Cofounder - Jon McHann - Jon's Journey Page 2

Shortly after this, I was back in Seattle, and fell off a trailer in icy conditions. It wasn't a huge fall, 3 or 4 feet. Landed flat on my feet and heard every bone in my back moan and scream in pain. I continued to work until I had bladder and bowel incontinence, my right foot was numb as well as part of my left foot, and pain radiated down both legs. I went to a walk in clinic, had an MRI and had my Commercial Driver's License medically suspended so I couldn't go back to work. Instead, I landed back in the hospital for another round of discectomy/laminectomy, and a lot more "tomy's"!

My surgeon (one of the best in the business, at the University of Washington) was not happy with the results, as she was not able to help the problem as she had hoped. She bluntly told me, " You will not prosper! The scar tissue from previous surgeries and ESI will be a big problem for you," she said ........ I will never forget that ........ I never recovered from that surgery. The pain from recovery subsided briefly for about a month. Then pain started back with a vengeance and has not stopped increasing in strength and variation of origin since. Numbness, burning, hot flashes, incontinence, pins and needles, and walking on glass feelings are here to stay ...... and increasing continually. The ability to walk is fading. Sitting, standing, walking, or maintaining any postural pose for more than 10 minutes is impossible. 

Out of an act of desperation and a fading dream of returning to work I had two more ESI's. The first one was done with no improvement. I thought I had the flu. A month later, I had the second ESI. A week later I almost died from chemically induced meningitis.

 

I have Adhesive Arachnoiditis and Cauda Equina Syndrome. I won't work anymore. That's my bitter pill I guess. My life is full of pain, I survive on a daily drug cocktail of 200 mg of synthetic morphine, 300 mg lyrica, 1050 mg Soma, 45 mg cymbalta, as well as oxycodone and morphine sulphate for breakthrough pain. It is obvious the drugs may kill me. Without medications, my pain is so great I cannot function at all. So .... I have made the choice to live with quality over quantity, chosen to have quality of life letting go of what would surely be pain-wracked quantity. Let me explain the statement above about "some quality to my life."

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