It’s official: the pain in my leg that has had me hobbling down the dock, limping around the office and unable to ride my new motorcycle actually has nothing to do with my leg. It’s taken about half a dozen doctor visits, an MRI and the wise words of several complete strangers to convince me the reason I can’t stand up straight, lay down flat, look over my right shoulder, work out and can’t feel my right foot is due to problems in my lower back, which ironically feels absolutely fine. 

Unfortunately, the question isn’t what is wrong with my back, it’s just a matter of figuring out which one of numerous problems is causing the pain. Last week, after spending about 25 minutes in an examining room staring at a beautiful illustration of what a healthy spine should look like, the doctors showed me the results of my MRI, pointing out various warped vertebras and places several worn out discs were pushing into my spinal cord and, most importantly, where one had pinched the nerve root for my right leg. 

It was like looking at the scene of some horrific car accident after spending a few hours in an immaculate dealer showroom, only rather than twisted metal and broken glass I was staring at the misshapen bones and grotesquely herniated tissues that made up what I had once considered my healthy, albeit worn, backbone.

I broke out into a sweat, had to sit down and nearly vomited. I thought of all the hay bales, propane tanks, boulders and overstuffed sail bags I had thrown onto my shoulder over the years as the doctors told me I would need to have surgery, and the sooner the better. Wondering if I would ever be able to haul a halyard, sheet a jib or raise an anchor ever again, I scheduled the operation for the end of the following week, and the doctors told me I could very well be back on my feet within three days. 

Since then I have been finding out everything I didn’t want to know about the procedure – called a Laminotomy – and have been feeling much better. Miraculously, the more I learn about the possible outcomes and what’s involved in the procedure itself – there’s a video at www.laserspineinstitute.com/spinal_orthopedic_procedures/laminotomy/ – the less my leg hurts and the feeling in my right foot seems to be rapidly returning.

The surgery is still two days away – enough time for me to watch enough medical videos to feel my old self again – and I’m wondering if a little twinge in the back of my leg is really worse than having a piece of my backbone removed so my spinal cord shoved aside to allow a surgeon to suck out part of a disc that could shrink away from my nerve on its own in another three or four months. 

Now three days post operation, my motorcycle is still unused, it still takes me five minutes to get down the dock and I can’t even get behind the drivers seat of a car, but my leg feels great. The surgery has left me feeling like I was hit with a sledgehammer in the small of my back but it is getting exponentially better every day. Hopefully by this time next week I’ll be able to put my bike on the road and enjoy what’s still left of late summer. – Nate Jones