Thanks for all your kind words.
I've lost all track of time since working from home even before the 1st lock down.
It is actually only 18 months, it's been knacking me.
I was offered three methods; 1 meds/physio, 2 epidural or, 3 the op.
He explained an epidural may work from a week to forever, so I jumped at the op option.
Very best of luck to you mate.
Some years ago i was working on a tunnel boring machine building the Sydney Outfalls project under the ocean which was
going to send sewerage four k's out to sea instead of directly off a cliff face where the sewerage was being washed up on
the beaches.
It was common occurrence that whilst swimming at our most famed beaches that you'd find a turd swimming alongside you.
( no i don't mean a Man U fan etc )
Once we had made our way about two k's, we had to build a station where we could park empty muck cars, rails and other goods.
This all had to be done by way of hand and so we were all now using hydraulic drills to load the face with explosives. We then had
to use jackhammers and sledgehammers to break up some of the larger rocks in order to be able to pick them up and load them
into a muck car as well as shovelling the remainder of the spoil.
One morning when I came home, i told my wife that my back was killing me. I couldn't tell her exactly how it happened as there
was no defining moment that I could think of.
I thought that once the station was complete and things were back to normal, that so would I.
How wrong I was. I eventually took her advice and went to the doctor. I told him of this agonising pain that went from my backside
all the way down through my leg. He told me that I had sciatica and put me on Brufen which did absolutely nothing over several months.
As xmas was approaching the company was going to close down whilst many employees took leave and they were only going to carry
out maintenance work on the TBM.
My wife suggested that we go back to Thailand for a holiday and as much as I loved the place and the people, I knew that a nine hour flight
was out of the question. I couldn't sit, stand or lay down for any longer than half an hour and that I wasn't only just suffering from the pain but
I was also suffering through the lack of sleep.
We decided to go and had been there for about a week and I had done nothing more than swimming and lots of snorkelling.
One morning as I was letting the gentle waves rock me back and forth at the waters edge, my wife came along and asked me
if I had taken my medication.
I pondered for a second or two, giving it some thought. It was only then that it dawned on me that the pain was gone.
I was free. For the first time in months I had no pain whatsoever but was wary that it might be only temporary.
Thank god that it wasn't. I don't know how much longer I could have put up with that pain before contemplating the unthinkable.
I really don't think that it was the medication that did the trick as I had been taking it for so long without the hint of success.
I can only put it down to the weightlessness of the snorkelling and swimming.
For any sufferers that might be reading this, if nothing else has worked for you, please give it some serious thought as you
have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Regards from Oz
UTB