Update
So much has happened since I last posted. My back has continued to get worse. I was seeing my chiropractor and at first things seemed to be going good; the pain was lessening some and my range of motion was improving however we noticed the numbing on my left side was getting worse. Every thing seemed to come to a head about three weeks ago while I was at the store with Sydney. My knee hard a sharp pain that was jolting down into my calf and most of my foot went numb. When I reported this to my doctor she felt like it was time to get an MRI. I had the MRI on a Thursday and the following day Dr. Harris called to say things were much worse than she had expected.
L4 has a medium size bulge and a small fissure, L5 has a very large bulge and several fissures and I have a piece of disc that has broken off and is resting on my sciatic nerve. Her advice was that I see a surgeon and a physical therapist.
The physical therapist felt like with a lot of work and time that he could help me. The biggest down side to physical therapy was that he felt that it may take several months to see a difference and he was not able to write me a prescription for pain. I tried it for a week while I waited for an appointment with the surgeon for his opinion. I literally spent days in bed crying from the pain. I was taking Advil and Excedrin to try to lessen the pain but it helped very little. Finally Scott and I agreed that there was no way I could spend months like that.
We had not heard from the surgeon that Dr. Harris had referred me to so we contacted The Texas Back Institute and I am so happy God led us there; they schedule me in the next day for an evaluation. The doctor felt like because of the large fragment and size of the bulge at L5 surgery was going to be needed. She did suggest trying an injection first that could possibly help reduce the inflammation, pain and give my body a chance to absorb some of the "stuff" from the herniated disc. She was very upfront that it was a 50/50 chance but it seemed worth it to me. I had to stay off Advil and Excedrin for one week prior to the injection but she gave me hydrocodone instead for the pain.
I had injection on the 11th. I was given a twilight anaesthesia so I was unaware of anything. That night I slept very well! The next day I noticed an improvement, nothing like what other people told me they had experienced but I was able to get up, walk around and even sit up. The pain was tolerable and some of the numbing disappeared in my toes. We were all so excited but it was short lived. By Sunday much of the pain was back however only some of the numbness has come back and as long as I am taking the pain medicine I can get up and move around for 30 minutes or so before I have to head back to bed to rest.
We followed up with the doctor on Monday and as we all figured I will have to have surgery; I meet with the surgeon on Tuesday to go over everything and schedule the surgery.
Things have definitely not turned out the way I would have planned but I know God has a plan and that helps. I will try to do better at posting but since my time up is limited most days I try to spend that time with my family and taking care of anything pressing that comes up.
L4 has a medium size bulge and a small fissure, L5 has a very large bulge and several fissures and I have a piece of disc that has broken off and is resting on my sciatic nerve. Her advice was that I see a surgeon and a physical therapist.
The physical therapist felt like with a lot of work and time that he could help me. The biggest down side to physical therapy was that he felt that it may take several months to see a difference and he was not able to write me a prescription for pain. I tried it for a week while I waited for an appointment with the surgeon for his opinion. I literally spent days in bed crying from the pain. I was taking Advil and Excedrin to try to lessen the pain but it helped very little. Finally Scott and I agreed that there was no way I could spend months like that.
We had not heard from the surgeon that Dr. Harris had referred me to so we contacted The Texas Back Institute and I am so happy God led us there; they schedule me in the next day for an evaluation. The doctor felt like because of the large fragment and size of the bulge at L5 surgery was going to be needed. She did suggest trying an injection first that could possibly help reduce the inflammation, pain and give my body a chance to absorb some of the "stuff" from the herniated disc. She was very upfront that it was a 50/50 chance but it seemed worth it to me. I had to stay off Advil and Excedrin for one week prior to the injection but she gave me hydrocodone instead for the pain.
I had injection on the 11th. I was given a twilight anaesthesia so I was unaware of anything. That night I slept very well! The next day I noticed an improvement, nothing like what other people told me they had experienced but I was able to get up, walk around and even sit up. The pain was tolerable and some of the numbing disappeared in my toes. We were all so excited but it was short lived. By Sunday much of the pain was back however only some of the numbness has come back and as long as I am taking the pain medicine I can get up and move around for 30 minutes or so before I have to head back to bed to rest.
We followed up with the doctor on Monday and as we all figured I will have to have surgery; I meet with the surgeon on Tuesday to go over everything and schedule the surgery.
Things have definitely not turned out the way I would have planned but I know God has a plan and that helps. I will try to do better at posting but since my time up is limited most days I try to spend that time with my family and taking care of anything pressing that comes up.
posted by Margaret at
8:57 PM
2 Comments:
The kids had told me that Sydney had posted this on her blog, but I hadn't yet been to see it. I'm glad you were able to update here. We'll be praying for a quick recovery for you.
Thank you Susan!
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