I dare say this story that I’m about to tell will ring true to many people.
I was working in Oxford UK, I decided that after twenty five years of working within the engineering trade and traveling from one job to another.
I needed to change things as my body of work had taken its toll on me physically and mentally.
I had suffered from pain predominantly in my lower back and neck for years, and the occasional painkillers weren’t cutting it anymore; the drive alone could put tears in my eyes some days.
Now realizing things had to change, I decided to work for myself temporarily. We were just coming into spring, and I had a close friend who had some moderate gardening work available to tide me over for the time being.
I thought this would give me some flexibility and much needed respite to recover, until I was ready to move forward.
We had savings and my health had deteriorated, so I knew this was going to be a fine balancing act, to say the least. But I thought I had the time to rest, away from the twelve hour shifts of before.
How wrong was I! Within twelve months ,I woke one morning only to find I couldn’t get out of bed. I struggled to move my arm’s, legs, and neck.
Panic set in, and I called my wife immediately. She rang for a ambulance and four days later, in the hospital, and after three MRI scans, the diagnosis results were I had a left 3/4 nerve root block with no arm response and severe narrowing to the left 3/4 exit foramina.
Two lower disc in my back were also bulging and touching my spinal nerve. And if that wasn’t enough, there was a C7 syrinx in my cervical and thoracic spine.
I know what your thinking, right ? the same as me probably.
This is not good.
We were just going into covid, and the pain was unbearable. Finally, after an eighteen month wait, My operation date had arrived in April 2022.
A C3/4 procedure to fuse the C3/4 anterior cervical decompression and fusion ACDF in my neck.
Risk assessment:
All operations come with risk, but this one more so due to the C7 syrinx in my cervical and thoracic spine, close to the C3/4 ACDF operation area.
When I woke up from the operation, I was met with the news that all went well.
This news, along with all the mental and physical pain, brought me to tears of relief. Finally, I could start to move forward with my recovery. What followed almost immediately once I returned home was a purpose to move forward, and that purpose was colour and artwork.
From a young age, I had always painted, especially whilst visiting my parents abroad. We would walk along the beach collecting and retrieving stones from the sea, and once home, paint with beautiful, strong colours.
I would lose all track of time and find it so rewarding and rejuvenating for my mental health.
That’s why we go on holiday, right ? most of all, there is the feeling of accomplishment and reward to finally finish a beautiful stone hand painted full of bright colours by myself.
So, for me this was the way forward in my recovery: to concentrate and focus my mind on bright, colourful artwork that gave me happiness and contentment, which has carried me forward to this day.
Don’t get me wrong to this day, I’m still dealing with health issues daily like so many of us do, but colours and my artwork have brought a new positive perspective to my life, and I do believe it’s set me on a path for the better.
