ArcaMax

My leg! My leg! Now it’s my leg!

Roasted green beans with sea salt and Asian dipping sauce

Just when I thought my back surgery recovery was over…whammo.

For those of you who have been readers for two years, you might recall that I had back surgery two years ago on July 27. It’s a long road to recovery. For the first eight weeks, I was not allowed to even bend to pick up a piece of paper. For the first year, I had very strict instructions on what I could and could not do or they warned me that I could end up right back where I started and be faced with additional surgery.

I was diligent. I was a good girl. I did everything they asked. At the one year point they let me start working out again. I had to rehab more than my back. You could say I had to start with my ankles and work up. After a year of basically laying around I had to rehab everything. I had to learn simple things like how to kneel again. My ankles clicked. My knees were weak. My arms could hardly lift a thing; although before the surgery I could bench press 160 pounds. I was a mess.

I got through that and worked out diligently with my trainer. Then I started a specialized Pilates/yoga workout with another trainer, to regain my flexibility. I was so stiff it was a chore to bend down to tie my shoes. My core was getting strong again. I was off of pain pills for six months but there was still work to do. I was proud because I did not end up back in the surgeon’s office in that first year and I was coming up on two years of my recovery.

Then it hit me. I woke up one morning and I could feel the sensation of slight shooting pains radiating out of my back and down through my hip to my thigh; even pains that radiated down almost to my ankle. The sciatica was coming back!

How could this be? I was incensed! I had done everything perfectly according to the protocol. This is unfair. This is unreasonable and this is painful! That day my husband and I ventured out to buy him a new bike. I walked around the store and then after we had arranged for the purchase and assembly, we were going to walk a few blocks and find lunch. I had been walking up to three and a half miles before this day. A walk to lunch would be easy.

Sadly, that was not to be the case. I walked barely a half mile and my right leg was so sore I could hardly lift it. The pain in my hip was almost unbearable. I told my husband that I had to go home, and I had to go home NOW. He still had to go back and pick up his bike, so I hobbled to a cab and cried all the way home.

This pain went on for three weeks before I finally decided that a visit to the surgeon was not to be avoided. I tried to do everything I could think of to avoid that mentally painful reunion. I quit my exercise. I started sleeping with a pillow under my legs again. I only slept on my side or my back. I was re-employing everything I had to do as part of recovery, thinking if this was just a “speed bump” in my progress I could get through it without having to make that dreaded phone call. I went back to my pain pills. Nothing worked.

I finally gave up. This was painful enough that I had to give in and dial the phone. It had gotten so bad I could not pick up my leg on my own to get in the car. I could drive, but getting in and out of the car was a painful reminder of where I had come from and I didn’t want to go back there.

The surgeon immediately ordered a new MRI. He knew I had been a model patient and had done everything right. There’s a 5-7% chance that I’d need more surgery but maybe we could avoid that if we knew what was going on.

The MRI revealed that I had formed scar tissue in my spine. Nothing I did, or didn’t do could prevent it. If I was to end up with scar tissue it was meant to be. They, of course, did not tell me that in advance. Why tell someone they “might” end up with something? If they don’t get it, don’t tell them they could get it, seems to be the policy.

I’m now back on my road to a second recovery; this time from spinal scarring. The disc is being pressured by the scar tissue. That pressure is causing electrical impulses that are causing my thigh muscle to tense up and not let go. That’s why it gets so weak that I cannot use it. My hip gets really sore and sometimes my knee feels like someone hit it with a sledge hammer and I just want to cut off my leg and be done with it. Instead I’m not done with rehab after all. More on that later.

Roasted Green Beans with Sea Salt and Asian Dipping Sauce
Need a quick, fun appetizer? Try my latest. It’s super easy, unique and fun to serve.
Serves 6. This recipe can be easily multiplied too.

One small handful of green beans per person. (maybe 10 each). Trim the ends off.
Olive oil spray
Sea salt to taste
One half cup of sweet and sour sauce
1 tsp (or to taste) of Asian hot chili oil

Put your green beans in a 9-by-13-inch pan. Spray lightly with olive oil spray to coat them. Grind a bit of sea salt over them. Toss. The amount of sea salt can vary. If you like your potato chips salty you’ll like these with a little extra salt too.

Roast in your 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. You want them crisp tender.

Meanwhile, stir the Asian hot chili oil into the sweet and sour sauce. You can add or subtract hot chili oil, depending on your taste for spicy food.

Serve the warm green beans with the dipping sauce on the side. I just put the beans on a platter and let people eat them with their fingers. The dipping sauce can be in a bowl on the side.

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.