Bummer, Sort of

Well, the doctor's office called yesterday and said that the general surgeon is not available until August. The spine doctor uses a general surgeon to make the approach in the abdomen. This is good news and bad news. The good part is that it gives me longer to think about it. The bad part is that it gives me longer to think about it.

The bad part is that our Aflac probably won't pay any benefit because August is past their 1 year deadline for surgery.

The other bad part is that I have to probably work during the plant shutdown. Hopefully it's not too hot.

Should hear more today or tomorrow.

Oh yeah, they haven't scheduled the discography yet. There's a another ray of sunshine to look forward to .

Signed,

Brokeback Rob

First Steps

Well, I decided to start posting a blog to describe my process leading up to surgery and my (eventual) recovery.

The lawnmower fell on top of me on July 3, 2005. I've always felt like someone kicked me really hard in the rear. And the middle of my back has pain when any type of twisting or bending occurs. Now, almost 1 year later, I still have the pain in the tail and the middle of my back seems to be getting worse.

I have been seeing a surgeon exploring the surgical option. At first, I thought that I could live with the pain. Now, it seems to be getting un-liveable. I don't sleep very well. It's very hard to concentrate at work. It's hard to play baseball with the kids without shooting pain when I bend over or twist.

So, the first step is a diskogram. The explanation that I got was that they stick needles into my spine and pressurize the disk to recreate the pain. I will be awake when they do this. This gives the Dr. a better idea of what is causing the pain. All the MRI's show a slight bulge at L5 S1.

After that, he can do an anterior fusion. This is where they go thru the belly and remove the disk and put a bone from my hip and fuse the vertebre together. If they have to do a posterior entrance, the recovery becomes much longer. This is due to the muscle structure that they have to dissect to get to the spine. Then they have to reattach the muscles.

I will post more later.