I had the same thought, Dad...haven't felt that way since high school. :-)

I actually gave up caffeine 2 months ago to ease the symptoms of GERD and it's worked like a charm on that. I've been on Prednisone for 3 days now and am feeling TONS better. I spoke with the spine center yesterday and they won't see me until Dec. 11 so I just have to take it slow and steady until then, I guess. The ice packs are helping a lot, too. I think now that I'm past the stage where I'm terrified I'm going to paralyze myself with a good sneeze everything is working out alright. Bente hit it right on the head in a PM to me when she said they made her feel like she was walking around with a time bomb inside. That's exactly the vibe I got from my doc and it certainly did scare me.