Disappointing DR appointment

I went to the doctor on Thursday.  It didn't go exactly as I hoped.  I am healing well, the bone is growing.  It isn't anywhere near fused but healing.  I'm now allowed to bend, lift, and twist within reason.  When he asked where I work he said my job isn't within reason right now.  Hard labor could bend the and break the rods or screws.  Not exactly what I wanted to hear.  I'm bored at home and getting broke.  I was hoping to go back to work.  He told me at least January.  I am starting physical therapy next week.  I'm going to be on a gradual work conditioning plan.  He said slow and easy building back up so I can go back to work.

I won't say Dr. Weinzapfel is cocky, but he is awful proud of his work.  Perhaps because he saw me walking without a limp, he was smiling from ear to ear.  He hadn't seen that before.  I asked about the pain on my right side and he said it was normal to have some irritation until the body adjusts to the hardware.  He said it could also still be some inflamation from the surgery working itself out.  The x-rays look really good nothing wrong there.  They did several different types just to make sure nothing was causing the pain.

I'm thrilled with the results so far, I just really wanted to go back to work.  I'm going to work really hard on physical therapy so maybe I can go back in January.  My next appointment is New Year's Eve.  Hopefully it will bring a fantastic New Year.

Worried

Well I'm starting to get worried now.  As I get further away from my surgery the more the pain in the right side of my back is coming back.  I'm freaking out about bending metal, loosening screws, and non-union of the fusion.  I go to the doctor on Thursday but I don't know what to tell him.  I was doing so good at 2 weeks and now I don't know if I'll ever feel better.  I'm starting to lose my balance more and more.  I don't want to have another surgery.  I want this to work.  I really do need to get back to having exercise, I'm so stiff.  I'm also gaining a lot of weight from inactivity.  There are some that say you lose weight after surgery and some that say you gain.  I've gained and haven't figured out how to stop the gaining.

My husband has just started noticing that I'm really not better.  He caught me today when I lost my balance and he asked how often it was happening.  I didn't know what to tell him.  He wants me to go back to using the walker so I have something to catch myself with when I lose my balance.  I'll update again Thursday after my appointment.  Just so you know I'm still having bouts of depression and crying.  I'm hoping when the doctor lets me do some things that will change.

It's Been Awhile

Well it has been awhile since I updated so here goes.  I'm doing fair, I guess.  I'm still having some good days and some bad days.  I am really struggling with the not smoking thing.  I'm cheating,  I'll smoke for two days then quit again.  I'm stressed beyond belief.  I miss work, ok maybe not work but the people I work with and the social interaction.  My family is under the mistaken belief that I'm able to do whatever I want to.  That makes it really hard because I still need to have help with the housework and they aren't doing it.  I really hurt myself about a week ago because they wouldn't vaccuum so I did it.  I was in pain for days.

The pain is at least different now.  It's more the muscles being so stiff they hurt.  I'll be happy when I can bend and stretch again.  I think that will help with a lot of the pain.  Still obviously depressed.  I'm really concerned about money for the holiday's.  I have two kids that I have never disappointed before and it will upset me greatly if I can't provide them the Christmas they are used to.  They only get spoiled one day a year and that is it. 

I am getting read to put up the Christmas tree.  My oldest son is going to set it up for me.  I'm going to foof out the limbs and decorate the top.  My youngest son is going to put on the bottom ornaments.  I talked them into that at least. 

A Good Day

I had a really good day today.  I managed to get up early and take a shower.  I put make-up on and jewelry.  I went out to lunch with Paula, Tina, and Michelle.  It was just what I needed to lift my spirits.  We talked a lot about work.  Seems things are a changing.  My  employer is offering to send people to the Texas plant on a temporary basis.  They are back to hiring temporary workers.  I was sooooo glad to have a day out with friends, talking about anything but my back.  Maybe when I return to work they will have a job for me. 

