About Darlene Morrow

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Darlene

I am a 55 year old teacher of Pilates and Yoga living in North Vancouver, BC, Canada. I love activity and after recovering from a long illness in 2004, I decided to chase my dreams. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Science, a degree in Education and a specialty in Teaching English as a Second Language. Obviously I love teaching and all I did was change the focus. It took a full year to get all of my certifications- Stott Pilates Essential and Intermediate in Mat and Reformer with training in Advanced in both. I am also a certified Personal Trainer with Can Fit Pro and a Hatha Yoga teacher, taught in the Kripalu Tradition (200 hour registered with the International Yoga Association among others).

I never regretted my decision to change and I love what I do. I opened a studio in my home and was having great fun when the arthritis pain sidelined me. I have advanced central spinal stenosis, bilateral narrowing of the neural foramina, and disc degenerative disease in all of the Lumbar spine and including S1. From L3-5 the ligamentum flavum has thickened and just adds to the central spinal stenosis. Disc protrusions are seen at all levels. In addition, 6 of the 12 Thoracic vertebra show spinal stenosis and disc protrusions as does C6 with a significant protrusion. Don’t know about the rest of the cervical spine. When the MRI was done, they include one level above and below the requested scan and that’s why we found the one cervical issue.

For years I suffered from incredible neck pain that radiated down both arms so my guess is that the cervical spine would be no different than the rest. Thanks Mom and Dad.

I’m a fighter and I don’t intend to stop fighting. I am very optimistic that I will overcome this. The reason that I am doing this blog is for info for other people that have similar problems. The decision to have surgery is a scary one and I hope that maybe this will help someone. I had a L5/S1 microdiscectomy on June 1, 2007.

My hubby, Bill, and my kitty, KC, help me through the difficult times as do my sisters.

ADD ON: So after recovering from the surgery, it became obvious that I was going to need a second surgery at L1/L2. That decision was made based on the pain that I was getting in my hip and groin. We decided to go ahead at my September 6 appointment and the surgery took place on October 17, when I had a L1/L2 Laminectomy.

ADD ON: I’ve had two contrast thoracolumbar MRIs. The last one was done in July 2008. The third level that showed the most compression is L2/L3. The contrast also showed that the Right L5 nerve was compressed. That area was already done but it appears that the ligamentum flavum is buckling more and pushing against the discs. The inside of the disc is pushing right onto the nerve. I had a diagnostic nerve block with cortisone and the majority of my pain went away. It made me realize how much pain I was in.

The block was diagnostic which means that the pain went away, then the microdiscectomy would reduce the pain.

Dr. Gul has agreed to do both levels at the same surgery. I’m scheduled to go in mid to late Sept 08. I’ll keep you all posted.
Update October 18, 2008: Laminectomy at L2/3 and Microdiscectomy at L5 completed on Sept 22. LOTS of scar tissue at L5 forcing compression of the vertebra. Now that it has been removed I am not so bent over to the right. I looked like the leaning tower of Pisa before. Here’s hoping.

Namaste.
Darlene Morrow

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