Away for a while - preparing for this back surgery thing

cardaddy

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Hi all,

As some of you know;
It's no big secret that I don't need detailing to pay the bills, but that doesn't mean we don't have work to do. Supposed to have a new Camry hybrid, (single stage black of all things) come in next Saturday for a correction and coating. That one, like the last one (the Jag a couple of weeks ago) my wife and son will do. She's getting a brand new Rupes Duetto package this week. ;) Hope she likes it! :dunno:

What you don't know is;

I've been fighting with a horribly gone wrong lower back problem the last few months. Actually with DDD (Degenerative Disc Disease) I've had back problems most of my life. Had surgery on my neck in 06 because my right hand had gone numb, (could stick needles through my pinky). Middle of the back I messed up as a kid unloading trucks, which they'll never fix, not in my lifetime that is. (They tell me it means cracking open your chest to get at that one.)

But it was my lumbar spine that took me off my feet, 12 years ago now. Between then and now I thought, I mean I THOUGHT I knew what back pain was about. I've seen specialists all over Atlanta. Been to Emory time and time again. Was even seeing the Director of Pain Management for a couple of years back from 2002 ~ 2004, but all they wanted to do was give you meds and never really see YOU. "You" didn't exist, you were a number, and they'd talk about you like you were not even in the room.

Finally I found a great Doctor in town, a Board Certified Physiatrist. What is a physiatrist you ask?

Mine is trained in specifically treating nerve related pain, along with being board certified.

Rehabilitation physicians are medical doctors who have completed training in the medical specialty of physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R). Specifically, rehabilitation physicians:

  • Diagnose and treat pain
  • Restore maximum function lost through injury, illness or disabling conditions
  • Treat the whole person, not just the problem area
  • Lead a team of medical professionals
  • Provide non-surgical treatments
  • Explain your medical problems and treatment/prevention plan
The job of a rehabilitation physician is to treat any disability resulting from disease or injury, from sore shoulders to spinal cord injuries. The focus is on the development of a comprehensive program for putting the pieces of a person's life back together after injury or disease – without surgery.

Rehabilitation physicians take the time needed to accurately pinpoint the source of an ailment. They then design a treatment plan that can be carried out by the patients themselves or with the help of the rehabilitation physician’s medical team. This medical team might include other physicians and health professionals, such as neurologists, orthopedic surgeons, and physical therapists. By providing an appropriate treatment plan, rehabilitation physicians help patients stay as active as possible at any age. Their broad medical expertise allows them to treat disabling conditions throughout a person’s lifetime.


That aside; I managed to hurt myself back during late August working on a black Porsche, (used to be a thread here about it). Since then it's been getting worse and worse.

Since November it's been so bad that I've been unable to walk outside the house. (And I walk with a cane anyhow.) In December it called for a walker and nothing, I mean NOTHING has been able to "manage" the pain.

Not afraid, nor ashamed of taking meds to "manage" pain, but there comes a point where one can only take so many. Only so much poison this boy is wiling to put in his body in a 24 hour period. Monthly injections I've been getting for over a decade! Epidurals, hitting both sides, six locations total, I've been getting for over a decade as well. Sometimes twice a year!

This however is NOT what I've had going on all these years. Besides, it's on the WRONG FREAKING SIDE! :(

So, new "seated MRI" we finally got last Sunday. Tomorrow morning we'll be doing the CT myelogram w/contrast at Atlanta Medical Center and I don't expect it to be pleasant WHAT SO FREAKING EVER! I also expect they'll find that what I've been begging for the last 3 months is something they'll do, SOONER THAN LATER.

Basically I've told them to do surgery, DO IT, do it with a CHAINSAW!!!!!!!!

I've always had morphine available, but refused to take it. Supposed to take it twice a day, along with a TON of other meds. Now twice a day isn't NEAR enough! :cry:
I'm about as worn down as I can stand to be folks. The pain in my lower back, right side, is unbearable. My hip, down my leg, just as bad. And this was my GOOD LEG! To prepare for the 'contrast' they had me stop my muscle relaxers for 48 hours, (and 24 afterwards). I've been taking one of them for 37 years. Not that easy to just "not take them".

So early tomorrow we'll do this last test and they tell me to lay around for a couple more days recovering from it. (Like I don't do that already!) Thing is, sticking me in that tube is going to be darned hard. Don't like those tubes where I can't get up and breath!

Honestly, I wouldn't mind a few prayers headed my way.

This has been so unfair to my family. My wife doesn't deserve it, but she manages. She'll put in her 45 hours (at a job she's been doing 32 years) and never complain. Then she'll come home and whatever detailing jobs I've got to do she'll jump right in. I just wish I was able to help her, and for the last 3+ months I can barely make it from room to room.

