hi rob
not good at all i will go in tomorrow i think it's starting in my left leg aswell not as bad as right but my back feels like there is someone twisting my spine it's awful, yes the surgeon said if it happens again it will be a fusion i think it's my only option DO NOT WANT ANOTHER DISECTOMY i need to know if this has happened before to anyone else so soon after surgeries i would hold my hands up and admit i did too much but i haven't i was even more careful this time:confused: i really don't want to go in but i don't want to take the strong meds at home 1/2 an hour pain free would be great, vice to say im feeling sorry for myself im not the same person i was bubbly outgoing always laughing,
anyway take care ill keep you informed x
As i said a friend had fusion and he has even told me i should have one lol! If thats the course of action you have to take then go with it and be confident, positive thinking is immense!
I will have you in my thoughts and be praying for you and your family!
Take care x
Hi,
Can't believe you are back where you started again!! It does sound like a fusion is your only option. The person I know who had one lower back has gone on to have one in neck also ( missed discectomy out completely for neck problem) she told me that it completely changed her life and she wished she'd had it years earlier when her children were toddlers! So if that is the case for you go in with a positive attitude. I know my recovery has been easy in comparison to yours but I'm also sick of hearing myself moan, think children even more so!! Like you thought I'd make the effort to put makeup on and get back to some normality ( so sick of joggers/ leggings if I never see another pair once recovered I'll be happy) however face so sore from reaction to antibiotics haven't dared risk it!
Rob just remember once you've a back problem it's never back to normal even if pain goes you still need to be careful.
Take care both of you xx
Hey Em
Yeah, i know im gonna have to look after my back and that its likely to be with me till the day i.....well you know what lol!
Glad you and Yogi both put some make up on, lol.....i think i might give it a go with my wifes stuff to see if it makes me feel any better! LMAO!! Joking
Take care and hope you have a good couple of days the both of ya!
Rob
Hi rob,
Not sure the putting make up on such a good idea, your wife may think you've completely lost the plot!! Or if no one notices they'll just think you're looking loads better!
I've fallen into my old habit of giving others good advice about their health whilst not taking it myself. Felt really good yesterday ( well apart from sore face/ neck from antibiotic reaction) so did too much, woke up with sciatica luckily its eased significantly as day gone on. Hopefully that just my warning to take things easy and remember my backs not what it used to be even if I'm not in loads of pain. As I said I can dish out the advice but don't always take it myself.
Thanks for the link, hope your day has been relatively pain free.
Yogi, hope you are getting some pain relief and answers as to how to progress.
hi rob/emlou
ive took a turn for the worse im literally back where i started if not worse ive done nothing but rest walked around the house hoping id get better the sciatica has got worse in my foot and ankle outer calf my back feels like it's gonna break everytime i move i was gonna try and get a brace to try and keep it straight, i thinking of going in to hospital for pain managment don't like the kids seeing me like this i feel like im in a black hole i don't want to speak to anyone not even my mum ive had a lot of miss calls, just to verify im not a wimp i can cope with pain ive gave birth four times with just gas and air and my labours was all in my back, i know the difference between healing pains and this the only comfort i have with back is when i lean forward but that hurts my leg pressure can't win.
rob is your scan today? emlou good luck with the rest of your healing. xx
Hi Yogi
Im so sorry to hear about your woes hun and the strain on your, your kids, husband and extended family must be immense. I sincerely hope you get the relief you need as a matter if urgency and it is sorted out one way or the other!
As for me, i feel terrible talking about myself so all im going to do is to confirm your question that yes, i have my MRI this evening at 6.45pm.
Take care
Rob xx
Hi yogi,
Sorry to hear things are progressively getting worse and not better. I think you need to seriously think about an admission if its available to you to get on top of your pain and hopefully give you some answers. I'm not suprised you are feeling so low when you're in chronic pain, I know how my moods been affected by the pain and I've had it easy compared to you! Your family will hate seeing you like this and im sure that they will not think you are a wimp by asking for extra help. I do hope you get some relief soon.
Rob,
Hope that it wasn't too uncomfortable having your MRI and that you get a clearer picture of what's going on so you too can have the appropriate treatment to improve your pain and mobility.
I drove my husbands automatic car to collect him from airport , think it was definitely too much too soon as back went into spasm and had sciatica all day yesterday (seems easier today). I think my wound is finally healing as oozing significantly less, however reaction rash not improved as of yet!! Like you rob it doesn't seem right talking about me when yogi suffering, however did want you to know that discectomy can also make a positive difference it's just not easy going at times.
Take care x
Hi Em and Claire (If your still home, but hopefully your in hospital getting the pain management you deserve!)
Well the MRI was a breeze, my last one some 9 months approx ago i was in that tunnel for atleast 30 minutes, yesterday i was in for a bout 12-15 mins i would guess. I was in and out of the hospital car park inside 27 minutes!! Wow, thats a record for me!
Also, i woke this morning to a letter from the hospital offering me the epidural on 23rd April. I have to fill in a questionnaire and return it to them before this date. Atleast things are moving aslong.
I still wake to some dull aches in the buttock but its nowhere near as bad at the moment as it has been. I think its just a case of good days and bad days!
Anyway, hope Claire your better and feeling a little brighter. And Em, dont rush doing things like driving the car, ask a friend to pick up your hubby.