My back isn't hurting so much right now.  More later

Sick and Tired

Ok, I realize I'm not keeping up with this blog.  Seems depression and pain keep you from doing even the simple things.  I'm doing fair I guess.  I can't sit up without something supporting my back.  Let me make a recommendation to everyone out there.  Rent the hospital bed and wheelchair.  I think a hospital bed would have been more comfortable than my bed.  The wheelchair seems overkill, until you have to do something like going to your son's choir concert.  I had to sit in bleachers for an hour and a half.  It was horrible, if I would have had a wheelchair they would have let me stay on the floor with in it.  You don't realize things like that will come up.  No matter what something like that will happen to you too. 

Anyway I'm currently sick.  I don't know why.  Could be a physical reaction to the pain, could be the flu, could be anything.  I'm going to recommend the flu shots to everyone having any type of surgery.  It is very painful when you vomit, cough, or sneeze.  If the vaccine becomes available anytime soon I'll be taking it.  Right now with the H1N1 and the regular flu the vaccine is in very short supply. 

I've moved back into my bedroom.  I moved out too soon.  I am still trying to come off prescription pain killers.  I make it off of them and then out of the blue the pain screams.

My Crankie CryFest!!!!!

Well I'm learning new things I can't do every day.  I'm still in more pain then I expected to be in at this point.  I can't wait until my doctor appointment in November.  I will be able to bend, lift and twist after that appointment.  I feel useless here a lot of the time.  I can't even go grocery shopping without help.  I can get everything in the cart but I can't take it out of the cart and I can't carry grocery bags.  My husband is at work every day and my oldest son is too busy with his friends to stop and help mom.  I have no real friends that will help me with anything.  I'm stuck.  Oh well what ya gonna do?

Today my hubby was actually home from work and we went out to lunch.  We were supposed to go to the grocery but he's too busy for that.  Guess he doesn't really want to eat.  The crankies aren't going away anytime soon in my house.  I feel so depressed and alone all of the time, and I want a cigarette.  I'm gonna get one too.  I'm tired and I'm gonna cry. 

Busy Busy Busy

I actually decided today that the bedroom is for sleeping.  That is a huge step in recovery from surgery.  I brought my computer out of the bedroom and cleaned everything that would keep me in the bedroom.  I need to start being a part of my family.  I am paying for it in pain right now, but it's going to be worth it.  My kids weren't expecting me to be sitting in the living room when they got home from school.

I also used my reacher thingy to pick up all of my dirty clothes in my bedroom.  I haven't gotten dressed really since surgery.  Mainly just sweats because of how comfy they are and easy to put on and take off.  My oldest son took my laundry downstairs and put it in the washer.

I also made dinner tonight.  Spaggetti, nothing too hard to cook.  It was all easily cooked and the kids feed themselves.  I'm, like I said, a little more painful than normal.  Soon I hope things don't revolve around my back.

Breakin the Rules

Ok so sometimes you just gotta break the rules.  Not the biggie's of no Bending, Lifting and Twisting but some little one's.  Today was that day.  I drove to my sister's house.  I'm not supposed to drive for 6 weeks, but again sometimes you gotta break the rules.  Hence the title of today's blog. 

Well I went over there and got the normal sad, sad stories of her life.  Yup even though I've been through surgery and my pay is cut in half (work pays medical leave benefits), her life is worse than mine.  I can't believe she thinks things are that bad for her.  Don't get me wrong she has a lot of problems.  She has a crap job and she is trying to raise 4 kids alone, but most of it is her own doing.  I love her but she doesn't help herself, she is an alcoholic and can't figure out where all of her money goes.

Anyway back to breaking the rules.  I'm in some pain from doing it, but I needed out of the house.  I suggest you break some of your doctors rules.  Nothing that will hamper your health or your healing, just little things.  Ok you know nothing dangerous, I hadn't taken any meds today before leaving the house because that could have been dangerous.  Drink a glass of wine once in a while.  Have a shower 2 days early.  Eat ice cream if you want it.  Just something minor.  It made me feel better to get out of the house on my own.

