Back Injury

FireFinder · Post by **FireFinder** » April 6th, 2006, 7:03 pm

LN: How goes things at Bragg after having that surgery? I'm fairly certain I'm having what you are having.

Ranger Bill: No myotherapists in this area. I'm still going in for the deep-tissue massage, that stuff is better than anything else I've done. Afterwards I go to the gym and hang in the knee-up chair to uncompress the lower back, and then go for a soak in the hot tub, and some stretching.

Thanks everyone for all the support/info.

Ranger Bill · Post by **Ranger Bill** » April 6th, 2006, 7:05 pm

Good luckand I hope for the best for you.

msg_dman · Post by **msg_dman** » April 6th, 2006, 7:05 pm

I had a spinal dyscectomy on the L5-S1, had pain shooting down back of left leg. After the surgery I was fine. I went on to do rucking and jumping. I got 20% for it when I got out. PM me if you have any specific questions because it sounds like you have exactly what I did.

FireFinder · Post by **FireFinder** » April 18th, 2006, 12:07 am

Well, I'm off to the hospital at 0630 and am now officially on the "can't drink, can't eat" orders. I'm #2 on my doctor's caselist tomorrow, and expect I'll be out of surgery by noon or earlier, but who knows.

Chiron · Post by **Chiron** » April 18th, 2006, 3:51 am

Good luck!

Ardent Lady · Post by **Ardent Lady** » April 18th, 2006, 5:01 am

Hope it goes well, Firefinder. Keep us posted as you're able.

RTO · Post by **RTO** » April 18th, 2006, 5:18 am

Dang, all this talk about backs and now mine went while I was at work on Sunday. Couldn't get out of bed for work Monday and still can't stand up or sit down or move around without a cane. I have a weightlifter belt on for support which seems to help and on a secret stash of serious pain killer until my Dr. appt.

Ardent Lady · Post by **Ardent Lady** » April 18th, 2006, 5:37 am

RTO wrote:Dang, all this talk about backs and now mine went while I was at work on Sunday. Couldn't get out of bed for work Monday and still can't stand up or sit down or move around without a cane. I have a weightlifter belt on for support which seems to help and on a secret stash of serious pain killer until my Dr. appt.

Sorry to hear you're on profile Ranger RTO. Get better soon so no one takes it into their head to take you out back and shoot ya...

RTO · Post by **RTO** » April 18th, 2006, 5:43 am

Ardent Lady wrote:
RTO wrote:Dang, all this talk about backs and now mine went while I was at work on Sunday. Couldn't get out of bed for work Monday and still can't stand up or sit down or move around without a cane. I have a weightlifter belt on for support which seems to help and on a secret stash of serious pain killer until my Dr. appt.
Sorry to hear you're on profile Ranger RTO. Get better soon so no one takes it into their head to take you out back and shoot ya...

Thanks A/L, nice to see someone cares!

FireFinder · Post by **FireFinder** » April 19th, 2006, 11:04 am

Well, I am home from the hospital. I had to be there at 7AM even though my surgical appointment wasn't until 10:30, so it was kind of a long morning. Went into surgery about 10:30, came to in the recovery room about 12:30, and it wasn't until 1400 that I was moved to my room. Back hurts quite a bit around the incision, the doc said he really had a lot of scar tissue to remove from around the nerve. It has been messed up for a while.

Ranger Bill · Post by **Ranger Bill** » April 20th, 2006, 2:29 pm

Good luck on recovery and do post-op physical therapy like it's a new religion. Keep the SITREPS coming.

FireFinder · Post by **FireFinder** » April 20th, 2006, 4:59 pm

Thanks everyone, I can truthfully say at this point I consider the surgery successful. I've had almost total relief of the pain and loss of strength I was experiencing before the surgery. I'm still moving very deliberately, as the incision site and surrounding muscles are very sore from all the digging around the surgeon had to do.

I had to get evaluated by a physical therapist and occupational therapist before I could get discharged, and was climbing stairs, and walking around with not too much difficulty, so the PT person said I was good. The occupational therapy folks were another story. They kept telling me about all these assistive devices I could get, like raised toilet seats and other nonsense, and I'm like "I'm not even 40, I don't need a bunch of geriatric-oriented stuff, go find some blue-haired person that needs that crap, I aim to be 100% in 3 months" while acknowledging that it DOES require a lifestyle change, and I HAVE to get my back rehabbed, and drop those extra pounds so I don't see the surgeon again for a fusion at some point in the future.

I swore to the nursing staff that I hadn't had a decent nights sleep in 5 weeks, so don't come in checking my pulse every hour or so during the night. Turns out, what with all the cat naps I was having due to the pain meds, and watching King Kong on my laptop, that I didn't sleep but about 4 hours all night. It was also a good thing the wife brought some food with her for me, because 2 hours out of surgery and in my room, I was begging for something to eat, and she busted out the peanuts and a diet pepsi for me while waiting on the powers that be to decide how long it takes to fetch me a turkey sandwich.

FireFinder · Post by **FireFinder** » April 21st, 2006, 12:02 pm

Nope, they didn't use a catheter, but I had to piss a ton with them giving me IV fluids. And I had to use the damn portable urinal so they could measure output while I was on the IV.

In the last 24 hours I've probably had 11 hours of sleep, which is a damn lot considering I was waking up every hour to an hour and a half before the surgery. I can't lay on my back all that comfortably, even with pillows under my knees, etc. due to the incision site pain. It is getting better. I just have to be patient.