treating radiculopathy
on friday morning, i go under the knife for a microdiscectomy. i’m skipping the epidural cortisone injection treatment option—any success would only be temporary. nuts to that.
i mentioned before that my physical therapist had told me that my herniated disc was between L4 and L5, which turned out to be wrong. it is actually between L5 and S1, and is compressing the left S1 nerve root.
i had images of the mri printed that i ended up not needing to bring to my initial appointment with the surgeon (he was able to see me earlier than planned, and the prints were not ready, so he was just able to pull them up online—i didn’t ask why it was necessary to get them printed at all). i’ll have to remember to pick them up and see if i can scan them in somehow.
things i look forward to:
- working while actually sitting at a desk (i’ve been standing for the last few weeks)
- sleeping through the night (and actually keeping a normal schedule)
- no longer taking vicodin
update: two months after the surgery, i am almost totally pain-free (just a little twinge now and then to keep me honest). it only took about a week to get back to work after the surgery. if you find yourself in a similar situation, do not fear the surgery.
Comments
I hope it works out for you. I'm hoping to avoid surgery -- so far, so good.
how did the surg. go? i had the surg last oct. without success. i had both rad. and lumbar stensois and i am 40. i beleive the surg. waited too long as i have done some research in how timimg can effect the results. he fix the stensois and took the nerve pressure off but i still have the same sx of rad. i pray that all is well. may our LORD keep you as he has done with me.
I have had low back pain for the last 4 and a half years. My doctors took 1 year to agree to an xray, 1 and a half to an MRI and all he while telling me it was all muscular. Turns out I have disc herniation at L5 SI with anuular tears and bulges all the way up my spine only to exclude the cervicals. They have had me do therapy without success, injections without success tens without success, lots of medication without success and they still will not consider surgery as an option. I am in the military and they usually just think I should gut it out. I can't perform my job properly and by the time I do get home I can never play with my children the way I want to. I am frustrated and angry. I did want to stay in the military but now they want to kick me out for my back without stabalizing me first. How will I be able to cope with a civilian employer when I can't get any understanding from the Army. Thanks for listening
D
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I call dibs on the un-used vicodin! Good luck, Jim.