Blue Monday

Hello all.  Today I actually got up and filled the dishwasher.  I made a box dinner, nothing special, but at least I tried.  I'm feeling kinda cruddy now.  I didn't take any painkillers today so I'm paying for it now.  I took one a few minutes ago to try to get it back into control.  Anyway I'm feeling blue most days.  Seems I actually have no friends.  No one ever calls and asks how I'm doing.  It's very depressing to realize your 40 and no one cares if you live or die.  Oh well at least my family loves me and cares.  I think my husband has tomorrow off work.  Maybe we can go visit his parents or something.  I need some human contact.  I also have no followers here, but I'm going to keep writing because some day someone might come across this blog and it might help them to know they are not alone.

YOU ARE NOT ALONE.  There are many back pain victims that feel alone.  I got lucky my doctor did my surgery without too much arguement.  Don't get me wrong I've struggled with the pain for 10 years, the first doctor told me there was nothing he could do but have me do basicially nothing forever.  I wasn't going for that so I ignored my pain, popped ibuprophen like candy, and continued to damage my back.  Some people go to many doctors before they ever get tests and diagnosis.  If you have an orthopedic urgent care facility in your town go there.  They helped me more than any other doctors could have.  They immediately got me to x-ray.  Based on the x-ray I had an MRI 3 days later.  If you know anything about MRI scheduling 3 days is extremely fast unless your dying.  Anyway you aren't alone. This is my favorite forum:  http://www.spine-health.com/forum  everyone is very helpful.  Even there be careful because most people that remain on that forum after surgery are the one's that didn't get a lot better.  Once people are better they don't tend to post so much.  There is a lot of helpful advice.  There is even a list of things to prepare for surgery and surgical aftercare.  I personally haven't posted a lot on the forum because well I think I am getting better.  I don't need as much advice now.  Yes I'm still taking pain pills and yes I'm still in bed a lot, but those aren't from my original back pain, they are from the surgery.  My particular surgery required some bone removal and metal implants so it's going to take me a week or two more to be feeling really good. 

If your reading these posts and have any questions drop me a line.  Put it in the comments,  I'm not sure but my email should show up somewhere if you want a more personal answer.

Oh one more thing,  the doctor said extreme depression is common after this type of major surgery.  He said the longer I'm stuck in the bed the more depressed I'll get.  He also said to get to moving around but still be really careful-- no bending, lifting, or twisting.  Darn it and I like BLT's too LOL.

New Bionic Back

This is my new back kinda cool and scary all at the same time.  I'll explain later right now I'm tired from the doctor's appointment and stuff.

Monday:
Ok I'm editing now to explain the situation.  When my doctor got in he found a lot more problems than were apparent from the x-ray's and MRI.  So don't totally rely on those OK. So now the explaination.  There are 4 screws, 2 rods, a cross brace between the rods for extra stability, and finally an InFuse cage between my vertebrae.  He actually  put extra metal in that he hadn't planned on because of how unstable I was when he actually got in there.  He also found that the degenerative disc disease was a lot worse than they expected.  The disc had ruptured in the middle and I had bone on bone motion.  Another one of the reason's my symptoms varied every day.

Anyway he brought me from a 17mm slip down to a 5mm slip.  That is extremely difficult for a doctor to do.  Usually they don't try to control the slip, they just fuse it where it is.  I'm extremely impressed with the changes he made.  I know it's early but my original pain is better than it was.  I can walk upright.  Doctor says I'm taller now too.  That should be awesome from now on.  If you look on the front view of the x-ray's there appears to a halo around the metal.  That is actually bone graft, which he removed more bone in my back than he expected, no need to harvest from my hip or use donor bone.  He said I had excessive bone growth from years of overgrowth trying to catch up to the slip.  He wasn't sure he would be able to find a place for all of the bone be removed but he did.  He said as long as the bone starts to grow together it should be one of the strongest fusions he's ever done.  I'm excited it's going to do very well.  I'm positive I will get better. 

