Back Surgery Sucks!

Had my back surgery (L4-5 micro discectomy) yesterday morning. What fun - not!

Surprisingly I'm not in nearly as much pain as I thought I might be. I'm actually in less pain now than I was back in June when this most recent episode started. Back really doesn't hurt except when I go to change positions - mostly trying to get out of bed or up out of a chair. My neck/throat actually hurts worse from the breathing tube they shoved down it during the surgery.

Anyway, just wanted everyone to know my time on the site is going to be very limited for the next few weeks as I can't sit at the computer very long. If you have any troubles or need assistance with the site PM Thomae or Charleslv who are the other two admin and can access your full account to fix passwords and such.

Good luck with a speedy recover.

Get well and stay focused on Phys Therapy!

I had L4 & L5 fused. then they had to take the hardware out. Body was rejecting it. Then had 3 more micro discectomy's

I'm in constant pain. the Dr's say cant do any more , too much scar tissue, and nerve damage.

so I know what your saying. the best thing you can do is , exercise, and watch your movements.

Ken

Really hope you fell better as i will be going through same thing next year

Get well soon JB, once you're healed up hopefully you'll be able to enjoy all those activities you've had to put off due to your back.

Get well JB. I will agree back issues suck and not in a good way.

Hope ya feel better soon....back trouble/pain/surgery is no fun whatsoever
Scooter

Hey JB,
Keep us / me posted on this.
I need to get that done sometime in the near future. In the past 4 years the only people I hear saying it's a pain relieving surgery and I'll be back to 99.7% in no time is the doctors.
Everyone else tells me to wait as long as I can or avoid it, if possible.

My neighbor had it done 5 - 6 years ago and was in misery then, dumbass falls off a stepladder and is REALLY in misery. He's back to living on oxycodone.

Stay in touch & get well rapidly.

Frank in Fla

Good luck, hope it ends well.
.
My wife just had hers friday morning.....She had bean completely down for three months. No work, No driving, No walking without constant loads of meds. Had surgery friday morning 7:30am, 10:30am saturday she walked out of the hospital almost giddy that she could do so without shooting pain down both legs.
For three months we've bean hunkered down holding on for dear life.......todays sunday, she walked 4 miles today and the calves are sore but her sprits are high.
If your going to need it for sure make sure you have a GOOD surgeon and get on with it.

I wish you a speedy recovery JB

Not fun, sorry to hear it. Heal quickly!

I had a ruptured disc removed in 1978 and have been getting along great with it ever since . hope you have good luck

Doing pretty good thus far. Walking around pretty well and the only real pain I have is the incision itself.

I went in for one laminectomy and when he made the promised 1.5 inch incision, he didn't like what he saw so he opened the whole lumbar on my left side. When I woke I couldn't understand why it hurt so much. My kid walks in and they were rolling me to change the dressing and he said, "holy crap" . I am panicked and then he tells me how long the incision is, then the doc comes in and says the l3 was so bad he opened me up and found I was still working with 3 full herniated disc's. He looks at me and said, how in Gods name did you work like that, I said it wasn't easy. What finally started things in motion was the fact that both legs shut off for about 10 seconds. I was paralyzed long enough to just miss a steel cabinet when I went down. My coworkers thought I was faking it like most people do until that happened. I was in surgery 3 days later. Now for the bad part. There is so much stenosis that I have to take pain medicine the rest of my life. That makes me medically retired. As of now I am in pain 24 hours a day but I wont quit living till I am dragging my skinny little arms across the floor to move myself. I am still walking and stuff but to be honest my opinion is they waited to long and now I have permanent nerve and muscle damage from all the falls when the old legs gave out. By the way Jim, I sincerely hope you get well and don't have to ever take pain meds to live a semi normal life like me.

Sorry to hear the news, wish I had something to offer!

I had c4-c5-c6 fused. I never had any pain whatsoever. The surgeon was only supposed to do c4-c5 but called my wife telling her if he did not do c6 I'd be back in 5 years. What I had was numbness and tingling in my hands and always felt like I had to piss. It's all good now except for the throat. My Surgery was last May 5th and I still have some swallowing issues 8 months later. Food gets stuck easy and if I bend over I feel like I am being strangled and start gagging. I am waiting to see an ear, nose and throat specialist. The surgeon has referred me to one and says they may put a camera down there to see if there is any structural damage, They may also put a balloon down there and inflate it and as a last resort they may take out the metal plate. Were is not for the pissing issue I'd say it's a case of the cure being worse than the disease. Hope your recovery works out ok for u. If you look at the MRI you can see the pinching....http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...3-10/mri_2.gif