Anyhow, I'll be away from the computer for a while this week. May be able to dictate some replies in the middle of the night via my phone (y'all have seen a lot more of those lately from me than EVER BEFORE). All I know is I'm going to end up at Emory Spinal Center, and I really hope it'll be SOON! (Won't be this week, but the sooner the better.)

Romans 8:18
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

John 16:33
I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Take care all,

Tony
[email protected]
 
I know your pain my friend! I've suffered from lower back pain for a long time and was lucky enough to get myself 80-85% corrected with weight loss and core training. Took almost 3 months of anguish before I felt any results but I stuck it out and thankfully so! Still have bads days but nothing like before. Best of wishes to you with the tests, rehab, and a quick recovery! :-)
 
Good luck Tony! My wife had DDD she had 3 vertebrae fused 8 years ago it made a huge improvement for her! She is pain free and doing great. I hope you have the same out come:xyxthumbs:
 
Good luck! I remember the "dreaded black Porsche" (along with the accompanying thread ;)) and am sorry it had that effect on you. Thoughts and prayers with you. Please don't be "too strong" to take your pain medicine. There is nothing noble about being in pain. I know it makes you feel like you not all there, but please get relief while you can. I hope everything goes well! Always have, always will. All my best.
 
Best of luck Tony! Hoping and praying you have a successful and speedy recovery :dblthumb2:
 
Prayers sent
Hope you get taken care of quickly
Good luck and wishing you a speedy recovery.
 
Remembering You...and your Family...in our prayers.

"Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak:
O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed"
. Psalm 6:2


Bob
 
I knew this post was coming. Tony, you and your family are in the thoughts and prayers of mine. We wish you the best! Get well soon my friend!
 
Hang in there buddy.....your in my thoughts and prayers.
 
My thoughts and prayers are with you Tony!

I treat conditions similar to yours daily so I know first hand the physical, psychosocial and emotional toll it has on the individual and his/her family. Best of luck in figuring out the best course of action.
 
Dealing with all this snow and ice. Finally a chance to post.
You're a real trooper Tony :props:
May the Creator bless you and yours.
 
Hi all,
Just want you all to know how much we appreciate and feel your thoughts and prayers.

So we headed downtown yesterday morning and they did the spinal tap/ X-rays/CT myelogram. The X ray tech Ray was a really nice guy. He has been doing that job 45 years he said. Nobody, in all my years of getting such tests has EVER explained things in detail like he did.

He wouldn't say what it is that he saw but hey definitely saw something that had him concerned. Like DUH!

Although he did say that via the X-Rays he only had about 30% of the total picture.

The one thing he did say was that my bone density is not "bad" but "its not that great either". (Whatever that means.)

Also he said I need to have my hip checked out, it seems too bad (too much pain in the joint) for it to be *all* my back.:dunno:

GREAT Bad back and a hip to boot... PERFECT! :(

Being as we were at the hospital across the street from my pain Doctor, while Momma had me in a wheelchair, (to take me out to the car) she commandeered it and pushed me up and over the pedestrian bridge to his office in the building across the street. (That thing has a fairly steep ramp to it that really got her going up, and I had to hold on coming down or I might have ended up through the side, into the street below.) ;)

She had called and talked them into writing a prescription for fentanyl patches. (Which they WILL NOT give out even to a family member. )

Anyhow when they came back from lunch we were sitting there at the door (me in the wheelchair holding my walker and cane in my lap). :(

I can't put one of those patches on until tomorrow (some sort of reaction with the dye) but I REALLY NEED ONE NOW!

To put it into perspective the last time I had those stupid things filled was early summer of 2012. Two boxes of 5, the last box ran out of date, December 2013 because I hadn't needed it till then.

So now I have the MRI CD, then the myelogram, x-rays & CT on another CD, *AND* a stack of films over an inch thick.

Ray said if I was going to the orthopedist who he thought, that he HATES images on a disc. He wants the films in front of him so he can mark them.

We've got an appointment set for Tuesday of next week (with my regular doctor / physiatrist) to go over all the test results and decide what to do next. I just wish we could do it TODAY! :eek:

(You had it right Bob, my bones are failing me.) And from where I'm laying, my mind is not far behind.

Anyhow I just wanted to thank each and every one of you, it REALLY means a lot, much MUCH more than you realize. :)

Today.... it's still bed all day.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using AG Online
 
Wow, sorry to hear that, cardaddy.
I have a
hand injury that would act up from time to time (dirtbike mishap). A mild annoyance compares to your situation. Best of luck, sir.​
 
Good luck to you! Had mine done in 93, fused l4,5 and s1. Got two rods and what look like drywall screws! Much more advanced now,so I hope it gets rid of the pain for you!
And you are right,getting off the pills is tough,I did not sleep for a few days.
 
Good luck man, I've had 2 back surgeries and know exactly what you're going thru.


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