Pain sortof

I'm in a lot of pain today I think.  Actually I think my muscles are locked up.  It hurts pretty bad,  I think I would rather have muscle relaxers than pain killers.  The pain killers aren't working so well anymore, but I think if we could just loosen the muscles around the hardware I would feel better.  I'm hoping to get an X-ray or my back with my new hardware to show to everyone.  I think it's going to be interesting to see my new back.  Hopefully as my back gets better we can move on to some of my hobbies and I definately want to tell everyone about my family.  They are so spectactular.  They are more than I deserve,  I think they are more than anyone deserves.

I can't wait for my doctor's appointment this week.  I need to know if I'm not allowed to do some things for comfort or it they can actually cause damage.  Like I'm not allowed to drive for 6 weeks.  Is it for my comfort or would I be endangering the fusion of my back.  I also want to ask how long before we will know if it is fusing.  See I'm kind of scared that I will be in the up to 40% that doesn't fuse.  It is a scary thought what happens then?  Am I just without any hope at all.  If anyone reads this blog give me some hope please.

Wondering about my Chairs

Ok I wrote how none of my chairs are comfortable but I'm dying to know when they will be again.  The desk chair is nice and everything but I really would like to know when I can get back into my recliner.  I'm only really comfy when I'm in the recliner with a blankey and cup of hot chocolate.  It is much easier to write from there than anywhere else.  Well that's my thought for the day night everyone.

Tuesday's SUCK

Ok maybe not but this Tuesday does.  You would think I would be happy that I slept all night and late today.  Oh hell no.  If you ever have this surgery get up every 4-6 hours whether you want to or not.  Not only are all of the muscle relaxers and pain killers out of my system (OUCH) but everything is stiffened up from being in the same position for too long.  I will be setting an alarm from now on for around 2am.  I honestly didn't think I would sleep through the pain but it was really cold in here last night.  I sleep like the dead when it is really cold.

My poor husband thinks it's his fault.  It isn't how could he know that my back would lock up if I slept for too long.  He thought the sleep would do me good.  I've tried not to cry too much this morning so he wouldn't feel too bad.  I don't think he has caught me crying yet.

I'm hoping that my meds start working soon.  I need to get up and move.  I want to do my walking for the morning, even though its a little late.  I'll cut my body some slack today, there must have been a reason my body felt the need to sleep all night and all morning even though the pain was horrific when I woke up.

I'm still wondering what approach I'm going to use with the hospital over the nursing staff.  I decided yesterday it wouldn't be a good idea to call them.  I'm thinking of waiting a few weeks when I am strong enough to walk into the hospital and controlling my pain and emotions.  Something really needs to be done.  I'm relatively young can you imagine you grandmother getting the treatment I got?  It is very disturbing.  I can't imagine how my parents would take it. 

Hospital Story sortof

I'm not so great, but what do ya expect? No really I'm not so bad considering he did more work than he thought he would. I think being home is helping more than anything. The nurses at St. Mary's kept me sick I think. The day shift nurses thought they knew more than the doctor so they didn't hook me up to my Dilauted drip. They tried to get me to take pills even though I was vomiting everywhere. So from day 1 my pain was out of control. They didn't give me anything for the vomiting I had to ask for it. I will say when the evening shift nurse came on she did her best to get my pain under control. She couldn't go back & hook up my IV but she did give me my pain meds every 3 hours like the doctor wrote. Day shift nurse said I could only have them every 4 hours. Anyway she also went through the meds the doctor ordered and found valium to help with the muscle spasms, day shift nurse didn't mention it. No wonder all of those old people kept me awake all the time, they were in pain. Now that I'm home and can take my meds on time without waiting for "god" I'm getting better. Yes I intend to let the hospital know this is going on and want to know what they plan to do about it, because I'm just the kind of bitch to go to the newspaper about it. Ya know what it's monday I may just call about it today, because seriously I'm relatively young and can deal with pain, older people it would hit harder.




