I went through the same siht with my wife. I was so shocked when we were walked out through the recovery room after a 10 minute consultation that I wanted to burn the place. I really thought I was going to be sitting in the waiting room for 4 hours.

I don't remember if we really did it. I do know my wife's neck was operated on. At first they were going to go in though the throat, but then decided they could reach around to the cervical spine facing front and so it with cameras, etc. It worked.

Top neurosurgeon as I always insist on.

One of these days you and John and I are going to have to get together and build something. I like nothing better than working alongside men who know how to work. For me it's better than sharing a beer.

That's ridiculous. Did you mention all of that in the appt? It probably wouldn't help.

It sounds like you need another Dr, or maybe to consult another one at least.

Been off the front page for a bit, but I thought I would share:

Spraying the boundary of the farm Friday, small tractor, I did see a ground hog hole and dropped the back tire into.

I wasn't ready and the shock caused a lot of pain, a lot in my left hip. Still hurts but not as much.

I have an old, weak heating pad I use in my office in the winter and it was no help.

My wife gets home and goes and gets this thing, which I did know we had.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1694351078.jpg

Sharper Image Calming Heat, Weighted pad. This thing is the deal: Model CH2 (not pictured) because is has a massage function as well.

Don't know if it will help, Pat, but combined with ice packs, I can actually matriculate down the field.

The best thing is the weight. Can can lay on my left side and drape tis over my right hip area. It has a timer but I have an Omega PeeMaster that wakes me up every 2/12 hours like I am punching a clock.

I have never been treated by a pain management doctor but members of my family have. To pardon the expression, they are a pain in the butt.

Actually I have a lot worse to say about them. They are sent from the Devil. I don't have any reason to respect their profession. If any doctor referred me to a pain doctor I would not go and immediately change doctors.

My wife sees an arthritis doctor and that doctor gets it.

An update:

I got the steroid epidural this afternoon. It was an interesting experience. They had an X-ray machine in the room with a screen next to last month's MRI image of my spine. After numbing the area the doc stuck a needle with the drug in my back. It was a little stronger than the "bee sting" he said it would be.
He would say, "Picture" and they would take an X-ray and I guess he would move the needle based on where it was vs where the MRI showed the pinch was.

After a few of these he said, "Any leg pain now?"
"Umm, no."
"How about now?"
"Holy mother of &^$% YES!!
It felt like a cattle prod low in my left hip.
I guess he found the spot. They wrapped it up and sent me home with a bandaid on my back.

I was out of it and feeling pretty depressed the rest of the day. I think my mood was due to not having a Tramadol today. My hip pain feels about like it did with the Tramadol.

About 9:00 PM I think the steroid started kicking in. I might not sleep tonight.

I went through the exact same procedure about 20 years ago. The doctor told me that he would "need my help" in determining when he found "home". I asked how on earth I was supposed to know. He assured me that I would know... yowzers....

Glad you got through it, Patrick. Hang in there. If this proves to be effective, it will be magic. Mine were effective for a couple of years, then the disc dried out so much that it would no longer absorb the steroids. Hopefully yours won't reach that point.

Thanks Jeff. I appreciate it.
After " the disc dried out so much that it would no longer absorb the steroids" what did they do, fusion??

No, we did not resort to fusion. Not yet. I went into detail in the other thread that was started regarding fusion. It's important enough to repeated here, though.

It was explained to me that fusion was essentially a last resort, and one that could lead to other problems down the road. Like more fusions. Essentially, fusing one joint places added strain on the joint above and below, possibly leading to accelerated "wear" on them, and eventually having to fuse them as well. This has the possibility of working its way up and down from the initial fused joint, to the point where there is a chance of some real problems just from that.

In the end, I decided to dedicate my time to flexibility training, massage therapy, chiropractor visits, and other non-surgical means. It's worked, for the most part. I still have very, very bad days, sometimes up to a week or more, where I'm effectively immobilized. It sucks, but for now, I will take it over surgery. As bad as it can get, it is (thankfully) infrequent, and almost always due to my having missed many "warning signs" as I'm progressing in that direction. If I listen to my back, follow its rules and back off before it gets really bad, I do quite well for the most part.

