lumbosacral Back Surgery- To Cut- Or, Not To Cut--

[Jayg]

Ok.I have back problems. Not necessarily all that bad either by the standards here. I had an MRI on the lower back and one day, right out of the blue, my PCP from VAMC (he's a good doctor, really) calls me on the phone and asks me if I want back surgery. :D :( "Uhhh, can we talk about it first?" I says. That was the first I heard about it. Well, in a week about, I have an appointment with a neurosurgeon to "talk about it."

Ok. I'm scared.

My award letter says I have DJD, lumbosacral spine. I know I have some narrowing of the discs. I remember doctor K saying some nerves are getting compressed where they come out... wherever that is.

The doctor said I'd feel better. Might help with that falling down.

But...

If not so well, I can still walk. I can still feel my feet. I know I can- they hurt.

I know this sounds crazy but if y'all could talk to people who actually know me, they'd tell you. I'm one of those people around whom things always go wrong. If I really need something to go right, be right, it won't be.

Bad off as I am, the thought of being on the receiving end of a back surgery that went wrong is not at all an encouraging thought.

Wot th' 'ell am I gonna do?!

(It's a rhetorical question, I know you can't tell me. I just needed to air it.)

[Testvet]

Ok.I have back problems. Not necessarily all that bad either by the standards here. I had an MRI on the lower back and one day, right out of the blue, my PCP from VAMC (he's a good doctor, really) calls me on the phone and asks me if I want back surgery. :D :( "Uhhh, can we talk about it first?" I says. That was the first I heard about it. Well, in a week about, I have an appointment with a neurosurgeon to "talk about it."

Ok. I'm scared.

My award letter says I have DJD, lumbosacral spine. I know I have some narrowing of the discs. I remember doctor K saying some nerves are getting compressed where they come out... wherever that is.

The doctor said I'd feel better. Might help with that falling down.

But...

If not so well, I can still walk. I can still feel my feet. I know I can- they hurt.

I know this sounds crazy but if y'all could talk to people who actually know me, they'd tell you. I'm one of those people around whom things always go wrong. If I really need something to go right, be right, it won't be.

Bad off as I am, the thought of being on the receiving end of a back surgery that went wrong is not at all an encouraging thought.

Wot th' 'ell am I gonna do?!

(It's a rhetorical question, I know you can't tell me. I just needed to air it.)

back in 1993 I injurdmy back I kept putting it off and putting it off after a few months I was crawling from the bed to the bathroom forget carrying my mail route, I finally agreed to surgery on L5/S1 I felt great until May 2000 when I reinjured my back and now L3, L4 L5 and S1 are messed up and now no surgeon will touch me due to my heart problems when it gets bad enough you will let them do it

[LarryJ]

I think the signal for back surgery is if you have numbness down the legs and very severe pain. I would wait until I could not walk. I am thinking of the Boston Redsox pitcher, Tim Wakefield. He was doing ok, but because of the compression of the spinal cord his leg was almost useless. I think that is the kind of sign that you really need back surgery. I have back problems also. The doctors will ask how severe your pain is and if you say severe and agree to let them cut then they will cut. The outcome is uncertain. You may end up with scar tissue and the same pain you had before. These surgeries really worry me as anything can happen while you are put under and they start to cut around your spinal cord.

but, if you are suffering from "nerve impingement", then surgery is about the only relief, and, the sooner you have it "repaired" the sooner the relief.........Mother-In-Law just had her's repaired (don't know which portion of her lumbar spine was involved) and she got up, after the repair and the first thing she said was "WHY did I keep putting this off? I've not felt this good in years." to which I replied "Hell, you so old they didn't even have sharp knives when you first started all your complianin'!".

She loves me, yeah she does!

[john999]

Get a second opinion if you can from a doctor and not us guys on Hadit. You would be surprised how often the doctors disagree about surgery. You don't want to be a "learning device" for future back doctors being trained at the VA. You get crippled for life and they get a BMW in a few years. What I know is that if you have pain running down your legs then it is probably something a surgeon needs to fix. This is my non-doctor opinion which is worth the fee you paid for it. I tend to agree with all the posters and that when the pain gets bad enough you will get the surgery if you need it. The orthopod discussed a fusion on my lower back but my back does not hurt that bad and I can still walk so I refused.

[LarryJ]

Get a second opinion if you can from a doctor and not us guys on Hadit. You would be surprised how often the doctors disagree about surgery. You don't want to be a "learning device" for future back doctors being trained at the VA. You get crippled for life and they get a BMW in a few years. What I know is that if you have pain running down your legs then it is probably something a surgeon needs to fix. This is my non-doctor opinion which is worth the fee you paid for it. I tend to agree with all the posters and that when the pain gets bad enough you will get the surgery if you need it. The orthopod discussed a fusion on my lower back but my back does not hurt that bad and I can still walk so I refused.

"Hell, you so old they didn't even have sharp knives when you first started all your complainin'!".

:(

[Testvet]

"Hell, you so old they didn't even have sharp knives when you first started all your complainin'!".

:(

think how the VA was when my daddy got out of the Army in 1916 rofl

it wasn't all that good in the 70s rofl

[akwidow]

Get that second opinion!

Nerve pinches can cause permanent atrophy - it happened to me this year with ulnar nerve impingement in my right hand. Because I have no insurance, I have not sought treatment and my GP tells me the muscle loss is permanent. If he is right, I have permanent small motor skills loss in my right hand. Of course I am right handed...I sew for a living, and I have to use a pair of plyers to hold the hand sewing needle.

I sure could use that DIC I have been waiting for for almost 6 years!

Get that second opinion!