Herniated disc...

[20X11]

Almost a year ago today, a chiropractic visit went terribly wrong and a disc in my neck was pressing against my spinal cord. DAMN that HURT!!! Two weeks of excrutiating pain later, I finally underwent surgery to repair/replace the the disc. The pain relief was IMMEDIATE. I woke up with pain from the surgery(they go in from the front, move the trachea aside, and do the work from there), but the surgery pain was FAR LESS than the pre-surgery pain. Within a few days, I was weaning off pain meds. Dr. wanted me on Valium(muscle relaxer) for a couple months, but I was back near 100% in a few weeks. We are praying for you. Get the surgery done, don't hesitate, don't look back.

[Snowman78]

"We are praying for you. Get the surgery done, don't hesitate, don't look back."

+1^

[Hotchef181818]

All good in the hood. Surgery went perfect as planned, at home already recovering. So damn happy to put that behind me. Everything's else will fall in line again.

Damn that pain was overwhelming.

[Irving]

Glad to hear it!

[20X11]

All good in the hood. Surgery went perfect as planned, at home already recovering. So damn happy to put that behind me. Everything's else will fall in line again.

Damn that pain was overwhelming.

Amen, brother

[davsel]

Welcome back to reality.
Glad it was a success.

[Fentonite]

Pictures, or it didn't happen.

Glad it went well!

[Hotchef181818]

I'm planning on getting the pic of the fragment on my follow up visit next week. The surgeon does about 40 of these a month and said this fragment was one of the 5 largest he's removed. It impressed him so much he took a pic and showed it to the wifey while I was coming around. I never did see it. If I can get the pics I'll post them up. The herniation itself at 18-19mm is impressive and I should be able to get that pic from my MRI disc.

The he whole event was eye opening for sure. I've been through some ups and downs in my life, from my son being born at 32 weeks unexpectedly from my wife developing HELP syndrome, to random injuries, to living with 2 bulging discs for the past 15 years(I'm only 35 now), to the financial stress involved in all of these, etc,etc.

Anyone who gets out there and earns a living every day goes through the struggles and makes the most of it. I've always said,meat doesn't kill me will make me stronger. This situation pushed me to the edge, and even a little past. I have a new house, in a new city,neither 2 kids under 2 yrs old and a wife that's depending on me to make this all work out. Suffering through the pain was horrible enough, but the "what if thoughts"'really got the best of me through this. Not being able to pick my kids up the last 2 weeks made me realize I need to work even harder to ensure my health for the upcoming years. It was the extra push I needed.

All in in all if this on top of my wife delivering our daughter in January doesn't destroy us financially and we can make it out the other side I have no doubt we can get through anything!


i want to add one small rant to this as a final note... Fuck insurance companies, they are only there to pay as little as possible when you need it most and make getting that from them difficult with constant phone calls and follow up. I hate them all!

[UncleDave]

Yeah most insurance companies you have to hound, and usually resubmit the bill a couple of times to get them to pay what they should. You have to be your own advocate. Glad to hear you are better. My first surgery with that fragment was at 19. I am now 42, so I have been dealing with back issue all my adult life. Keep your core strong and you can live a normal life. If you get that warning tinge, listen to your body. You will learn when your body says enough.