Hi, folks. I’m Richard Clifford.
You’ll never guess what happened to me this past Holiday season. I’ve been suffering from spinal stenosis, a lumber condition. I don’t know it’s caused, but I’ve had it a lot.
I was suffering from back pain all through the year of 2023. In fact, I had 3 falls during the year that caused pain in my back. My weight was a horrible cause to it. It didn’t get worse until the Monday before Thanksgiving, when I had severe back pain. I was hurting so bad that I couldn’t do my rehabilitation appointment at the physical therapist up the street.
The next morning, I collapsed on my legs and couldn’t walk. I ended up on the floor and had to call 911 in order to get me to the hospital. The doctor examined me and told my I had lumbar radiculopathy, which is pain which radiates along the sciatic nerves. It can be caused by herniated discs or bone spurs on the spine that radiates down the back of the leg.
They sent me home, but I had an impossible time walking down the stairs-I had to climb down them-and crawling into my room. The doctors didn’t do crap, so I had to call 911 again and bring the paramedics back. They decided to get me some medication, which they brought back to my house. But when I tried to take it, I was back on the floor.
I called my siblings again and they were upset that I’d been sent back home without their doing anything. Once again, the paramedics came, and this time, I went back to the hospital. It was a very sick morning.
Anyway, I was in the hospital all through the Thanksgiving holiday. I couldn’t get much help during the weekend because everyone was off. I had my cellphone on me, and people were calling me left and right to talk with everyone.
While I was in the emergency room, I listened to a girl who was having problems with the nurse. She was screaming “I’m telling the truth” over and over again. Meanwhile, Peggy was trying to get a room for me somewhere out of the ER. I was having trouble with the noises and sounds of the machines going all over the place.
So Thanksgiving comes along and I’m still in the hospital. I felt alone and bereft. When they arranged for me to have an X-ray and an MRI, I couldn’t stand up; my legs were buckling under me, so they had to do them with me lying down. They finally told me that I had spinal stenosis, which is sciatica on my spine.
I couldn’t stand up on my legs because I felt pain in my back. I needed to take a lot of medications for my back. And all during that time, I was suffering a lot. I missed the Thanksgiving holiday with my family and felt really sad.
Patrice had offered to take me in for the holiday, but she was suffering from back pain herself. “I can’t hold on to you if you fall,” she said. That weekend was a tough one. If my sister and brother-in-law Peggy and Bob hadn’t visited, I’d have fallen apart.
