"The spine is a thing of beauty: a sleek stack of 24 vertebrae, cushioned by 23 disks, neatly arranged into an elegant structure that's able to bend, twist, and shimmy at a whim. In a marvelous feat of biological engineering, it gives us both strength and flexibility. Yet back pain is rampant." Anne Underwood in Prevention, August 2012.
As if Dwane does not have enough difficulties to deal with, an MRI confirmed very significant low back spine difficulties. The MRI technician told me his was "the worst spine she has ever seen", so we will try to address this with PT (physical therapy) services, which I was told by my sister today can be done in the assisted living center (his doctor had told me they could not be done there, and I have been driving him to the appointments.). He will also see a neurosurgeon in a couple weeks, but he is not a good surgery candidate. He was severely psychotic after his knee surgery from the pain medications. It will be a difficult decision: how to address his pain and weakness in his legs, without more invasive procedures than necessary.
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