2nd Major back Surgey Log Blog and Expeirence

[grantwb1]

Hello all, I am doing really well. My biggest issue now is still the nerve pain in my right leg. It is just a fraction of what it used to be, but still there. I would say it is less than half what it used to be. I still have soreness in the low back but really I think this is due my therapy being torture specialists!! Really though therapy is working me to death and I am loving it!! I ran on a treadmill for a good while this week twice and besides the normal soreness that you get when you have not exercise for while I had no pain or problems from it!! I thought I would never enjoy the sun, a basketball goal and ball again but with my PT's consent I AM SHOOTING HOOPS AGAIN!!! I am not playing games with others just shooting but I am an athlete and this is one of the most important things in life to me. I have a friend doing a lot of the running/chasing/bending for the ball but I am shooting!!!

I am starting to have a lot of real positive things happen for me again. I feel life coming back to me again slowly. This is really a long slow road out of hell. I don't think anyone can be prepared for the metal and physical test that spinal fusion is. The one thing that I can say has helped me is that I have been pretty steady at improvement. I have had a set back in therapy that set me back about two weeks in pain and progress. I got so down about it, I am talking real bad!! IT IS KEY TO REMEMBER THAT EVERYONE HAS SET BACKS!! I am back on track now. I feel like a turtle in a rabbit race for sure, but I am going to get to the finish!!

I am still taking my meds but am still slowly coming down on them. I am at less than I was pre op so I think that my tolerance form being on heavy meds for two years is the reason that I am not all the way off now. I would probably still need them daily just not that much medication.

Sorry for not updating for a while, I had that set back and was down pretty bad. I know that that is the time when I should be writing! I am still here for pm's and questions. I wish all my spiney friends good days. I really do think about you guys a lot!!

Grant

[dshobbies]

Grant,

Shooting hoops - a small step but a huge milestone. It took me two years before I felt 'normal' again and I'm still improving almost 5 years out. I'm still quite aware of my nerve damage and me leg resents being pushed which I do on daily basis but is something I've learned to live with. But I too, after 5 years, still have ups and downs.

At times my downs take me to a one woman pity party but then everything starts to feel better and I get on with it again. I've also been getting a lot better at taking whatever meds I need whenever but admitting I needed them was the difficult part. Basically I know my limitations and work around them.

Message; nerve pain takes a long time to resolve, if ever. Just deal with it and you'll do fine. If you get down to that pity party, ride it out and know that when it comes again, it's short lived. We've all been through it but it's still unsettling.

Keep up the good work, Dale

[mmglobal]

Grant, thanks so much for keeping us updated.

I watched another BIG fusion recently... it's no surprise to hear you say, "I don't think anyone can be prepared for the metal and physical test that spinal fusion is!"

Please stay focused on not doing too much too soon. When you feel you are ready for some 1 v 1... I'm here!

Mark

[Maria]

Grant,
so good to hear your progress is fairly steady and good even with a flare up that made you wonder about things. Thanks so much for the update. Nice to hear good things re multi level fusion and Dr.Coufal too (having seen him once 4 years ago and hearing him raved about by a multilevel fusion patient in the waiting room who had driven himself 2 hours for a postop check. I want to say he did that at the 6 week mark but I might be off on recalling that part).

[grantwb1]

Good day folks,

This is a long over due update. I am still improving very well. My biggest problem now is that I am coming off all the meds and let me tell you it is kicking my ass!! About two months ago I went off the long acting time released avinza(along with immediate release morphine) to immediate release only. That was rocky but in about two days time I was feeling all the better. Now about two weeks ago I went from about 5-6 half pieces of 15mg morphine to three percocets a day. HOLY**** that was a major change. I can go on and on about all the things that this effects. If you are going through this then you know that if there is a body function or brain function med withdrawals effect this. I am depressed, highly irritated, stomach is constantly flipping, a lot of anxiety and more. I am realizing now that the meds have not given me pain relief for a while now so coming of is an easy logical decision. Key word there is logical, unfortunately my nerves are not educated in logical decision making. I am slowly putting more time in between doses and trying to hack it as long as I can before the next dose. I am at about two total 10mg percocets a day. I break them in half and take them at shorter intervals, lower amount of medicine but better even distribution on medicine. There are a lot more ups and downs with the percocets vs the morphine. I would be close to off if I did not have a pressure cooker of a job. (my close co workers are laughing at me cause I snap on people now and that is not my character) The people that I work with now understand but it took seeing me go completely out of character and blow up about some really minor things before they finally realized that I was not joking about having mood swings. I am not a depressed person and I can say that all through this affair that I have kept my head up, well now I am feeling it. I am not accepting this and I know that it is cause my body is not making the chemicals it needs to make me feel ok but after 4 weeks of feeling this its tough. I cannot believe how addicted my body is on these pills.

