Electric Mid&Hi Fired Ceramics
Potters with physical challenges
pottery after back surgery
I signed up for main group way back when it was a start up. I have not been active until now. I first posted in the main discussion area and was notified I should post here! Any one out there with a spinal/back fusion? I had a PLIF at the S1 L5 position of the back.
I am recovering from a major back surgery and wondered if there were any others out there willing to talk about recovery and re learning to work around the fact that you can't bend at that joint anymore.(the joint is just above your plumbers crack) I am in my 7th week and still waiting for the bones to fuse so I am not doing anything other than lay in a recliner, walk, do PT and take meds. Its going to take 6 to 8 months for the bone healing but I should be able to handbuild in a month or 2 if my partner helps me. No lifting, bending, twisting.
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This section added by George Lewter to facilitate closing of original discussion.
Reply by Andrea Brown
Hi Lana,
I've just joined and the first thing I saw was your post. Welcome to the club. I have L4- S1 fused. Mine was done in October last year. I was going crazy by the 6th week and was starting to get back to the pottery. Have you had cat scan done yet? By late November I was back to doing it all. Wedging, throwing, picking up buckets of glaze. Everything. At that stage I was told by neurosurgeon that I could work for about 2 hours at a time and rest for 20mins or so. I don't want to say that you should be doing it the same way. I still have problems but this has been my 3rd surgery on the same area, and no the reason is not that I've done anything wrong. The first was the initial fusion 10 years ago, the second was 2 months later when a sliver of the vertebrae chipped off and was pressing on nerves I couldn't walk! Now the third was a herniated disc which was pressing on the sciatic nerve. I've always had a weak back. Best advice - walk lots and then some more, it really does help get the healing going. Get yourself to a good biokineticist. They will help stretch your muscle which have been shortened by the surgery, and they will give you stretching exercises to continue with on a daily basis. I still have pain, mostly due to the weakness on my left side, but the pain is manageable and it does not affect my potting too much. When it's bad enough I take painkillers and rest a bit more. I find that I work from early morning until around 3pm, then I lie down for the rest of the day.
My best wishes for a speedy recovery, and please don't hesitate to talk if you need to.
Denice E. Demuth
Lana I hope someone with problems like yours will answer. My husband is a technical illustrator, draftsman and writer. He does the books for Chance Mfg. rides and roller coasters. He also ran the tec pub at J.I. Case tractors and trenchers and did some work for Beech Aircraft. He doesn't consider himself a computer tech but he puts all of his books online. Denice
May 12, 2016
Lana Weed
Denice,
A new potter Andrea joined the group and she had a fusion from L4 thru L5 to S1 which is a bigger fusion than mine. And basically in one year she was back to doing everything in pottery. This gave me a big boost.
My surgeon has said in a year you should be back to normal. I am now today at 8 weeks post surgery. I still don't know if the bone graft is healing yet. I see the surgeon May 30 and will have X-rays to check on hardware staying where its supposed to be and hopefully we will see bone signs. I should be released for returning to my IT job.
See Andrea Browns' post was just moved by George up at the top of this discussion, near my first post.
Before going back to school at 53 I was a technical illustrator for the Boeing Company. I had several jobs in 23 years with them before getting laid off at 53. I was a board trained drafter then illustrator then manager of engineers, planners and illustrators. I managed the transition of illustration on Engines moving to being done on computers for the 777. I then rolled back down into the ranks and did digital drawings for the Maintenance Manuals of all Commercial Aircraft for Boeing. I got a two year degree in computers after the layoff in 2003. So now I work in IT at a help desk for The Evergreen State College. Your husband and I have a few things in common. You and I have a few things in common.
What brand of wheel is your kick wheel? I have never thrown on a kick wheel. Learned on an electric. I have two wheels a Brent C x C and was gifted a 1962 Shimpo Century 21 the model made for the Worlds Fair held in Seattle, WA.
I can image that the MS makes it very difficult. What state are you in? Have you heard about the treatment in the UK that is derived from marijuana? Of course the FDA has not made it legal in the US yet. But I am wondering if its similar to the guys in Colorado (its a TED TALK) that have figured out how to remove the hallucinogenic part of marijuana and are treating sever epilepsy. The results have been amazing. I am in Washington and I could have used marijuana for my pain because it does not inhibit the bone growth. But pain doctor said it's an excelerator and you have to be very very careful with the other drugs and pain meds you might be taking. Since I had not used it before for pain I didn't want to risk using it.
Yes I agree we work with what we have and adapt so we can continue working with clay. I look forward to seeing pictures of everyone's pottery in this forum. I don't have any new stuff in cone 6 but happy to show off some examples of my cone 10 pots. I used to do cone 6 beads, pendants and ceramic forms for jewelry selling at shows around the country. I will post a few of those for you all to see. I did some basic cone 6 glaze making last year and got them fired in gas and electric at the school I work at because I was taking an independent class. I may do more of that during my recovery period. Hands down the John Britt DVD on glaze making is a great way to learn. His book on mid Range Glazes is also very good. But if you are visual and auditory learner John Britts DVD on making and learning to tweak glazes is a great tool. I took a glaze making class in about 92 and have read a lot of books on making glazes but John Britt really demystifies the process.
May 12, 2016
Lana Weed
Andrea,
George got your post moved. He is on top if it. Thanks George.
Andrea thanks for confirming in a year I will be back to doing it all. I hope you will share a few pix of your work soon. Glad to connect with another PLIF. You had a bigger fusion than I did and you made it back to pottery. Very encouraging. Hey at 65 I don't exspect to be totally pain free. I have arthritis in other places in my spine. In fact they did a little clean up up there at L4. To what extent I will find out in a few weeks. My first visit 2 weeks after my surgery is a blur. All the pain meds I was on then had me very stopped down. Since I had to ride in a car 60 miles to see the doctor I am glad I had so many meds on board. I then had to ride back 60 miles. Ouch!
ICE for pain:
For pain I find the soft gel ice packs work wonders and I am in my 8th week today post surgery. Off the opiates and now relying on 1 muscle relaxer Flexeril (cyclobenzaprine) in the morning and 1 at night. Also a regime of Tylenol 650mg 7am, 12 noon, 7pm, 10pm and 12pm. I am also taking at 7pm 2 capsules 300 mg each of gabapentin. It's used for restless leg, twitching and seizures. My neurosurgeon said it's benign in side effects. I can continue using it for my restless legs in the future. She thought maybe some of leg jerking was caused by the pressure bearing down on the nerves that controlled my legs. And the surgery just might have cured a lot of that, maybe all of it. Time will tell.
Muscle pain and spasms topical treatment:
And the best thing for muscle spasms ever 5mg of lidocaine in the form of a patch you stick on your skin. If you have muscle spasms and muscle pain the aqueous patches are really helpful. There are several types get the aqueous one its sticky stays in place and you can use up to 3 patches for 12 hours. Much better than oral medicine in my experience for my body. Gets right to the muscle and if you have to cut the 3 patches up and place them for multiple muscle groups giving you pain.
Lana
May 13, 2016