by Nanette Piotrowski

Created on: March 05, 2010   Last Updated: May 05, 2011

You go to start your day like you do everyday; the alarm goes off, you get out of bed, go to the bathroom, start the coffee pot and head for the shower. Except today is not going to be like the hundreds and thousands you've already experienced.

Today, the alarm goes off, you get out of bed and immediately hit the floor in excruciating pain. You crawl to the bathroom and while on the commode, it feels like someone is sawing your legs off in the middle of the thighs. You crawl back to bed, lie in a fetal position and wonder, 'what is going on?'

You summon up all your courage, sit on the edge of the bed and make another attempt to stand and walk. The pain shoots down your spine into your buttocks and down your legs. With thoughts of, 'maybe if I just walk around for a little bit, maybe the pain will subside'.

You spend the next several hours doing just that and eventually the pain ebbs slightly, or is it that you're just becoming accustomed to the level of pain?

That day began my journey of dealing with Spinal Canal Stenosis. I waited for a week before going to the emergency room. I couldn't stand the constant pain anymore and driving myself there was the respite before the walk from the car to the emergency room, although getting in and out of the car was an experience.

They took an ex-ray and saw several herniated discs and recommended an MRI. When the doctor called me back, he said it wasn't good. The canal that the spine runs through was compressing the spinal cord itself at the lower end of the spine.

The disc herniations only further added compression at the narrowed canal and caused impingement where the nerves branch out from the cord and through the spinal joints. One herniated disc had punctured through the spinal cord itself.

The doctor had asked me if I had been in a major accident as this type of Stenosis is usually gradual in people over 50 (I was 57 at the time). I told him no but would 17 1/2 years of spousal, physical abuse count. He asked for details of injuries and I explained my head being thrust through a wall, thrown out of a car at 35mph, etc. He said that would do it.

I asked him why it had come on so suddenly as I had no indication of a problem before going to bed the night before this happened. He said that when he had examined me that the muscles that ran down both sides of my spine had developed into extremely large muscles and that was what was probably supporting my back and keeping me in alignment.

He said I may have twisted during

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