I thank all of you for your advice.
For me - I can sometimes go months with very little back pain - and then get a real flair-up. That usually puts me on my back - in bed - on a heating pad for a few days - to a week or so. I have learned long ago (as much of this, I was born with) what not to do - and to ease off when I feel it coming - and usually that works. But, if I put it on a graph - since I've hit 50 there are a few more bad sessions each year. And - the pain on the bad days - can now be "off the scale" - something that was rare in the past. But, I guess that's what Betty Davis meant when she said - "Growing old ain't for sissies!"
I think that after my neuro-surgical consult - if I'm told that surgery is not a good option - I'll just learn to live with it.
The one Dr. that I've seen so far, supported my occasional drunk as a means of dealing with the occasional flair-up - saying he thought it was probably a much less harmful way to manage pain than most pills - and saying it was much easier on my kidneys and my liver. Besides - my wife says I'm a happy drunk ( if only a bit too talkative some times) - so that's all good.
Living as I do, in the mountains of British Columbia, there's lots of good "BC bud" just miles from here - and that's an option I may explore. I don't like the idea of inhaling any smoke - but I know there are many other ways to "partake". I don't want to rule that method out - because, like booze - I don't fear I'll do much harm if I am only using this method to get through the hard times - a few times a season - on average - by using cannabis.
Like my use of booze, I have no desire to get high every day - so I have no fears of using either of those long-researched, much used, long-recommended home remedies - "for medicinal purposes". That phrase has me grinning, because I start thinking of those two old sisters who lived alone on "The Waltons" - and how they made "Papa's Recipe" - "for medicinal purposes" - and how they were always getting visits from men from all over the mountain with various "ailments".
So again, thanks to all of your for your valued advice. I knew you would give me lots to mull over. Now, this week, I have two more Dr.s to see (one of them, a neuro-surgeon) who will look over the x-rays and then give me some more advice.
