Years of Pain no solid diagnosis

[Billy Bob]

Originally Posted by Maria

Doctor's office acts like they don't give a sh*t going into surgery makes me wonder what they'll act like on the other side especially if there are problems vs. "perfect outcome."

If you do not have emergent reasons to have spine surgery don't rush yourself or go with someone who you have a not so good feeling about re surgery because believe me if you end up with less than good or OK results or bad results you're going to probably kick yourself in the behind for jumping the gun because you "were tired of being in pain or tired of the way things are".... Back surgeries are like no other surgery with regard to predictability of outcome.

Spine surgery does not always fix things and oft times one will either have a long haul to recovery which can be surprising unless the surgeon prepares one for this (with a possible bumpy road recovery) or the recovery will not be what is expected and one might have to have more surgeries because of the surgery that one had "to FIX things."

If you are prepared for the above type of results as well as good results then you are prepared. Also I would never tell anyone who needed truly emergency spine surgery to wait but I would tell those who have a choice to really feel very comfortable with the decision you are making for all the right reasons (don't justify) because spine surgery is a super big deal/ordeal and if things don't go your way and the surgeon did everything he or she was supposed to do right and it still didn't turn out "the way expected" one doesn't want to be kicking themselves in the arse regarding his or her own decision to have surgery.

So please take the time to check this sitch out as thoroughly as you are able before committing yourself to surgery and then be prepared to accept results whatever they might be. We are all often unrealistic at what we think can be achieved with spine surgery or at least how quickly it might be achieved and/or without any other type of little problems or complications that could occur.

Good luck to you and I do hope whatever you do will help you to feel much much better and last a long time! Maria

Maria,

Thanks for all of the great advice. My last goal here is to have surgery. I mean if I get a diagnosis that indicates I need surgery I will entertain the thought. However I will most likely get at least one second opinion if my doctors states that I need to have surgery. Fortunately I have only had two operations in my life. One was very successful and the other was mediocre. Neither of these operations were for my back (fortunately).

I am perhaps most lucky because my father is a doctor. I have fought hard to not involve him in this issue (he is not a spinal surgeon, but he has almost 40 years of experience in emergency medicine). I wanted to try to handle this on my own. But after a year of living in pain, and no one can figure out why, I started reaching out to him for help (he was more than willing, I just wanted to be a big boy). He and I for almost another this entire year are putting our heads together to try to get this solved. He tells me he knows something is not right because he sees the way I am moving. He can tell I am in pain.

And he has actually had a couple of disc issues, one of which what required surgery (was very successful). However I remember him warning me about back surgery way before I ever had issues. This was when he was having issues and he was reluctant to go into surgery. He mentioned how one of his co-workers had to have back surgery and ended up having to retire because of the outcome. So he got lucky, but he too didn't sugar coat any of the possible outcomes.

I guess what I would really like is just a solid diagnosis. I don't want to feel like I am dreaming all of this or making it all up. Luckily I have not felt that way to much yet. However I have my first visit with my spinal doc (in a while) this friday. I am going in hopes of two things. First I hope he has another direction to take all of this in or new things to try. Second, hopefully he "believes" me. I don't want to be treated like I am trying to get money out of this (his office does a lot of work man comp). The last thing I want on earth is to slow down, and get paid for not working... I love my job. I have fought tooth and nail to get where I am at in the world.

Ok I am rambling now.

Everyone, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

the comments and relations mean a lot to me.

[Billy Bob]

Had my appointment with Spinal surgeon on Friday.

They took a bunch more Xrays and found a good deal more arthritis in L4 and L5.

Then he took my most recent MRI, and looked again.

He found mild disk buldges in 3 spots, more arthritis, and narrowing of somethig.... Can't remember the word he used.

I am scheduled for another MRI on the 18th and then most likely micro surgery.

I have to be honest I am pretty scared.... Everything he found was mild or minor, but I am wondering if it all could add up to something that is causing my pain. I guess we will see with the fresh MRI.

[Maria]

Can be two very different things. I had a small bulge for a long time at L5S1 that I was told by every surgeon I saw for a long time "shouldn't" have been giving me the symptoms it was ... but it did and the symptoms were severe for me and very disruptive to my life. Especially when my back would go out every other month and I would be off my feet for 4 weeks or so in bed recovering. That was the point of my first discectomy.

I'm wondering if you were told you have stenosis? I think the updated MRI will give a better idea of what's going on and perhaps before you have a micro discectomy you'll have some other tests to make sure the suspected involved disc(s) is/are the ones really causing you pain.

Wishing you the best and please keep us updated! Maria

[Billy Bob]

Maria,

I think what you said was right, the stenosis. Once again all of these things were considered mild (not by me but by my doc).

Wed is the MRI, we will see what happens then.

Thanks again everyone.

[Rob Wilson]

If you are over 45 years of age, I would imagine it is stenosis. Sometines the extent of this is difficult to see even on MRI. I ended up having multiple minimally invasive surgeries to clean out this stenosis. Fortunately I had very good results. Hope you find the right surgeon and make the prudent decision.

[mmglobal]

Rob, it is soooo nice to see you still posting about your success. Your road was so difficult... I'm very happy to continue reading positive news!

mARK