I havent been here for five months. As Ive said before, for the last thirty one yrs, I have suffered horribly with my spine. I have herniated discs, severe stenosis, degenerative disc disease, degenerative joint disease, and now they say severe arthritis as well. It took 23 yrs for this to be diagnosed during which time I repeatedly went to the ER with each onset. I was sent away being told I was everything from a drug seeker to a hypochondriac(sp). When finally diagnosed by two separate specialists I was told there was nothing they could do. My condition would not likely be improved by surgery. I was put on several narcotic meds, one after the other. Morphine, fentanyl, oxycontin etc until they finally tried Methadone and it was that that proved to be the one which helped.
Last summer, eight yrs later, the meds were not working as they always have. My pain had increased and things “felt different in there.” Made an appt with one of the specialists I had seen before. Did more MRI’s. SAid now that I have waited this long…wait a minute- ‘I’ have waited? Ive been told there was nothing to be done. So they speak of this huge surgery they want to do but would rather not because of other conditions I have such as diabetes and then the smaller procedure they would rather do. I leave to go home and mull it all over.
We were right in teh middle of an unexpected move with no outside help but ourselves to do it all. I have thousands of perrenials and other shrubbery. The house and 20 acres we found to lease was conveniently just about 3/4 of a mile up the road. I can’t stand to ride in a car, just way too painful but I worked away at the move every day. I moved load after load of plants to the new place with my wheelbarrow. Days on end I either dug new beds or moved plants. We also had to redo all the walls in teh new house and two floors. Rent is only $600 a month but up here to find a place like this is generally requires a lot of work on our part to get into it. When you have a passle of animals no one wants you. I scrubbed and then painted each room. My SO worked away nights after work until 1am each morning on the stuff I could not do alone.
Well, apparantly it was all too much for me. I did the same thing just two yrs ago to move into the place we were in but my spine must have gone downhill quite a bit because I did not get away so easy this time. It was on Oct 24th and I was doing a big no-no by carrying a reel of wire across the woods to the other side as we were building horse fence. There were no horse accomodations here either. But I am finally getting a real barn again so that is a real plus. Anyway, the next morning I woke with the type of twinge that usually signifies an oncoming spell. I took my 3yr old GD for a walk in the woods and a picnic that day and it never got any worse. BUT. The next morning I awoke to the worst sciatic pain I have ever felt and I have dealt with plenty of it over the yrs I can assure you. My right foot that is always numb had NO feeling and it pointed downward and I could not pull it up AT ALL. IT just remained pointed. Now this next part makes no sense the doctors say but… I also had both hands numb and one , the right one, I had no control over. I went to pour my morning meds into my right hand and they fell right through. My third and fourth fingers no longer met. I coudl not fan my fingers out and move them back and forth anymore. I could not write. I could not type. Thread a needle? No way. I know that the nerves to your hands have naught to do with your lumbar region and the doctors seemed to just pass this off. Damn them. Why cant something be real just because they cant find a reason for it?
The pain from the sciatic for the first five days I could relieve a tiny bit by standing facing my recliner. I would put my hands on teh arms, swing my hip to the right and then put my right leg way behind my left. This would make it let up enough that I could stand it but it was still very hard. The third night I fell to sleep and fell which sucked. AFter five days this bit of relief left and I thought I would lose my mind. The pain was incredible, just indescribable. And this is from someone who had four c sections and an old fashioned gall bladder surgery with no pain meds. I stood out on the porch most of hte night so I did nt wake anyone else. There were times when I could not help but to holler out in pain, I just couldn’t. I had an appt coming up in two more weeks with the specialist. Ive had plenty of these spells in the past which were almost as painful and I was always given pred and told to wait it out. So I did.
I showed up at my appt on Nov 14. SEvere pain. They could not believe that this is how I had been feeling since Oct 26th. My blood pressure was off the charts they said and my pulse was 124. They admitted me to the hospital immediately through the ER. Made arrangements to operate the next day. Next day comes and they dont have the time to do it. Same as next day. Meanwhile they are giving me all sorts of stuff for pain and nothing helps. Wonder why? They are giving someone who had been on tons of narcotics for yrs and yrs, 4mg of morphine. My daughter was given more than that after her csection this fall. AT one point, when I was switched tot he methadone, I was taking 600mg of morphine a day, not IV though. Still 4mg IV is nothing for someone like me who takes 160mg of methadone each day. They mention what an incredibly high dose of that I am on but then give me nothing that helps. My Primary doctor who is a pain med specialist had a long talk with them about dosing patients on high doses of pain meds to beginwith. He said there was no reason for me to have stood near my bed hanging on the rails for three days at all.
