Apologies to Randy

[Blackwater]

Randy, you sent me 4 sticks of your lubes, and I fully intended to give them good, thorough tests ASAP. It's that ASAP part that I've run into problems with right now. I had back surgery a few months ago, and was getting along MUCH better, but in the past month or so, things have gotten worse instead of better. I have an appt. with my surgeon next Tuesday, and he'll likely want to run some more tests to investigate where the problems are now coming from, but I'm unable to cast or load right now, so have to delay the tests on your lubes. Sorry. I really didn't anticipate this. PT was progressing fairly well for a time, but went the other way about a month ago. I've got as good a surgeon as I could hope for, and I have great faith in him. I just don't know what he's going to find or when this will end, but darn sure am hopeful it gets resolved ASAP. I'm very anxious to get to casting and trying your lubes in a number of my guns that need some good tests, and I have high anticipation they'll work beautifully. I've just sort'a been put on hold for right now, and likely yet a while longer.

Just wanted you to know that I haven't just taken the lube and run. I have two relatively new pistols that I need to do a lot of load work with, and your lubes should be an excellent vehicle for that, too. One, the .44 Flat Top, has shown a will to be VERY accurate, so I'm on pins and needles waiting to prove it out. Will complete my obligation as soon as I can get to where I can cast again. Sorry about the delay.

[303Guy]

I hope you get sorted and back on your feet soon.

303Guy

[randyrat]

No worry for the lube, you need to take care of your self first and not hurt yourself. I just feel bad for people who run into back trouble, gotta be tough because that is the center of the body for all movements and the highway for your nervous system.

Keep us up to date and if there is anything we can do here, let us know,,, you have friends.

[Hickok]

Blackwater best wishes for a full recovery.

I went to Randy's TAC 1 lube, and now it is all I use in rifles and handguns. Other lubes I had on hand get used for fluxing my melts now!

[cajun shooter]

Blackwater, I had to stop all shooting and casting for over 2 1/2 years. I have 4 bad disc, L2,L3, L4, and L5. They have no tissue between them and there is no surgery available in the United States to correct my problem. I had a new pain pump implanted on Dec.10th and it has helped some as the one that was in me for 7 years prior had stopped working. I was not even able to walk from the living room to the bathroom. The pain was so intense that I was homebound for over a year.

No one who has never had back problems know how much pain goes all the way down your legs and into your feet. Sometimes my toes would curl from the pain.
A local doctor who was one of the best in the Southern U S told me that I would have to go to Germany
to have four disc replaced as the FDA would not allow it in the US.

I wish you the best and just remember that you have others who feel your pain also. Take Care and Good Luck David

[dg31872]

Back problems can be a pain in the butt!!
Had my share of them and don't want it again.
Blackwater, take it as easy as you can, don't rush it.

[wiljen]

Seems like these days if you are over 40 and havent had your back surgery yet, relax cuz its comin brother. Hope you get it sorted out soon but know that way too many of us have L4, L5, S1 worked on.

[Blackwater]

Thanks, guys. Appreciate the sentiments, and yes, it IS common. The worst part is I let FRIENDS get me this way. I told them no 3 times before they said they'd just go and do it themselves. I knew good and well that despite their size (I was the more peuny one!) they'd hurt themselves badly, and I reluctantly tried to help. Can't help feeling rather sheepish when I know it's all my fault. I knew better, I just didn't DO better. C'est la' vie, I guess. I'm just glad I haven't had to wind up paying for ALL the mistakes I've ever made. Hercules couldn't carry THAT load!

And Cajun, I'm afraid what I'm experiencing is too much like what you went through. Thought for a while it might just take some PT for the periformis muscle that splits, and has the sciatic nerve running between the split. Aggravate it, and it'll swell up and tighten down on the sciatic nerve, and that doesn't feel too good. My grandboy (age 10) calls it my "booty bone." Came in one day and in an effort to ask how I was doing, he couldn't remember what periformis was, and just made up the term on the spot. I laughed so hard it literally HURT, but it was the best kind of hurt a man can have, I guess. The pain's wearing me down, but I'm just glad to be here to feel the pain, so I still count myself lucky, though I really, really want to get the pain to go away and get to where I can do things again. I am NOT the sit and watch TV type, and am reading books, mostly, but that gets boring after a while, even reading G.K. Chesterton and some other good ones.

FWIW, y'all be CAREFUL out there, and if ya' know better than to pick up stuff that's too heavy, DON'T DO IT!!! It CAN and often DOES lead to things you do NOT want to contend with.

[Down South]

A bad back is a pain. I have one. I was a mechanic in the Gulf for 25 yrs before my back went south. Now, I'm a desk jockey. I do well as long as I don't have to much bending over. A little yard work can get me down fast.
Good luck with yours....

[Springfield]

My back is relatively decent, but I seem to have a problematic S.I. joint. Too many motorcycle crashes in my younger days, probably. My Chiropractor seems to have it under control, I just have to remember to not overdo it, like hauling too much target steel around the range like I am young or something! Did that this fall, won't do that again.

[Blackwater]

Ah! Chiropractors! I was raised to believe that chiropractors were quacks, and if you went to one, he'd make you worse instead of better, and if you went to him very long, he just might KILL you! However, after I hurt my back, I got tired of taking the painkillers and muscle relaxants, and a friend had a similar problem, and after a couple of years of his insisting I try his chiropractor, and a couple of visual proof in taking him to his chiro bent over and watching him strut out like a proud rooster, I became a believer. Nothing like experience, is there?

However, I HAVE found that, being largely an art, chiropractors vary VERY GREATLY in their ability, and sometimes even in their willingness, to help you. Some just want to get you on a regular gravy train schedule for THEIR benefit. The one I went to initially was an absolute savant in dealing with what ailed me at the time. One $30 treatment, and I was back to very near normal. Just had to be careful to not abuse it for aIf day or two. After he left town for greener pastures, I tried (I think) all the other chiros in town, and never could get one who could do what my old one, Ralph, did. Very frustrating. I dealt with it by being MUCH more cautious about what I lifted and how I moved, or at least I tried awfully hard to be careful, and with a significant measure of success. If I could find the rascal, I'd drive 300 miles for a visit. No joke at all here. Find the right one, and they're miraculous. Just don't ever judge them all by what one does or doesn't do. They're even more individualistic than regular doctors. Find the right one and they're absolutely indispensible.