Surgery Number Two

In just a few days, I will go under the knife for the second time in my 32 years. I wish I could say I didn't need surgery, but why would someone have surgery if they didn't need it? Oh yeah, they want to look good. At this point in my life, I just want to be normal again and I don't really care if I look good or not.

If you are new here or don't remember the story, read a few of these posts to see why I had surgery the first time and the experience:
9.3.12 The most pain since birth
9.6.12 Surgery set for Monday
9.13.12 Home on drugs
10.22.12 6 weeks post op

The important point is that starting less than six weeks after my first surgery, I was having pain again because the disk that was shaved off had returned to push on my sciatic nerves again. The pain has been on and off for the last year, but in September 2013, I was feeling really good. I hadn't had pain for several weeks and was dedicated to my PT program. I decided to take it to the next level and go for a short run. At that point, I was walking at least 2 miles every night pushing the stroller, so I just jogged for a bit on our walk.

While I was running, I felt my right leg go numb. I know that's bad, so I stopped running immediately but continued our walk. I was slightly stiff, but I didn't have any pain that night. The next morning I woke up with a little pain down my leg. The day after, it hurt a little bit more.

Fast forward three months, and the pain is still increasing daily. I've tried all sorts of things to not have surgery, all the while dealing with this pain. I started seeing a pain management physician, had two steroid injections and have been on all sorts of drugs to try to reduce the pain. One drug did work for about a week, but then my body got used to the drug and the pain came back in full force.

Surgery is scheduled for Tuesday and in my current state, I cannot get out of the bed for more than a few minutes without a ton of pain - and that's WITH the pain medications. Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to Tuesday morning. I've told my husband that I vow to live differently after surgery. For the last two years I have not hardly lifted weights and I think that is a major reason why my back didn't heal correctly the first time. I didn't have the core muscles to support my spine - and I still don't. I'm going to start PT as soon as my physician will allow it and having gone though PT so much this last year, I know a bunch of exercises to do that don't involve a lot of movement.