flchristi's Journal

It has been almost a year since my spinal fusion and I am still having severe pain. Some days I feel like throwing in the towel but I have such a loving family and relatively good life other than that. I have been going to pain management and have tried probably every drug out there for pain besides Methadone since the day I got out of the hospital. When I first got out of the hospital I expected my surgeon to order physical therapy but he didnt So I did the best I could at home and tried my hardest to tough it out. Finally after about 5 months of pure hell I got him to order the physical therapy,although he was reluctant still for some reason. By this time I was in so much pain that the therapists really had a hard time doing anything with me. I kept going though, knowing that nothing they were doing was helping me in the slightest. So when I went back to the surgeon for my month checkup I told him I was not getting any better and I was way worse than before the surgery. My left leg was getting even more numb than before the surgery and my mid section was also staying numb for longer periods of time and I was finding it harder to control my bladder. The surgeons' answer to all of this was that it was all pretty normal to still have difficulties after 6 months and it was ,"still early".  My pain dr and I agreed that I needed a second opinion so I went to the University and this new dr ordered a myelo CT as well as another nerve conductiom study. The tests showed very little but they did confirm I had nerve damage in my left leg. However there wasnt anything surgically this new doctor could do besides send me to another doctor for a possible spinal cord stimulator. Well I am now scheduled for a history and physical on March 25th,my first surgery for a trial stimulator on the 27th,and my second surgery for the permanent stimulator on April 1st(April fools day-Yikes),and also only 3 days short of the start of all of this a year ago. I pray that it all works and I can be free of some of these pain pills I have now been on just to help me get through the day. In the mean time I will do my research on the 3 units the doctor is suggesting and stay positive.