Regards
Rob x
hi emlou/rob
im waiting for a bed so i can go in for pain management i also have my scan on saturday at 4
i have no doubt that there's something on my nerves again as my symptoms of back and leg pain are getting worse, all that people keep saying to me is that i should not have had the surgery i can understand them saying that but the point is that i could not have carried on the way i was before either so it's a catch 22 situation, IF i do have a fusion it will be a long recovery but at least there will be no discs left to prolapse i think it will be a 2 level as my l4/5 is degenerated and bulging and it wouldn't hold very well. im just trying to visualize my life without popping pills and being stuck in the house all the time im only 38.
i think from what the secretary said is that im not going to be under my consultant i will be referred to someone else think it may be a spinal surgeon.
and also i think i have another tear as my back is burning like before my first surgery i suffered a lot from inflammation and that's from l4/5 because they put an epidural in that area during my first op as the nerves were very red and it's l5/s1 that's causing the sciatica:(
one good thing im glad i waited to agree to go in because my hubby is off work now till tuesday plus my mother in law has gave up work well she got made redundant so theres plenty of help to me and at least my little boy will get out of the house ive been feeling so sorry for him but he's been great such a good little boy he knows i can't pick him up and every moan i make he comes over and rubs my head asking if im ok bless him the thouight of leaving him to go back in kills me but im doing for him something needs to be done once and for all.
emlou and rob just have to say that im so grateful of your support plus please don't think that your problems are less then mine this thread is not just for my moaning i love to hear how your both are doing. take care ill keep you updated if i do go in today ill bring my phone to keep you updated
take care xxxxx
Hi yogi,
I do hope a bed becomes available and that you get some pain relief. At least if you are having another MRI you will know exactly what is going on.
It's easy for people to say you shouldn't have had surgery but you weren't to know it would not be successful and you're right you couldn't /can't carry on like this. I'm not sure that many people have any real concept of the level of pain disc prolapse cause when they don't fix themselves.
I had that conversation with my husband yesterday about the fact that its a 24/7 pain that doesn't give any respite at all. Mind you I'm also not sure people understand how long the recovery is either or how easy it is to do too much!!! It seems if you look better then everything is ok, if only it was that simple. I did too much again yesterday so not feeling great today, when will I learn!!
I really hope that the surgeons can sort you out properly this time. We are far to young to be constantly popping pills and feeling like an 80year old, and having to constantly think what we wear that won't hurt either our wounds or in the case of shoes our backs!! Take care and let us know how you get on.x
Hiya
Just got in from work, did a 12 hour shift without any problems.....will i suffer tomorrow though? lol
Sorry to hear of your plight Claire, i really do hope that if you are or do go into hospital they can sort you out pronto! Its so unfair that you shoudl be allowed to feel like this! Im glad your son has managed to put a smile on your face though, he sounds like a ray of sunshine! Id happily swap him right now for my two herberts lol!
Take care to you both and between us all and our support for eachother im adament we will make complete recoveries and maybe one day throw a part of all parties with us boogeying on the dance floor lol! Somehow i think not, i couldnt dance even before my disc problems lol!
Take care and happy easter x
hi rob/emlou
rob you make me laugh we can invent a new dance DISC PROLAPSE DANCE lol now that would be funny to see im sure it would catch on ha ha, im so glad your having your good days, well im still waiting for a bed im a bit annoyed they were the one's telling me to come yet no word but i have my scan today ill probably won't hear anything till tuesday, yesterday was very bad i was crawling up the stairs i think there is some inflammation irritating my left side.
well it's a beautiful day here in manchester let's hope the red's win today.
emlou hope your still doing well and enjoying time with your hubby.
take care and happy easter to you aswell xxxx:)
Hi to the three of you
I have been following your thread but have only joined today.
Your thread interests me because I am unhappily on the same path. I am listed for operation and due to have my pre op exam at the end of April. I am however, getting cold feet about the whole thing and wondering whether to follow Brillo's line of thinking. I am further not helped Yogi by the fact we are from the same area and I will be at the same hospital.
As well as prolapsed disc at L3/5 I also have osteo arthritis at L1/2. The OA is a family problem - grandmother, mother and all my cousins suffer from this. I know that nothing can be done for this pain, only for the pain in my legs, thighs and buttocks and the prolapse. For the last few weeks I have been travelling with a stick, and use a wheelchair kept in car for long walks as things now so bad with the combination of pains.
However, I am not encouraged by the facts and figures presented by the hospital. I am down for a laminectomy and a discectomy. I would like to know if the figures given were the same for all of us or whether it is because I also have the arthritis, have just had my 70th birthday and am overweight which has not been helped by forced lack of activity.
I was told that I have a 50-60% chance of operation making any difference to sciatic type pain., that 10% of operations result in complications - eg given were loss of the fluid, bleeding, recurrence earlier or later, infections etc. The really bad one of course is that I was told 1 in 500 end up with total paralysis and loss of bowel and bladder use. That is of course a very low risk. Were you told all these things? He also added that most ops take place in their spinal theatre but that some, and that I would certainly be one, would need to be in the general theatre, so that as he put it it was nearer to other hospital services if needed. Incidentally I have no other health problems except some psoriasis. At the end of all this he finished by saying he was sure they would be able to help me!!!
As I said earlier I am losing my nerve on this and wonder whether to first of all try the injections like Brillo so am very interested in what you say after you have had yours. The only other two things he suggested were a drug called Pregablin which I am already on and has not made a significant difference and physiotherapy. He has listed me but said I can opt out up to pre op time.
Looking foward to your thoughts on this.
hi tree lover
first of all i would not want to put anyone off the surgery im just very unlucky i have been bed ridden for the past two days symptoms are getting worse.
i did have epidural it did work for a few weeks but in the end surgery was my last option the surgery may or may not help your leg pain but it's certainly worth a go the hospital we are at is a very good one i can not fault them they have been really prompt with me getting me scanned again so soon after my ops and offering me a bed for pain management.
i think you should go and opt for surgery you may be glad you did, as for back pain it will not help but at least if your leg pain goes you may cope better.
hope this helps and good luck.