BACK SURGERY

I’m going to share a different kind of adventure this week.

I have a history of low back pain, but since August of last year, what I thought was another flare up just kept getting worse. In December, the pain got so severe that I couldn’t sleep or move without being in pain. Transitional movements were really limiting, standing was more comfortable than sitting, then sitting became more tolerable than standing, rolling over in bed felt like torture, I couldn’t lay flat comfortably, and I developed an antalgic gait. I finally reached my breaking point and asked my chiropractor for an MRI referral.

The MRI revealed two bulging discs sandwiching a 10mm herniated disc at my L4-5. The herniation was compressing my cauda equina nerve.

I went to see an ortho spinal surgeon, who tested my strength and reflexes and all were normal. While he did say this was one of the worst herniated discs he’d seen recently, he wanted to wait a month because I was functioning pretty well. However, just a few days later, I developed sciatica in my right leg, which made the whole situation even more painful.

During my month of “waiting,” I went to see a chiropractor that specializes in spinal decompression therapy. He took one look at my images and said my joint was “too hot” and didn’t recommend spinal decompression at this time.

During this time, I sought out a second opinion with a neurosurgeon. He also couldn’t understand how I was functioning so well, but he recommended surgery, STAT. Conservative treatment wasn’t an option due to the severity of the nerve compression.

I made the decision to proceed with the surgery, and on President’s Day 2020 (pre COVID) I underwent a hemilaminectomy and microdiscectomy at my L4-L5. The surgery went well and I was home the same day (I did not drive myself). The doctor said he removed a disc bulge the size of the tip of his pinky finger! 😳 The sciatica pain is gone, but the pain at the surgical site was something else, and it wasn’t until a couple months after surgery that I couldn’t feel the pain at the surgical site anymore. There is still some residual nerve pain (most likely damage from the nerve compression). I’m able to walk as much as I can tolerate and I wore a fancy LSO brace for the first couple of weeks. Being the occupational therapist that I am, I ordered a “hip kit” to comply with my spinal precautions of no bending, lifting, or twisting (no BLTs). I started physical therapy about six weeks post-op and returned to work after six months. The length of time it takes to return to work varies on a person’s recovery and type of job. Since I’m an occupational therapist and my job is physically demanding, my recovery took longer than average, or for someone’s whose job is mostly sedentary.

I’ll have another blog post where I share more details about my recovery and rehab process, including the decision to get stem cells. Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments below!