Back to the surgery. It went really well, I can already tell a difference in how I walk. Don't get me wrong the surgery is a nightmare and the pain is killer but I know it will end so I can live with it. The doctor put in 2 infuse cages in-between L4 & L5. He put in 4 screws, 2 rods, and a cross bar that he wasn't going to put in. I still have to ask about that. He said the bones were moving a lot more than he thought they were so he understood better the pain I was having. He said " I knew you were in pain, but I thought you were over exaggerating it a little." So great my surgeon thought I was faking it just a little, at least he did the surgery anyway. How's this for great: He does his own rounds at the hospital. I know a lot of ortho doctors send their PA instead of doing it themselves. I grew 1/2 inch in 5 hours. That is how long it lasted, 5 hours. The incision is like 8-12 inches. Like I said he said it was a little worse than the thought starting out. Unfortunately it went straight through my tattoo. Oh well he said he used that as a guide to line my skin back up. He used glue so no metal problems and he had records from the hysterectomy incision opening back up after the stitches came out. I can't believe I'm 1/2 inch taller, WOW, that's huge. I never even considered that.



Ok now to some other things no one thinks about after surgery. All of my chairs suck. Chris had to take me out last night because he tried without me and the chair wasn't any better for me. Anyway we ended up buying a high back office chair with arm rests.



Jordan and Gibson are being the most awesome kids I could ask for. They help every chance they get.  They sometimes even make the chance to help.

OMG THIS SUCKS

Ok we all knew it was going to hurt but OMG this is aweful.  My chairs are too painful to sit in so I've had to go buy a desk chair.  By the way the mechanical wheel chairs at walmart suck when you've had surgery.  I'm hoping to go into more detail soon about my hospital stay.  I had a nightmare nurse on day shift, so by night shift the nurses thought I was nothing but a whiny bitch.  More on that later I promise.  I've also got to say I had a nurse tech named Lisa who was awesome.

The Day Before the Nightmare!!!!

Well it's the day before surgery and I'm panicking now.  Do I really need to have this surgery?  Is the pain this bad?  Why did I commit to doing this?  Ok I know the answers to all of these.  I committed to doing this because the pain is that bad.  I can't live like this anymore.  I need to have the surgery, to stop the degeneration of my spine as much as possible. 

I am just seriously freaking out about the surgery.  My family isn't understanding that I will be doing nothing for weeks.  They are acting like they did when I had my gallbladder removed, and this isn't gallbladder surgery.  This is a big ugly painful back surgery, the kind you need a walker after.

I started my surgery prep yesterday.  I've got to shower with this stuff called Hibiclens.  Not sure exactly what it's supposed to do but I'm following orders.  I do know not to get it in my eyes or ears.  The nurse said you can go blind or deaf from this stuff.  Nice huh?  Doesn't say that on the bottle so no telling how many people wash their face with this stuff not knowing the side effects.  Anyway 1 shower a day with this stuff and a long shower before heading to the hospital tomorrow.  The nurse said to make it a long, relaxing shower because I won't be able to for a while.

TLIF -- Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion

Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) is a surgical technique that involves removing a disc from between two vertebrae and fusing the vertebrae together. This is done through a single incision in the back.


It is similar to a posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF). The difference is that in a transforminal lumbar interbody fusion, the disc is removed from the side. In the posterior version, the disc is removed from the back.

My Surgeon isn't sure if he is going from the right or left.  He asked me if he could decide during surgery which approch would be better.  I'm like I want you to do what is best and if that means deciding during surgery that's what you should do.  I don't want to tie his hands.  I had him mark everything on the pre-surgery form so he could do what was best for me during surgery. 
 
He plans on using Bone Morphogenetic Proteins as an additive to my own bone for the bone graft.  He doesn't think he will need to harvest any bone from my hip but I signed that he could if he needed to.  He thinks the bone he takes off my  vertebrae will be enough for the graft.
 
