Sunday, August 28, 2011

and the saga continues...

After being so hopeful after surgery and before my post op appt, here I am just over 4 mo post op(as well as just over 19mo post op from the first one), and still just as miserable as ever. Yes, the second surgery helped some and for awhile, took away all my pain. I got to experience what it felt like before the pain started and I was so hopeful that the end had finally come! I couldn't have been more wrong!

Dr K didn't have many restrictions for me at my post op...he said he is hesitant to tell people what they cannot do, but rather to listen to what the body says. He did suggest no running/jumping for 3-5 months when I asked about softball :D Because i was still having pain in my butt/legs, I was just told to listen to what it was telling me. So I watched all summer!

No PT was written for after this surgery...I still wonder if that was the best as my muscles in my back do not move like they used to at all. But I trust in Dr K that he is sending me down the right path.

tho, the pain continues and has gotten worse! Finally, I talked to Cleveland again and Dr K recommended injections - even tho I have had 9 prior and they always made things worse. But I agreed, thinking it being post op, it might be different. So I scheduled them w/ Dr P here because he had done them before and it beats driving 2.5 hours for injections, 3x. Aug 2 was the first round....he had decided at the consult to do 2 each round, for 3 rounds but stop after one if no relief happened. So I toughed out round 1 and had forgotten the misery of the night of...wow! Didn't sleep much due to pain and spasms. He hit the exact spot on the left side and had said if that didn't help it, no future injections would. Only survived three hours of workthe following day due to pain. First time I'd missed work for pain. After a week of misery, I finally started feeling some relief...even if I was hesitant to admit it. It lasted for two weeks. and in the midst of those two weeks, I was scheduled for an EMG (nerve and muscle test) and an MRI because when the nurse called the day after my injections to check on me and I was in tears, Dr P decided that it was best to move forward w/ the tests because the injections should have done more. EMG showed no nerve damage - which was great, even tho the test was NOT pleasant. MRI showed some improvements along w/ new things going on: fluid pocket in 2nd surgery site, degenerative disc disease in a more severe state, fluid in marrow, no fluid in disc, etc. So after receiving the report and MRI on disc, I forwarded it to Cleveland and waited for a call.

My first follow up w/ Dr P is 8/30, which was when the 2nd round of injections was to be but those won't be happening - i'm DONE w/ them! Not worth the pain! Instead, we will be going over the MRI and where to go from here. Cleveland called Monday and said Dr K wanted to do a thorough exam on me to try to pinpoint the exact cause of the pain before he could offer a treatment option or surgery. I'm not sure why this "pinpoint the pain source" has never truly been done before, but what do I know! That appt is 9/6.

So, the pain that decreased for two weeks is back. I'm miserable all the time and the hope for this pain to ever go away diminishes by the day.

Next up: Dr P on Tuesday, Dr K in Cleveland on 9/6....then with two opinions, we'll see what will best help get this pain manageable!!!!!

Fingers crossed...enough is enough!

28 months and counting............

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