Tony,

Glad to hear you're doing better. Keep on improving and may God continue to bless and heal you.

Cavallo, I feel your pain.

hey, robby -- how ya holding up? you have been through the mill bigtime. i've been keeping you in my prayers-- reading the post about your dad's passing, i was amazed at the similiarities between our fathers, and we both lost our moms first and then our dads. i've had 10+ years to deal with this; i very sharply remember how that felt and how it seemed like everything else in life was going to hell in a handbasket as well. with all that's going on now i hope that you're hanging in there. you've got a lot of folks here thinking of and praying for you -- i hope that gives some measure of comfort and that better times come soon.

As usual I'm way late but thoughts and prayers definately man. Thank you for your service in protecting us civilians. Lost my dad, aunt and cousins husband in an auto accident 8 years ago. Other spouses walked away from it. You always miss them. I'll fire up an appropriate one and blow some somke upwards. Best of luck on your surgery and physical problems. We never understand why things happen but God's always there and this is a great group here.

Whoa!!

When you wrote about sacroilliac joint dysfunction, I cringed in pain. I've had the reocurring problem with my left sacroilliac joint for thirty-five years. It's a chronic condition without a cure. It's usually an impact injury from something like getting speared while playing football. I'm now seeing the best physical therapist I've ever dealt with. The day after a treatment, I can barely get out of bed, but after a few hours I'm feeling pretty human.

Like most people with sacroiliac joint dysfunction, I was misdiagnosed with L-4, L-5 disc hernias for many years. It's a very common diagnostic miss. Here's a website with alot of information:

http://www.sidysfunction.com/ 

Take a look at the L-5 as it relates to the sacroiliac on the diagram located at:

http://www.patient.co.uk/showdoc.asp?doc=21692497 

Strangely, in my own case, after a recent round of x-rays and an MRI, it was found that I have old compression fractures of the T-12, and C1 and C2.

Re: Sacroiliac dysfunction. Be sure you have exact measurements of your outer hip to heel taken for each leg. I was awakened to the fact that my right leg, hip to heel, is 1.25 inches longer than my left leg. That's almost 60 years of stepping in a small hole with every left step; and very hard on the sacroiliac. A simple lift in the left shoe makes a world of difference.

thanks, canyon, and i'm sorry for your losses. some hits just don't heal up no matter how much time passes. i'm in a peaceful place about my parents now. i'm grateful that i got to know them -- REALLY know them -- before they passed on.

since reading about robby's dad, who also joined up at too early an age and served in the military, i've been thinking an awful lot about our troops -- then and now. i'm amazed -- and quite humbled -- at all these men and women do and have done to serve the cause of freedom. so many of the guys who fought in WWII were just KIDS. i look at the boys my wife teaches in high school and they're the same age as men like robby's father and my own dad when they joined up and went to another country to fight and face adversity we'll never know. KIDS! i see them skateboarding along, all gangle and grin, and i try to picture them dug in over in germany in the bitter cold or sweltering in the south pacific island heat.

what kind of men WERE these? ferocious enough to be dubbed the "devil dogs" by the german military... and just kids, so many of them. amazing. amazing. thank god for them.

steve: thanks for the resources! sorry to hear that you've had to go through all this, too -- SI stuff is pretty tricky, and misdiagnosing the problem happens all too frequently. there's no mistaking the pain, though. there's nothing in the world that feels like that. 😛

at the time of my last nerve induction test, they took another measurement. i've lost about a half inch -- i certainly didn't know it, but you're right on about the orthotic making a difference! i've not had a full-blown relapse in months (knock on wood), and i hope to god i never do again.

something else that's been helpful and allows me to sit upright better without hurting my back/hip is an SI joint support belt. you wear it between your waist and hips, and it gives the SI joint stability and support at the first twinge of pain, i start wearing mine, and so far it's kept me out of the ER, thank god.

anyway, thanks for the sites; i'll definitely check them out.

GREAT to hear that you're feeling better, brother Tony. I knew that you would.

And my prayers go out to you as well, Steve. Hope you have a miraculous recovery.

We never really appreciate what we have until we lose it...

Or some one steals it!