed etc etc. Virtually 2 years off the bike have physically flattened me...and yet todays ride was probably 14mph average...at 57 and given whats happened, its not so bad. 20 miles, it used to be warm up mileage, now it leaves my legs heavy.
What have I got to complain about ?...its not life threatening, hats off to you all.

 

[Sara_H]

My BIL has just survived sepsis..christ that was a scary bolt from the blue. Very nasty indeed, absolutely life threatening. Hes on the mend now thankfully...I can imagine how you feel / felt Sara. Surely lightning won't strike twice ?

Me., as told in other posts, pneumonia, pleaurisy, incredible incredible tiredness and lethargy, collapsed lung, tuberculosis at 55 The TB was caught at work, we have a very large immigrant workforce. I say that not in an accusing way, rather I thought like so many tb was a disease from the past.
TBF I have very little noticeable after effects, I do have some restriction in my lungs and tethering of the lung to the chest wall but lately I'm not finding it a particular hinderance.

What I do find hard is regaining fitness. 3 years ago I was very fit, commuting daily, rides of up to 80 miles, a good average speed etc etc. Virtually 2 years off the bike have physically flattened me...and yet todays ride was probably 14mph average...at 57 and given whats happened, its not so bad. 20 miles, it used to be warm up mileage, now it leaves my legs heavy.
What have I got to complain about ?...its not life threatening, hats off to you all.

Speaking rationally, I imagine its very rare for a fit, healthy person to have two episodes of sepsi. What was very difficult ffor me was that no definite focus of my infection was found - even my blood cultures came back negative despite the fact that I had a very clear and typical seticaemia rash. Not knowing what caused it in the first place made me quite fearful of a repeat, but I've relaxed somewhat now.

 

[slowmotion]

I'm still just about ticking over.

 

[ColinJ]

My BIL has just survived sepsis..christ that was a scary bolt from the blue. Very nasty indeed, absolutely life threatening. Hes on the mend now thankfully...I can imagine how you feel / felt Sara. Surely lightning won't strike twice ?

That was what I told myself ...