The sciatica became significantly worse within a week or so and led to drop foot, muscle weakness, and me basically turning into the Hunchback of Notre Dame with all my limping. I went from being perfectly normal one week to not being able to lift my toes or move my foot side to side. Little things like standing on my tiptoes were considered a success. I spent an entire day crying because I couldn’t put on my flip flops - I didn’t have enough control of my toes to scoot them in properly.
Thank god for my primary care physician, Dr. Epstein, who immediately referred me to Dr. Dorai - the Chief of Neurosurgery! We weren’t keen on having surgery initially, but decided to go ahead because there were so many issues along the way. I ended up in the ER like five times - most of the time for pain, once for a horrible reaction to Tramadol, and once because I was sure I’d developed Cuada Equina which requires emergency surgery. After the doc finished up my surgery she told Zak that the herniated disc was a lot worse than the MRI showed and that thank God we did the surgery. No amount of physical therapy would have helped.
Now three weeks post surgery, recovery is good. The drop foot was gone as soon as I got off the hospital bed. The pain lessened each day, as did the muscle weakness and cramping. I’m still not 100% but I am feeling almost 90% like myself. I can’t sit for long periods of time and I get tired fairly quickly, but other than that almost everything is back to normal.
I think I was affected more by the mental symptoms of the herniated disc rather than the physical ones. It threw me into a spiral of depression and anxiety that, for a time, I thought I’d never get out of. I was sad and crying and couldn’t get out of bed. Zak, Phebe, and mostly Allah (swt) got me through it and I’m at a much better place now.
I thank God everyday for my amazing husband who saw my mental health breaking down and stopped everything to spend time with me and keep me calm. This is us at the fish market in Washington DC on a day adventure to keep me distracted. Little would we know that we would have one of the most terrifying experiences of our lives in just a few hours.
These past two months have changed me for the better. I’ve increased my salah and I remember my Maker more. My outlook on life has changed too. And because of that, I wouldn’t change a single thing I went through.
Alhamdulillah for all that I experienced because it brought me closer to Allah (swt).
~
{Maktub - a concept which means that Allah (swt) has written our fate and that whatever we experience is because it is meant to be.}
