Faragon's blog

But I said ‘yes, yes, yes’

In July 2007 I hurt my back, I herniated two disks, and they never completely healed.
Today I had an intake at RCA (Revalidatie Centrum Amsterdam, Dutch site) a rehab center, as they have a special program (PDF, Dutch) for patients with chronic pain problems. It comes down to learning do deal with the pain, getting to know your own boundaries, and learning to differentiate between when you have to push through the pain and when you have to take it slow. They do this by teaching you a variety of techniques including psychotherapy, physiotherapy, manual therapy, occupational therapy, and some other therapies designed to teach you how to maximize your performance, while minimizing the stress you put on your body.
This particular program is a three-day-a-week thing for 12 weeks. That’s a part-time job right there!

I was really scared that I might not be accepted into the program, to be honest I don’t know what I would have done, had I not been accepted. Unfortunately, there’s a 2 – 3 month waiting list for this particular program (the previous three month waiting list I was on was just for the intake I had today), but luckily I can start some related things already.
The doctor I met today referred me to a manual therapist, to have me start working on getting the muscles in my lower back to relax more, and gain more mobility in that part of my body. She works with him in the rehab center, so I can continue my treatment with her in a few months when I am accepted in the program.
In 6 – 8 weeks I have to go back to meet the doctor I saw today, he will do a physical exame then and he wants to know what progress I’m making, as he doesn’t want to leave me hanging for the next three months.

At least there’s some progress now. I can start, I can start in the very near future, and I can start getting better from this point onwards.
My aim is to be able to get back to working full-time, maybe “only” 40 hours a week is a good start ;-) (said the workaholic), but it’s a hell of a lot better than the 3 – 4 hours a day I can manage now (after which I’m not even able to cook because I can’t stand up like a normal person).
Although I may never go running again, I want to set that as a personal goal. I want to go back to being able to run with Jael. If it isn’t possible, then fine, at least I tried. I would hate to set my goals too low and not achieve all that I am capable of, because I don’t have to work as hard as I actually can.