Frustrated And Concerned

[Dougie]

I got an early surgery appointment. Yesterday was the day. I spent the night in the hospital because I had to be able to get up and walk to the bathroom, and around the ward, without help. My surgeon did everything through a 1.5" incision. He said I had scar tissue that was tangled around most of the nerves in my lower back and the herniated discs. Most of that has been removed. Surgery was scheduled for 1.5 hours. I was under for about 5 hours. My ribs are so sore I can barely take a deep breathe. The surgeon said that there was a lot of scar tissue tangled around the nerves. My L4-5 disc was touching 3 root nerves and pushing against my spinal cord.

Now for the road to recovery. I have been ordered not to drive or lift anything over 5 pounds for the first week. I was also ordered to do bed rest as much as possible during that week. My right foot is feeling better now. My left foot and leg are still feeling nerve pain from the scar tissue.

Now that the hardest recovery day is done, I'm on the road to getting well again. Hopefully I won't have to do this again. There isn't anything left to remove from L4-5. I already hit vertebrae to vertebrae if I land on my feet to hard.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

[Snugglebug]

I hope you're recovering well. Many healing thoughts your way.

[Dougie]

I'm not sure if it's the scar tissue at this point, but I don't seem to have much bladder control right now. I'm not sure about bowels yet because I haven't had the urge since surgery. I have been having some serious nerve pain yesterday and today. I've had two times today that I lost all motor control of my left big toe. I know nerves take a long time to heal. I didn't expect that they would be getting worse. I'm going to talk to my doctor Monday to see if they can tell me more about what is going on.

[WolfKat]

Hi Dougie, man... I can truly relate to what you're going through. When I was initially diagnosed and went through my own little 'heck' I was told afterward that the nerve endings could take 3 to 4 years to regenerate. Personally that time has come and gone with very little result (I am thankful for any degree of improvement) but I have talked to other patients who have reported massive increase in neurological response in much less time! I am looking forward to hearing that kind of news from you in the near future