BMP is an expensive additive that aids in the bone growth process.  I don't know if insurance will cover it or not.  It seems to be a controversial thing with insurance covering it.  If not I'll take it out of my 401k and eat the penalties.  The research I've done on it makes it look like a great product.  I'm really nervous about the whole thing now.
 
Anyway, I'll be getting small cages placed between my vertebrae, after they remove what is left of my disc.  The doctor will be putting rods on both sides of my spine and securing them in with pedicule screws.  The surgery will take between 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 hours.  I might be in ICU the first night, it depends on how my body handles such a long surgery.  If I'm not in ICU I'll be put in a private room, that was remodeled recently.  The room has recliner beds in it for a family member to stay with me.  I still don't know if I'll have anyone to stay with me.  The doctor has put me at ease though.  He said my medication will be a scheduled thing.  I won't ask for it they will just bring it to me.  If I'm in pain before they come I'm to call them and they will have orders to bring in a different kind of medication.  I'm also not allowed to even take ibuprophen for 4-6 months after surgery so they won't be trying to wean me off of the prescription meds.

Heading to Surgery

Well I went to the doctor today, well after Physical Therapy. The therapy went badly again. Pain, Pain, and more Pain. I had a different therapist today, this one seemed to pay attention. She knew which exercises were aggrevating my condition just by watching my face. So she had me stop doing them. All of that is really moot though because I'm done with this type of therapy. I'll be having surgery on Wednesday. It's going to be a TLIF instead of the PLIF. I'll post tomorrow about what a TLIF is.

I must say I'm glad to finally be getting it scheduled. I would like to say I'm busy getting my house handicap friendly but I don't feel well enough to do it. If all else fails I'll take extra painkillers to get it done. Ok maybe not extra but I'll actually take what they prescribed. I've only been taking about half of what I'm supposed to.

I'm kinda nervous. I don't have anyone to stay at the hospital with me every night. I don't like being without someone there to advocate for me. Last time I was there without someone they with held pain killers saying the ibuprophen should take care of my pain.

Weekend Report

Well doing ok I guess. Not smoking still what is it? 9 days and counting. My back is horrible, small sharp pains in my back when I move, or big aching pain the rest of the time. Unless there is something different this week I probably won't post until Thursday evening. I go to my surgeon Thursday and I'm looking forward to finding out something. Hopefully he will schedule the surgery, but who knows, maybe he'll have another hoop I have to jump through.

Ouch

I'm having a bad time today. Physical Therapy jacked me up yet again. I don't understand why they think this is helping. I've tried to tell them for every muscle they loosen another one in my back locks up to take it's place. In the mean time the bones move in odd directions until the muscles all lock down into place. Short post today, I'm not feeling well. Think I will try to lay back down before work.

Oh still not smoking and doing fine with it. What is this? Day 7 I think.

It's Wednesday!!!

Another day smoke-free. Getting along ok on that front, for now anyway. I think this is day 6. My back was hitting a 7 on the pain scale last night. It's still about about a 5. Work is horrible on the pain. It gets worse with each passing day of the week. I expect Friday to be hitting 10's and crying on the way home. I'll be alright, it's just another day in paradise.

I've got to get ready for Physical Therapy. I'll be probably a 7 or 8 on the scale after that. They don't seem to understand it isn't helping when they try to get me to rotate my trunk, it makes me cry. I wish I had someone that understands this pain but I can't find anyone in my area with the same condition.

Random Thoughts for the Morning

Ok going into day 5 of not smoking. Think I'm doing OK as far as that goes. I'm really worried about going to work tonight. I'm still taking Pain Pills so I can't imagine what I'm going to do tonight without them. I go to Physical Therapy tomorrow, I'll stop at the doctor's desk and ask for a prescription of ibuprophen. I don't really think they will help but worth a shot.

I'm kind of getting ahead of myself here. I still don't know if medical will let me return to work. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. I really need the money from working for the next couple weeks. It's going to be hard not having an income when I have surgery, especially at this time of year.