So I got the shot Monday. The rest of Monday and most of Tuesday were strange. I think it was a combination of not taking the opiods Since Sunday and the blast of steroids. Anyway, I had uncontrollable mood swings and couldn't sleep for 24 hours.
Today is day 3 and the pain is the same as it was before the shot. "They" said it could take 3-4 days for the drug to kick in. I'm trying not to get discouraged, but I was hoping for a better result.

The pain management docs are a "band aid". I have been going to them for over 20 years.

The problem is the revision surgery for my lumbar spine is pretty intense. I saw the same doc that did my cervical surgery at HSS in NYC a few years ago and he explained it pretty clearly.

He would have to open the back up where the old doc did the 2 level laminectomy without fusion.

Clean up all the scar tissue, arthritis and open up the spaces around the nerve roots and perform fusion to those levels.

After that flip me on my back and go through the front (abdomen) and remove all the offending goodies from the front of the vertebrae.

Probably a 10+ hour surgery. At 68 years old is it really worth it? I get by on epidurals and drugs. God, how I wish I could that Prednizone everyday! Obviously one cannot, but I felt like a 17 year old again when I was on it for a month for my Crohn's Disease.

I had another MRI on Monday to satisfy the pain doc, to see if there have been any changes. I did receive a few trigger point injections in the piriformis and they have really helped.

Oh well, just live with it they say.

Cheers and good luck to all.

So you had the epidural, and your pain is the same now as it was when you were taking the opiods? And we're hoping for a reduction from that level in the next 24 hours.

Good luck, sir. We're all pulling for you.

At this point I am still scheduled to get my fusion surgery on December 7. Long discussion about this on the thread that I started. But I did want to mention, that I would get a steroid shot in the hip and all of my pain goes away for 3 to 4 weeks. Unfortunately you can only get about three of those steroid shots a year. If I could get one every four weeks, I think I would skip any other form of treatment.

And I am in agreement with those that have mentioned pain management. I don’t want pain management, I want pain treatment!

I'm curious, how long between, "You need this surgery" and getting surgery scheduled did you have to wait? I'm asking because it was over two months from "You need this shot" to the time I was actually given it. I'm afraid I'm going to need the surgery and I don't know how long I'll have to wait.

As long as you can. If there was such a thing as joint replacement for parts of the spine that would be different, and it's still no walk in the park. The friends and family that I know who had surgery had mild success. That's good. However, not one went on to be anywhere near as physically active as before. Ever. It's over.

Not that you can do much when in pain. BTDT. But with a new shoulder I came back nearly as good as ever. Just have a lifetime limit on how much I can lift. 20 lbs and no overhead work. No repetitive work. That's nothing compared to back surgery.

I got the CT scan last week and met with my neurosurgeon on Monday. Surgery is set for December 7. I could have gotten it done earlier, but I don’t want to waste being able to do things during the fall. The medication he has me on makes the extra wait tolerable.

that sucks.
i say - give the CBD a go. nothing ventured, nothing gained.
some folks swear by them. my better half used them after receiving a replacement knee ...... worked great for her.

weed

Thanks for the input. I get it. I don't want to be totally out of commission while their is still some nice weather to be enjoyed either.

The epidural may have helped a little, but not much. I'm back to taking pain meds to get through a moderately active day. I don't take any if I'm not going to be busy.
Going to call the surgeon today and see what's next.

I watched the video on another thread about the guy with cancer and it got me thinking. My problems are nothing compared to the folks - some of you here - who are dealing with cancer, diabetes, heart, lung etc problems that are life threatening.

I get down about how frustrating this pain is and I think, "Why me?"
Then I think of what other people are going through and think, "Why not me"? I'm pretty damn lucky, that's why.

I need to keep that in perspective when I start feeling sorry for myself.