Resolution, I Hope
Dec. 3rd, 2012 10:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
countessmouseSince early last fall, I've been having major issues with my back and pain. Specifically, after working with a chiropractor without results, he recommended I see an orthopedist and get an MRI, which at that time revealed that my disc at L5 S1 (bottom of your spine) was compressed and shrinking. We experimented with exercise, hot/cold therapy, a TENS unit and epidural injections without much success. In the meantime, I've been dealing with muscle spasms, sciatic nerve involvement, loss of flexibility and migration of the pain from almost exclusively the right side to include both sides of my back and hips. I now walk with a limp and some days, I feel like I'm 90 years old with the way I walk. I can't ride in the car for more than an hour at a time (which makes my morning commute just lovely), and I feel like I'm isolating both me and my husband with my inability to go anywhere or do anything.
After a huge fight with my insurance company over WHERE I was going to have the surgery (which I'm not going to even attempt to go into because it just makes me mad) and having to switch from my beloved orthopedist to a neurosurgeon I have the barest of a patient/doctor relationship with at this point, I'm having spinal fusion surgery (ALIF) tomorrow morning. It's my only option at this point because the pain isn't getting any better and the epidural injections are a complete failure. Even more fun? Because of where the dissolving disk is located (it's now 2/3 gone per the June MRI) and the fact that I have a congenital defect of the upper vertebra involved, I am not eligible for either the microsurgery or surgery from the back. MY surgery will be from the front, so I will be in the hospital for at least 3 days. And home recovering for a month. Over Christmas. Yay me.
The case studies I've read and the information I've found makes it very certain that my back issues will be immediately better following the surgery. In fact, the worst complaints following surgery involve the frontal incision site. THAT I can deal with.
This past weekend, we scrubbed the house from top to bottom and took care of any outstanding errands that will be difficult to deal with for the first 2-3 weeks post-op. The bills are paid. Christmas presents have been purchased. A law student friend will be coming to stay with us starting tonight to keep an eye on the cats while![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
count_gunthar is at the hospital with me (and take advantage of a quiet place to study).
In a little more than 24 hours, I hope to have my cute little walk back.
After a huge fight with my insurance company over WHERE I was going to have the surgery (which I'm not going to even attempt to go into because it just makes me mad) and having to switch from my beloved orthopedist to a neurosurgeon I have the barest of a patient/doctor relationship with at this point, I'm having spinal fusion surgery (ALIF) tomorrow morning. It's my only option at this point because the pain isn't getting any better and the epidural injections are a complete failure. Even more fun? Because of where the dissolving disk is located (it's now 2/3 gone per the June MRI) and the fact that I have a congenital defect of the upper vertebra involved, I am not eligible for either the microsurgery or surgery from the back. MY surgery will be from the front, so I will be in the hospital for at least 3 days. And home recovering for a month. Over Christmas. Yay me.
The case studies I've read and the information I've found makes it very certain that my back issues will be immediately better following the surgery. In fact, the worst complaints following surgery involve the frontal incision site. THAT I can deal with.
This past weekend, we scrubbed the house from top to bottom and took care of any outstanding errands that will be difficult to deal with for the first 2-3 weeks post-op. The bills are paid. Christmas presents have been purchased. A law student friend will be coming to stay with us starting tonight to keep an eye on the cats while
count_gunthar is at the hospital with me (and take advantage of a quiet place to study).In a little more than 24 hours, I hope to have my cute little walk back.
