I had triple disc replacement surgery (3/4, 4/5, and 5/6) and 4 vertebrae spinal fusion. As of this past Thursday, I'm off all pain meds and back to having a brewski or two in the evenings.
I didn't mention before this about the surgery because of the extensive damage I had to deal with, the pain I was in, and to be quite honest with ya'll, I didn't even want to think about it much less talk about it.
The first 3 weeks of recovery were pretty much heqq. Thank the Lord for pain meds. More pain than I've ever experienced in any of the surgeries or injuries I've had in my life. (So far) And I'm about to turn 60 in a couple of weeks. Before the surgery I had pain in 1 location sort of like a hot knife under my right shoulder blade. On a scale of 1 to 10, at about 7 or 8 or even more if I were real active. After the surgery, I had about the same level of pain, but only now it was in 5 different locations. Didn't seem like a very good trade there for a while. A friend had told me before the operation to remember, "Short pain = Long term gain" so that kept me going.
But, quite by accident really, I had hired some yard help and a couple of other construction guys to do a little buttoning up work on my boathouse last week, and as luck would have it, they all showed up on the same day. Well, this necessitated my doing a lot of walking (Doctor recommended) around the yard and up and down from the lake to the shop and to generally supervise that everyone was doing the tasks as I would have done them. I was outside almost all day.
On Thursday, I was a bit sore (kind of like from a good workout) from all the activity, BUT the incessant, aching, constant pain from the surgery was completely gone. It was like someone had flipped a switch and made it all go away.
While I still must wear a neck collar for another 2 months or so, I can take it off when eating, showering or just sitting still in my recliner. And of course I still must be very careful not to overdue it, I'm happy to be feeling like I'm back in the land of the living again. The Doc says it could be between 8 and 18 months before I'll be completely back to normal and able to resume my "normal" activities like hang gliding, barefoot waterskiing, and chasing wild women (just kidding about that last part).
Still it'll be so worth it to finally be out of pain after 5 years of trying everything to relieve it.
Anyway, sorry to be so long, but I just wanted to say that Miracles Do Happen !!!
Skyrider aka Doug
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