Going under the knife again.

[Brian Halse]

Good luck John. Hope everything goes well. Let me know if you need help with the camper.

Brian

 

[Davy Crockett]

I've got back issues myself and my wife has been after me for the past 2 years to have surgery on it, but after reading these posts about it only lasting a short white I think I'll stick to getting the injections every six months or so since it seems to be working for now.

The only advice I have and it's more of a personal opinion than anything but if you have more than one "Bad spot" in your back , Strongly consider taking care of all of them in one surgery. when I was presented with the option to have a full lower back fusion I decided to just take care of the worst part instead (Thinking I was tough and would be golfing again in a few months) Boy was I wrong. I had the L-4-5 fusion and the nerve pain was taken care of so the surgery was a success . The problem is now that the nerve pain is gone , I realize that the pain in L-3-4 and S 1-2 that didn't feel that bad pre-surgery all of a sudden feels worse. Once the shooting nerve pain went away for the first time in many years I have no desire to ever swing another golf club. All the activities that were important all of a sudden don't mattert anymore. I don't do well with anesthesia , Hospitals or strong pain pills so unless it gets intolerable its one and done for me.

 

[raider]

sorry to hear bbj... was thinking i was heading down the same path, but after some life changes, i'm blessed to have a new outlook on life, free of pain...

God Bless... praying for the best for you and your family...

 

[Allen Gamble]

Let me tell you, anyone with previous back surgery isn't turned into a pretzel. And if I do any kind of manual manipulation, there is a very small amount of force used. Just to clear the air here.

That's good to know. I've been scared to see a chiropractor since surgery, didn't know you were one until now either. I've never been to the point where I needed it, but i'm sure the day will come. I don't wanna put fear in anyone's mind about surgery and doing it young. I had two doctors offer me medication to deal with my pain which I strongly denied. Also tried a steroid injection to end up back on the bed crippled two weeks later after picking up something with proper form, it wasn't heavy either. I'm a strong advocate of go the damn dr. or chiropractor and find out whats wrong EARLY. I avoided these two things for 4-5 years and by the time I got there my disc was too far gone for physical therapy to help. Catch it early and you can save it early. I'd also recommend using an inversion table.

As for the surgery, unlike others, it's the best damn thing I ever did. Changed my life. I went from not being able to pick up my daughter out of a crib to doing everything I missed and loved as often as I want.

 

[Enslow]

This will be 5 1/2 back surgeries plus 2 major neck surgeries.
Back are all L3,4,5, & S 1.

I can't imagine the torturous pain you have to live with. I wish you the best of luck on your surgery.

 

[NodakBuckeye]

Best of luck BBJ, I have a couple fading discs, nothing close to what you have and I cannot imagine the pain you have to deal with. Prayers for a successful surgery and fast healing so you can dance at your daughter's wedding.

 

[wslayer]

Good luck BBJ. I also have been going for injections, which don't last the 3 months that its suppose to. But better than the pins and rods they want to do.
Laser work is only good for soft tissue removal so that's out for many people. Pain Dr. Bismarck says he has many patients returning that have gone the surgical route. All cases different though.

 

[BrokenBackJack]

Good luck John. Hope everything goes well. Let me know if you need help with the camper.

Brian

Thanks Brian. My bride and a couple of my friends are going to go get it either later next week or the following week down in the Black Hills. Everything has to come together at once to make it work as we had a deck put on the camper this year so that needs a skidsteer to move it away and the camping spaces behind us need to be empty to back into them to make the turn to get out. Then once it gets home my wife will need a few days to clean the stuff out of it, then to get it winterized and brought out to you Brian. Might need you to pull the batteries for us.
Thanks for all the well wishes and prayers!
Things are much better than before but there is a terrible amount of healing to do. Worst lower back that our surgeon has seen according to him. Nothing has come close to this. Guess i was the talk of the hospital after the surgery. Just need to heal and hopefully have no problems.