Smoking

I'm really struggling with this.  I've never been able to quit smoking, but I have no choice if I want to have the surgery to try and fix the pain.  It seems a fusion fails 40-50% of the time in smokers.  The doctor said he doesn't care what I do after the bones fuse together but until then I need to be smoke-free.  I haven't smoked in 3 1/2 days and it's wearing on me.  I'm jumpy and ready to snap someone's head off.  I expect this to be harder tomorrow. 

I've been on medical leave for the last week.  I go back to work tomorrow, not the best idea but it's what I have to do to survive.  Anyway I don't know how I'm going to do at work with the not smoking.  I can't take my painkillers, can't smoke, and basically have no way to control my back pain.  The stress is going to be really bad.  I'm not even sure if medical at work will let me come back.  I almost hope they don't let me come back.  I'm going to update daily about the smoking and pain.  Hoping to make it.  I have the drug test for nicotine on the 17th.

X-Ray and Spondy Explaination

Spondylolisthesis(spondy) is a spinal condition that involves the slipping of one spinal vertebra over the one immediately underneath it. So basically instead of the disc slipping the actual vertebra bones slip.

This is my X-Ray it is a grade 2-3 "spondy". The vertebra effected are the ones outlined in red. I've written the grading system for you to understand it.


Grade I = 1% to 25%

Grade II = 26% to 50%

Grade III = 51% to 75%

Grade IV = 76% to 100%

Grade V is called spondyloptosis and occurs when the L5 vertebra completely slides over the top of the sacrum.

You can also see from the X-Ray that the disc space between those two vertebra is much smaller than all of the others. That is the Degenerative Disc Disease. It makes the "spondy" unstable. It moves with every move I make. That is what is causing my pain, well that and the forminal stenosis clamping down on the nerves. With it being unstable it could progress to the next grade at any time.

This is one of the websites I like the best: Medifocus Health Understanding Spondylolisthesis  It has a great explaination of the problem, symptoms, and treatment options.

Blogging can be Confusing

Ok I'm getting to know a little about the blogging. Wow I never would have thought it would be this confusing. Posting, Settings, Layouts, Monetize, I'm confused. I'm hoping I get better at this as I go along, forgive me for my first few posts, I'm learning. If anyone out there has any suggestions leave your comments for me. I'm willing to take any complaints or compliments. I will take everything you say in the mannor it is intended. I assume everyone has good intentions when they comment. Later today I will try to gather some of the surgical information on the PLIF and some information on what a "spondy" is. Remember This isn't a medical site, it's just me documenting my medical condition. If you have medical issues see a doctor, they are the only one's qualified to diagnose you.

Getting to know me!!!

Hi everyone. This is my first blog and I'm creating it to diary my back problems. Unfortunately it can't be from beginning to end because the beginning was 9 or 10 years ago. I have an L4/L5 grade 2 Spondylolisthesis, it was a grade 1 when it was originally diagnosed. It has progressed since my original diagnosis. I also now have Degenerative Disc Disease between L4/L5. I have forminal stenosis, and this is all unstable. Every step I take moves my L4 in odd directions. I am being seen by an orthopedic surgeon. I've done physical therapy with no improvement, in fact I'm worse every time I go. I had an Epidural Steroid Injection with no improvement. I'm now in the process of scheduling surgery. The doctor is recommending a posterior lumbar interbody fusion(PLIF) but first.... There is always a but isn't there. Anyway I have to pass a drug test in about a week and a half to prove I've quit smoking. Ok yeah I know I have a better chance if I'm a non-smoker but don't you think that is my risk to take? Ok I was already on Wellbutrin to quit when he told me that. I was down to 3 cigarettes a day, and I did totally stop on September 4th. It is killing me but I need my back to feel better. I'll go into further detail about PLIF's and other surgical options in future posts. In my blog I'll probably link to some of my favorite sites about back pain, and some of my favorites sites about everything else.