Posted by Cherie on 10/21/2009, 11:14 am
129.162.1.32
As some of you who have Facebook accounts may know, I had back surgery July 15th to repair damage I sustained to my L4/L5/S1 vertebrae in a nasty fall I took in 2000/2001 (I just can't remember the year). The surgeoun removed damaged bone from the L4/L5 and L5/S1 vertebrae. He did not remove the discs because, thankfully, they were in good shape. He instead put 6 brackets and screws a 2 titanium rods in my back and a bone graft to fuse those 2 vertebral spaces together.
I will not lie to you, the post-op pain was horrible. It did not help that I cannot take morphine or codiene-based pain killers. They started me on morphine despite the fact that I told them it would not work - it didn't; they switched me to Demerol but my blood pressure plummeted to 79/40 for 36 hours; then they switched me to Tramadol & got my BP up to 90/50 or so at which point the Physical Therapy folks were willing to let me out of bed.
I spent 6-weeks out of work, 2-weeks working part-time and have been back full-time for 5 weeks. It has been a long road and sometimes all I could take were baby steps. But it has been so worth it. I can now walk Jack 1-1.5 miles a day. I'm back to taking yoga twice a week. I'm studying meditation. I'm even PLAYING with my dog. I could do none of these things before my suregery.
I spent 8-9 years thinking my chronic pain (and grumpyness) were due to the Fibromyalgia I have lived with for 30+ years. Instead 90% of my pain was from my back and while I am stiff & sore in the morning, it is 3-months since the surgery and I feel phenomenal. The change that has occured in my body, my outlook on life and my overall sense of well-being is indescribable. Now that my spine is repaired I feel almost reborn.
I just wanted to share how well I feel and encourage anyone who may be where I was to find a good doctor and take the leap of faith. Fix what is broken, you may be surprised and the myriad of changes that it will make in your life.
My thanks to all who have been encouraging and supporting me along the way - you know who you are. My thanks to the rest of you for listening.
Responses: