Katherine Stone: A Letter to New Moms

They say you don't have anything unless you have your health. I have a bad back. Many people have degenerative disc disease when they are elderly, but mine decided to rear its ugly head in my 30s. It started out with a herniated disc that caused so much pain I required a discectomy surgery. That went great. I was fine for a year. Then the same disc herniated again. Not good. Started losing reflexes in my left leg. Searing pain, crawling on the floor kind of pain. So I had surgery again. The second surgery caused nerve damage. The very second I woke up from the operation, I literally flipped over on the bed because I was in so much pain. I begged for help and I distinctly remember the puzzled look on the face of the surgeon. It only got worse after I went home. Twenty-four hours a day...