Surgery

I met with the surgeon on Tuesday and he agreed I will need surgery. He seemed to think it would be very straightforward with no complications because of my size, health and the severity. Since the disc has totally ruptured and is one big blob resting on my sciatic nerve he will be able to make a small incision, grab the mass, pull it out and close me up. In some cases the mass separates into several areas; this causes less pain for the patient but more work for the surgeon. So... as he put it, it is a good thing that if I was going to mess myself up that I did it so well.

My surgery will be on April 9th and if everything goes as it should I will go home the following afternoon. I went in today for my preop clearance. I had to have lab work done and an EKG. On April first I go in for one last appointment with surgeon so he can go over my test results, answer any last minute questions and give me some of the postoperative instructions since I will probably be a little sore and distracted the day after and it will allow us to have an idea of what to expect and how to plan for the weeks preceding surgery. I already know I will not be able to drive for two weeks. Ugh... two weeks of staying home. I really do like my home and enjoy being here but for the last several months I have been here 24/7 except for doctor appointments and the very occasional trip to the grocery store, I am ready to get out! Plus psychologically, at least for me, I want to do what I know I can't. Crazy I know but how many times do you look when someone says don't look?

Well, since we know I will not be able to go to the store at least for two weeks and that I will be limited in what I can do I plan to do as much ahead of time as I can. I want to try to make things as easy as I can on Scott and the kids. I know I will rest easier if I feel like I have done my best to take care of them.

I am starting to hurt so I am off to bed and I will try to finish up another post I have started later tonight.

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.

Buyer's Remorse No More

Don't you just hate it when you buy an item and then the following week you find it on sale? I use to, but not any more. One of the things I have had to come to terms with is the fact that sometimes I will miss a good deal for one reason or another. I use to get so upset because I would get to CVS with my list and find they were out of everything I "needed". You know what though, we have never gone without toothpaste or toilet paper, God has always supplied all our needs.

I am very thankful for His provision and try not to take it for granted, part of that thankfulness means being a good steward. So... that takes me back to my first question. Don't you just hate it when you buy an item and then the following week you find it on sale? Despite watching sales, keeping a price book and comparison shopping it is bound to happen to all of us at some point. However in some instances you can fix it.

Last year Scott and I went to Target to buy him some clothes, this man hates to buy clothes so I was more than excited to go with him. We found a few deals in the clearance racks but most of what we got was normal price. Then the following week I was looking through the ads and noticed that the pants and shirts we had bought were now on sale. Since I had to make a trip by there anyways I stopped in to see if there was anything thing they could do, to my surprise they gave me the difference. It was close to $30, enough to pick up some groceries we needed.

Then last week was Scott's birthday; the kids bought him The Dark Knight on DVD and split the cost. This week it is on sale for $10 so tonight when I take Syd to work since Target is right down the road I am going to go in and have them adjust the receipt. The kids were very excited when I told them and it gave me one more practical way to show them how to be a good steward now and in the future.