So they do the surgery to get the discs off the nerve. Take out other disc splinters here and there. I go home right from the recovery room. Still never nothing done about my hands. Left one is much less numb by this time, right one the same. AFter the surgery the sciatic pain was mostly gone. To this day I get a little from time to time. It is much much better. Went to appt the other day. They say my foot will now always stay pointed, that at this point there is not much hope of it coming back. It really sucks. It drags the ground which causes me to trip often and fall on occassion. Right foot feels dead. There is a bit of feeling in my toes but nowhere else. LEft foot which became VERY numb AFTER the surgery by a week is now almost back to normal. LEft hand is pretty much normal but there are days where is feels prickly. Right hand has improved a lot. I can write, type , things like that. Hard still to button things, put my hand in my pocket, use it as in trying to form it as you would if cleaning window sill corners. STill they say that it isnt possible for this to happen. They did an MRI of my cervical spine to look for a reason. They say it is a bit narrow in places but not enough to cause issue. That is some funny because in 98 I got an insurance settlement based on moderately severe changes to my cervical spine from a car accident in which we rolled over 6-9 times. I am confused. But I guess I should pay no attention to my non normal hand because " it just isn’t possible" for this to happen, especially at the same time. To wake up with all that going on which wasn’t like that when I went to bed just cant happen they say. WEll it sure is one hell of a nightmare if that is what it is. I am so very thankful it is getting better and hope it continues and stays that way. IF ever there was a winter I wish I didnt have horses to care for it has been this one. the snow up here has just been ridiculous. Ppl have been getting out themselves and digging out stop signs as the road ppl just don’t get the time between snowfalls to get it done. I am walking on a 6-7 foot snowpack to get out to the barn. Had to go through last month and string a higher wire because the fence just disappeared.
The pain in my spine has much worsened since the surgery. At the appt the other day they said this. The degree of disc degeneration and arthritis in the lumbar area is quite severe. My spine is collapsing. I have bone on bone which is causing the increased pain. They want to do this other surgery. It is only done here one day a month, the third friday, and they only do two on that day. A third surgeon comes here from elsewhere and joins the team here. I say here but it is really 60 miles from here. I am in the boonies. He said they want to open up from abdomen, take out my guts and put them in a big plastic bag beside me on teh table. Then they can easily get to my spine he said. Then they would give me back my guts, stitch me up, flip me over and make two incisions, one on each side of my spine and finish up from there. The recovery time would be 20 months, most of which I would be wearing a brace which would be constructed specifically for me. Sounds to me like there would be chances for twisted intestine. The brace rubbing on incisions on both sides of my body doesnt sound good either. The fact that I have no one to help do the things that need done is scary too. My SO works full time and often out of hte area. I could do nothing for a very long time they say. And I mean nothing. The paperwork say I cant even move clothes around unless one piece at a time and no coats or heavy sweater. They are very specific.
And the worst part is… they can tell me for sure that more sections of my spine wont need to have the same thing done as the condion of it worsens. This is not something I want to do every few yrs at all. I have not heard much good coming from these fusion surgeries and this one doesnt have good rates of success to begin with. they say there is a 60% chance of decreased pain.
Has anyone here ever had this surgery done this interbody way and has it been a success?
Sorry to be so long worded here, just wanted to update on where Ive been and what IVe been going through. I would be very interested in hearing from anyone going through this type of surgery.
There was nothing that the doctors could or would do for me. They at least believed my pain but could not fix what is wrong. After about 18 months on this agony rollercoaster the specialists washed their hands of me. Everyone saying that I should never ride horses again 
They sent me back to my primary care doctor who worked with me to come up with a cocktail of pain medications that would allow me to live again. He had also had horses and insisted that I keep riding for my sainity sake 
I would love to help you. You are in my thoughts.