So no shiz there I was, In afghanistan...

[BPTactical]

I have 3 collapsed disc im my lower back. It sucks, I can do something as benign as putting down the cat dish and it will spaz out. Left foot always feels cold now too.
At 50 yo, considering the abuse I have given my body over the years I figure I am doing good......

[pepito]

You must be in one of the Cadillac fobs to have internet in stanz.

Get yourself checked out. Most of the big, pricey medical equipment is in Bagram and if they can't fix you there they will send you to Germany. Fix it. Dead lined for a few days- months is better than compromising the rest of your life. Besides, sounds like your post isn't exactly mission critical.

[Flatline]

If you get a referral off-post, ask for this guy:

Dr. Bee - http://www.healthgrades.com/physicia...ames-bee-3yl3w

Off post referral, that will never happen.

[TheBelly]

wow I didn't know this forum was such a wealth of knowledge on back pain! Thanks, sir, I'll try to catch the ortho guy when he comes through here, or on my next trip to your place, whichever comes first.

Give a holler when you're about to go, I'll see if he can squeeze you in..walk you down there if necessary.

[Scanker19]

Off post referral, that will never happen.

Depends if they can do it on post or not. They sent me to Vail to have the guy who invented the hip do my surgery.

[rondog]

wow I didn't know this forum was such a wealth of knowledge on back pain! Thanks, sir, I'll try to catch the ortho guy when he comes through here, or on my next trip to your place, whichever comes first.

Are you still in The 'Stan? A co-worker of mine is a Capt. in the CONG, and recently got back from there. He was the XO for some big-ass medical unit and had people all over the ME and in Europe reporting to him, I believe he said he was based in Bagram. Want me to ask him if he knows anybody over there in the ortho field you could look for?

Oh yeah, I forgot this pic. This shows all the layers of muscles in your back. The oval area is where I was operated on, they cut through those muscles twice now to get to my spine. Needless to say, those muscles don't like me much anymore.



And this is what they did to my L3, L4 and L5 vertebrae. They cut the centers, or "spinous process", out of them to relieve pressure on the spinal cord. These pics show L3 and L4, but they also did L5 right below, cut where the red lines are. Keep in mind that what YOU need done probably isn't even CLOSE to this kind of surgery, fixing a herniated disc is a pretty simple procedure these days. So, if you can get it fixed, I'd highly recommend doing so. A few months of recovery pain ain't nothing compared to hurting for the rest of your life.

[Sharpienads]

Depends if they can do it on post or not. They sent me to Vail to have the guy who invented the hip do my surgery.

Didn't God invent the hip?

[BPTactical]

Didn't God invent the hip?

No silly, the HIPpies did

[TheBelly]

You must be in one of the Cadillac fobs to have internet in stanz.

Get yourself checked out. Most of the big, pricey medical equipment is in Bagram and if they can't fix you there they will send you to Germany. Fix it. Dead lined for a few days- months is better than compromising the rest of your life. Besides, sounds like your post isn't exactly mission critical.

most of the fobs, even some of the tinier ones have some form of internet.

[Ronin13]

Off post referral, that will never happen.

Been down this road- I had a herniated C5/6 disc that happened in Afghanistan (but wasn't symptomatic until 3 months after we redeployed)... pinched the damn nerve root and caused pain and paresthesia down my entire right arm (PT=No go). I talked to my primary care provider (A CPT) and she was able to get me a referral to an off-post neurosurgeon to determine if surgery was needed or not (it was). So just make sure you keep and document everything! Every sick call slip, request copies of any paper work the medical team takes down, save it all... Yes you could be entitled to VA benefits, just save everything so you can give it to the VA, but it's entirely possible to get outside of the army help, you just have to ask and work through the system, it's a PITA but it's not impossible. How much longer do you have left on your tour? Unless you're really screwed up there isn't a whole lot they can do for your in country, you might have to profile ranger it until you redeploy.
Good luck!