{"id":1042,"date":"2021-03-02T02:41:29","date_gmt":"2021-03-02T10:41:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/?p=1042"},"modified":"2021-03-02T21:20:58","modified_gmt":"2021-03-03T05:20:58","slug":"my-pandemic-body-breakdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/my-pandemic-body-breakdown\/","title":{"rendered":"My Pandemic Body Breakdown"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Previously, I wrote about the need for us all to stay on top of our mental health during this stressful time. Today, I&#8217;d like to talk about the impact on our physical health or, more specifically, my physical health during this pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"402\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/spine-blog-1024x402.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1047\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/spine-blog-1024x402.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/spine-blog-300x118.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/spine-blog-768x302.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/spine-blog.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Though I&#8217;ve been fortunate enough to escape COVID 19, this year has been an extremely challenging one in many other aspects of my physical health. Here&#8217;s part of a diagnostic from a recent MRI I had done a few weeks back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>L4-5: The intervertebral disc is mildly decreased in height with a mild annular disc bulge with mild posterolateral L4 marginal osteophytic changes and a 4 mm central extrusion with high-intensity zone extending 3 mm caudal flattening the anterior aspect of the thecal sac. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Though a fairly dry and technical analysis, the aforementioned &#8220;mild annular bulge&#8221; put me on my back for 4 weeks in immense pain, unable to sit in a chair or stand for any length of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;d like to say this is the worst of my physical ailments this past year, but I can&#8217;t. It gets added to a list that includes: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Ineffective esophageal motility, the inability of the esophageal muscles to move food or liquids down into the stomach, hit in June of 2020 and is still an issue. <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>De Quervain&#8217;s tenosynovitis, swollen tendons on the thumb side of my left wrist that have required two cortisone shots to control the searing pain, and will likely require outpatient surgery.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Insertional plantar fasciitis that also required a cortisone shot to stop the searing pain on the side of my left foot.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Ongoing right wrist tendonitis, and a slow-healing cartilage sprain at the ringer finger base of my right hand.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s a been a helluva painful and emotionally trying pandemic year! At times I was unable to open a jar or any type of container. That was perfectly acceptable during the period where I was unable to eat or drink without considerable distress. Then there were those other times when I couldn&#8217;t put on a pair of shoes because it hurt so badly. Or times when I couldn&#8217;t even sit upright in a chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though there was some overlap, thankfully these afflictions didn&#8217;t hit at the same time. At the worst moments, laying on my back unable to get up OR swallowing a tube inserted through my nose to measure the strength of my swallow, I couldn&#8217;t escape the inevitable questions of &#8216;How&#8217; and &#8216;Why&#8217; these things were happening to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s easy to point the finger at pandemic or political stress, but I don&#8217;t think that would be entirely accurate. I&#8217;m 57, and that might account for some aches and pains associated with aging. But I don&#8217;t think that&#8217;s it either. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Honestly, I don&#8217;t know why my body has been at war with itself (and me) this past year. But that&#8217;s not why I&#8217;m writing this. My hope is that by sharing what&#8217;s happened to my body over this past year, maybe I&#8217;ll find out that I&#8217;m not the only one. Maybe I&#8217;ll help someone else feel better knowing that they they aren&#8217;t the only.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And maybe it will all stop when we finally get a handle on this pandemic, and I can get back to my &#8216;normal&#8217; life. One can hope&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Previously, I wrote about the need for us all to stay on top of our mental health during this stressful time. Today, I&#8217;d like to talk about the impact on our physical health or, more specifically, my physical health during this pandemic. Though I&#8217;ve been fortunate enough to escape COVID 19, this year has been &#8230; <span class=\"more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/my-pandemic-body-breakdown\/\">[Read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,137,139,138],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-admin","4":"post-1042","6":"format-standard","7":"has-post-thumbnail","8":"category-general-stuff","9":"category-health","10":"category-mental-health","11":"category-physical-health"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1042"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1050,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1042\/revisions\/1050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevware.com\/geek\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}