MY LIFE
Sciatica Sucks
Do I really need my left leg? Really?
A few weeks ago, I began having intermittent pain in my left leg. It was annoying. I figured I’d pulled a muscle somewhere, or maybe a tendon had slipped out of place. I’m usually an enthusiastic walker, but walking soon became less and less fun.
Now, when I cross the street to go to the grocery store, I sit down at the bus stop, to ease the pain. Then I sit down again at some benches at the corner of the strip center where my grocery store is located. Then I sit down again just before entering the grocery store.
People have begun asking me out of the blue if I’m all right.
Inside the grocery store, I grab a cart to use as a rolling walker, and I pause it a few times during my shopping so I can angle my leg in such a way that the knee and thigh pain will subside for a few moments.
Last Wednesday, I’d had enough and scheduled myself for x-rays on Thursday. I’d thought it would be spinal x-rays, but no, it was just front-view and medial-view films of my leg, from the hip to the toes.
I looked and didn’t see anything out of place. My orthopedist came in, looked at the x-rays, and said, “Well, your leg looks great. No arthritis, at least in the knee. Everything looks fine. Unfortunately, x-rays don’t show us the nerves…