Man some of you guys are a mess!
I kid, I'm right there with you!!
When I was 19 I was at a party. 4 guys from a local Filipino gang came in and started looking for trouble. My buddy and I went out front with the 4 of them. Our 2 was good for their 4 BUT what we didn't know is that there was roughly 20 more outside. We got our shots in and took some of them out but eventually got overwhelmed. It's funny because the first few shots I took were sucker punches, even though we were that outnumbered. One of the sucker punches broke my nose. The cops eventually showed up. Here's how the conversation went...
Cop: Who was involved in the fight?
Me: Me and him
Cop: Who else?
Me: That's it
Cop: Do you know what the call was that came in?
Me: No
Cop: One of the neighbors called the cops and reported two gangs fighting in the street, saying there's between 20 to 25 guys.
Me: Well, on this side it was just me and him!
So, if you split the difference and say 22 guys it was 20 on 2.
What are you gonna' do?
I've broken multiple fingers, both thumbs, toes, hand and torn ligament in my hand. The ligament was painful and took forever to heal! When I was 20 I was re-racking 120lb dumbbells. The left one didn't rack properly. I racked the right one and when I went back to the left it slipped forward and snapped my left index finger at the first digit on the rack. Still crooked to this day!
I broke my left femur when I was 22. I was drunk and got into a fight with 3 guys in a bad part of town after a concert. They were at their car and pulled out two baseball bats and a pipe. I fought hard but not surprisingly didn't win that one! LOL!! Not to sound like a tough guy but those are the only two fights I ever lost.
I did martial arts, boxed, kickboxed and worked as a bodyguard for a few years but never had any serious injuries, just the normal little things.
I had my first back surgery at 29. L4-5 & L5s1 Laminectomy. My back pain started at 17 and became chronic at 19...or at least that's when I realized it was chronic. It got worse as time went on. I had a construction business for 17 years and every one of those years took a toll. I've spent the last 35 years in pain. Not looking for sympathy of any kind, just putting it out there. Ankylosing Spondylitis runs in my family and I was finally diagnosed with it in my mid/late forties. The doctors said that's what the pain was when I was 17 and going forward. I also had herniated discs and other spine issues from the job and hobbies previously stated.
- In June of 2013 I was diagnosed with cancer, Carcinoid Syndrom.
- In April of 2014 I had surgery for it.
- In December 2014 I had L4-5 and L5s1 fused. At that time, I hadn't been diagnosed with AS. Ibuprofen and pain meds were the only thing keeping me going. Two weeks before the surgery I had to stop the Ibuprofen. The pain skyrocketed from the AS. I wasn't allowed to use NSAID's for 6 months after the surgery. It made the recovery pretty damn rough. It's amazing sometimes the pain we can endure.
- In August 2015 I had C5-6 and C6-7 fused. Again, no NSAID's for 6 months...ouch!
- In late Oct/early Nov right as I was going to start PT for the neck, my thoracic started to hurt. The next day it hurt to breathe and the day after that, I could hardly move without excruciating pain. I somehow fractured my T-6 vertebrae. 3+ months in a brace. The only thing the doctors could come up with was that it was a stress fracture. They said an injury to that part of the spine is usually a car accident, motorcycle accident, bad fall, etc.
- In June of 2018 I had a Laminectomy, Microdiscectomy at L2-3.
- In October of 2018 I had Foraminotomy/Laminectomy at C3-4.
- In December of 2018 I had a C7-T1 Fusion.
2018 was a painful and busy year.
I'm sure I left some things out. There's a lot to remember! LOL!!
Fast forward to now, I'm back on a biologic for AS and it's helping! I still may have another surgery to fuse my SI Joint. It still causes me a lot of pain there and my entire right hip. The severe inflammation is causing bursitis and sciatica. At times I get severe headaches, similar to migraines and they can last days. I recently had one that lasted 4 days and the longest has been 5. They take a lot of me. It takes a few days to recover from those. This last year was very tough being off of or off and on drugs for the disease. It causes plantar fasciitis. My feet, ankles, right knee and left elbow have significant pain. Just the progression of the disease. The scary thing is what I am without a biologic. Since I started Cocentyx I'm feeling a better and started training again on April 1st.
It's funny, the biggest compliment I get if I reveal what I've gone through/going through is people saying I would never guess any of that by looking at you and you're always smiling, laughing and joking. We all have a choice to make in how we handle obstacles in our lives. I choose not to spread the misery and I want to be happy!! The gym is my salvation I'll keep dragging myself in there as long as I can!