Entries tagged 'surgery'

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.