MY LIFE
Sciatica Sucks: Living With It
Just another manic Monday…
Today was the acid test, sort of — my first Monday at work after the sciatica diagnosis. About five minutes in, I wasn’t sure I would make it.
My office chair, which was a bastion of comfort to me last week, became an instrument of torture for me this morning. Within moments of sitting down on its wonderfully cushy seat cushion, my left knee felt as if someone had kicked it in the nuts — if it had had nuts — hard.
I considered calling in and going home, at that point. The only reason I didn’t was because…it’s work. I’m not going to quit my day-job over this. I had to figure out how to get through it.
It eventually dawned on me that I had felt completely comfortable in the orthopedist’s office while sitting on a flat exam table with my feet dangling. My office chair’s seat cushion raises my knees above my hips — apparently just enough to send pain shooting through my knee.
So I levered myself out of my office chair. walked around a couple of seconds to ease the pain, and found a chair with a flat seat cushion in the conference room. Instant relief! I breathed a silent prayer of thanksgiving and got busy with work. This and the steroids were the only things that made work possible.