On a better note I am still getting into better and better shape. I have now finished my therapy. I am able to run about 3 miles on a tread mill, work out with light weights, and not have any pain or discomfort other that muscle sorness. I recently started a swimming class at a local college and I can say that this is a great workout and an awesome challenge. The great thing about swimming is that when you are in the water there is no weight on the spine and I can feel this. When I run I am thinking about every foot touch, its almost like a hesitation cause I know how bad it could get real fast. When I am in the water that feeling is just not there, I feel closer to "normal"(meaning no discomfort or pain) in the water than I have since I did not have back problems!!! I am so lucky that I am able to do this cause right now with my mental state this is the only thing that is helping. I think the next step is to hand Mark a beat down in hoops!!

There are still a lot of highs and lows. I have read over my earlier posts and can tell you that I forget about my last big problem cause the current one gets more attention, but they keep working out. Perspective... being able to keep perspective and staying out of the moment. I have always felt that I will recover GREAT form this and still feel that I am going to. I am way off in my expectations of how fast I should recover but I AM GOING TO RECOVER, play ball, lift weights, snowboard, and all the other things that make me smile. My vessel is under way...

Sending pain free vibes to all my fellow spiney's!!!

[Maria]

Hey Grant,
I have stopped Neurontin that I took for 12 years w/little prob and stopped taking Fioricet every day that I was telling myself I was taking to prevent migraines (now just take for super duper h/a/migraine) and very infrequently HOWEVER~ the pain medication is really difficult to drop down from the 10mg/day dose and I take it every 24 hours.

The pain medication is thought to have caused "torturous bowel" - where part of my colon is very torturous thus making parastalsis and eventual evacuation even more difficult w/o being tied to laxatives a.m. and p.m. and now it seems it may have helped create a situation w/my bladder as well (cystocele) or bladder wall prolapse (from all the pushing/bearing down).

So I'm thinking I'm going to have to go off this stuff and find out where my real pain levels lie eventually esp. if I have to have a bladder tack up or some such surgery and bearing down is totally prohibited for a number of weeks (suposedly always).

Oh.. did I mention I completely get what you're saying re the moods.. yeah, it has happened to me when trying to decrease the pain medication that I've now been on for 10 years.

I can't imagine working and having my stomach flipping out all over the place or the moods as you mention. I can take someone's head off for no reason tho by now usually find the TV zone too comforting to leave when feeling really disgruntled.

Oh so easy to get along on these drugs and oh so difficult to get off some of them! Wishing you the best and just keep the sharp objects out of your hands at work!!! take care and thanks for the update! Glad to hear you're doing so incredibly well physically and that the swimming is so helpful mentally too (I used to swim every day and felt the same way).

[mmglobal]

Originally Posted by grantwb1

I think the next step is to hand Mark a beat down in hoops!!

Those must be some drugs you are on.... Hallucinating much lately? While you may be short and fast, like Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, but you'll have to call me Chief. (Rent the movie or ask someone a little older.)

All kidding aside, it's a great problem for you to have.... how tough it is to get off the meds. I know how much it sucks from past experience, but wish I was having the taper trouble again. While your recovery has been pretty slow, I'm very encouraged by what seems to be pretty steady progress. I'm hoping that in a few weeks, I'll get to meet the real Grant instead of spine patient Grant. (But I'll kick his ass at hoops too!)

Mark