I made it through Surgery!

Doc- I hurt my back at work. I had to carry big bags and buckets of plastic material up and down ladders. They weighed about 55lbs. It pretty much did me in.

Pain medication was like candy to me after my L4-L5 discectomy. My doctors is really good at understanding treat the cause not the effect. It helps when your benefits cover meds too though.

The pain was coming from muscles that objected to being pulled apart for a couple hours then being told to stand immediately. Strong muscle relaxants Flexeril(Cyclobenzapri​ne) coupled with Neurontin (Gabapentin) to help my damaged nerves from the sequestrated disks.

Back "damage" is usually genetic or through bad sleep habits. Genetics play a role in the ratio between torso and leg length. Your body is a like lever, if it's designed badly well it goes south. Then there are people who do/did the above AND abuse(d) themselves (like me) that have no hope!

And I cannot stress enough the need to sleep on your back with proper support. If you need a stomach sleep for a bit to balance out some stiff muscles then so be it. But sleep on your back.

You surgeon wasn't too nice to you. He could have made that a little better I had mostly internal stitches and two external stitches with a serious taping.

Mine's 5.25 inches long.

EOS MAN1 wrote in post #3204957
Kinnon- I had a Laminectomy on the L3-L4- L5 and a Micro Diskectomy at L3-L4.

Basically I had a Herniated disc and two buldged discs and spinal Stenosis. They Cut the Out back bones out at that location and removed a portion of the herniated disc. This took pressure off the spinal canal and gave it room to widen a little.

Liza - Thank you!

Wanda-I will take your advice. Oh yeah, here is the picture you requested.

YOU MAY NEED TO COVER YOUR EYES!

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I feel your pain, I had this surgery in 2004

Its gets better, but only with time. No amount of medicine will get you comfortable for long, only dope you up until your goofy. Believe me I feel for ya, but I cant lie to you.

The scar will heal, some better than others. Looks like your doctor did a good job on the stitch up though

Some still have problems after the procedure, I am luck to date (knock on wood) no problems .

I wish you a good recovery, take care of your self and dont take to much medicine it makes ya goofy

Cosworth- Yeah, my surgeon did a number. My incision is 5 inches long. I definitely think sleep makes a big difference. I will be getting a good tempurpedic bed pretty soon. I personally think sleep means everything. It makes or breaks your day.

Franko- To me the incision looks pretty messed up, but I guess it should at this point. I am sure its not bad. There were a lot of people telling how great my surgeon is and how so many people recommend them to him. I can already tell some differences from surgery. I think all the old pains are pretty much gone. It just feels like pain from the surgery.

I wish you a speedy recovery my friend. Take the down time to plan your next great photo shoot

Jim- Thanx. I have been learning as much about photography as I can in the time I have been given.

I don't know about the genetic component though.

It doesn't really matter how long your back or the legs are. If you lift with proper form, you shouldn't damage your spine.

The key is to lift with your legs while keeping the back straight. Basically you bend the knees while keeping the torso as vertical as possible and the actual spine straight. This minimizes the compression forces on the disks.

If you keep the legs straight and bend the back, it's a huge lever and the pressure is enormous. If you keep your back muscles toned, you shouldn't have much problems.

I didn't have experience with surgery so far, but I have been lifting 300-400 pounds regularly for the last 4 years or so.

cosworth wrote in post #3205720
Back "damage" is usually genetic or through bad sleep habits. Genetics play a role in the ratio between torso and leg length. Your body is a like lever, if it's designed badly well it goes south. Then there are people who do/did the above AND abuse(d) themselves (like me) that have no hope!

And I cannot stress enough the need to sleep on your back with proper support. If you need a stomach sleep for a bit to balance out some stiff muscles then so be it. But sleep on your back.

Doc- I must not have had the correct form. I thought I was doing it right. I even wore a back brace most of the time. The thing is that people can get herniated disks from minimal lifting. Bending wrong can do it too.

Doc - My orthpaedic surgeon explained it thus:

Your back is a lever and humans are designed for certain lumbar vertebrae to be the load bearing joints with proper muscle placement.

Every lever has a fulcrum. If the fulcrum is in the wrong spot, your back will suffer. Same reason you lift with your legs. If repeated use of the fulcrum in the wrong spot due to bad habits or an unusually long torso/short legs combo or both you can stress the back to the point where the weakest link is revealed.

I also have the HLA-B27 gene.

Hope you get better soon!

It's always complex and there's always too many variables.

The thing about the spine is that the whole structure is not designed for upright walking. Evolutionary it is not developed to have compression forces applied to it from lifting. It should just bend.

I'm definitely a knuckle dragger. Not sure about EOS!

Though I am generally grateful for Gravity, sometimes I really can't stand it.

Glad to hear and see you made it, with a very small cut. Recovery is a biatch, but hopefully it will leave you better than when you last walked into the Hospital.

Congrats on pulling through, and you indeed passed the POTN test for 'Staying away from the liiight!!' of this year.

Cheers,

cosworth wrote in post #3207254
I'm definitely a knuckle dragger. Not sure about EOS!

Whats a knuckle dragger? Never heard of that.

MJ- yup, I made it through. I think the incision is pretty big. At least compared to what they told it would be. They said it should be 3-4 inches. It turned out to be 5. To me it was a shock to see. The first time I saw it it looked pretty grose. It was really really scabbed up and a really dark red. I almost couldn't handle the sight. Then I got used to it.

Alyssa- Thank you!