6 weeks - hows it going?

So, its been a little while.

I saw the surgeon last week, who was pretty happy with how it was all going. That was reassuring. Its great to actually sit down for half an hour with an expert who has seen it hundreds of times and have all your questions answered. Very reassuring.

So how is it right now, at this moment? I'm hurting. Jeez it's aching. Its crazy. It's hard to tell if it is the bone, or if its muscular (and you can't even do the whole, bend, twist, stretch thing to check!!) I haven't done anything stupid, I'm not mowing the lawn, moving furniture, or re-tiling the roof. I've had 24 hours with absolutely zero pain killers of any kind. I think this may have been a bad idea. Will fix this tomorrow.

I'm not doing anything stupid, but I'm able to do vastly more incidental things now, I'm much more active overall during the day. I emailed the surgeon to ask his thoughts on this. Naturally, my thoughts go to all the bad places on this - the spacers have moved, the screws have come loose, I have to go have the surgery again to fix it, ruining my time frame for recovery.

It was again reassuring to have the surgeon give a calm, considered response on this. He said is common for a bit more pain around this time, as people generally become more active. That, coupled with the decrease in pain killers will do it. The advice, very unlikely its anything bad, most recent X-rays look good. Scale back the activity for a day or two and see how it goes. By all means, see my local doc, and get some X-rays to check, see a physio, but it should be fine. It was enough to calm me down.

That said the pain is still there. Its different from the pre-surgery pain, but it hurts like hell. I'm glad I have another 2 weeks before I go back to work part time. The last thing I would want to be doing is rushing back before its too soon and jeopardising the recovery.

I think its a good stage for reflection on this.. Its six fix since I had major surgery. I couldn't dress myself, get food, or do anything for a while there. I needed help for everything. Now I can do these things. Its important to manage my expectations and have a reality check on this. Yes, I'm in pain (for a good reason, I had surgery and they drilled 4 screws into my vertebrae!!) but I'm in different pain. Also, I find taking a macro look at things help. Don't focus or over analyse the day to day stuff. Compare today with a week ago, what about the week before, or last month? Hell, I'm heaps better, much improved, more mobile. Sure, I've had some new pain kick in, but its a reminder that I need to pay attention to my body and how it recovers. That I will always have to be conscious of this. This new pain, I'll manage that, I'll get through that too.

32 days recovery - new xrays!!

Yesterday I had some new X-rays done prior to seeing the neurosurgeon on Wednesday.

I was very keen to have a look at how its coming along, not that I'd be able to see too much!!
I had a laugh at the radiologist how noted in his report that:

"A posterior fusion has been performed at L5/S1 with malleable rods and pedicular screws.  A disc spacer has been placed at this level."

Even I can tell that's happened!!

Anyway, overlapping the scans, they don't appear to change at all, which I suppose is good? the spacers haven't moved. I suppose I'll wait until tomorrow and get the neurosurgeon's opinion.

PLIF Recovery - 4 weeks

Today is exactly four weeks since the surgery. A pretty big milestone.

How is it going? Pretty good I think.Yesterday I managed a total of 2 hours walking around, covering 7km. I'm starting to test my tolerance for sitting. This is something the doctors haven't excluded, more me being super cautious over the last few weeks. I've finished all the drugs I was prescribed too.

I'm getting a little bit of jarring type pain when I walk (only on uneven ground, or if the foot path drops out from under me unexpectedly). It's only on the right hand side, it feels a little more muscular than bone or joint. Nonetheless it is something I'm worried about - have I been doing to much, did I do something stupid to set it off, or is it just because of the drugs wearing off?

I'm very keen for the X-rays on Monday and to see the surgeon on Wednesday. I really want to see if anything has moved, how the fusion is coming along, and check in with all the medical milestones again.

The biggest thing for the moment though is managing the frustrations. I've had a few cranky moments over the last week. I've struggled with these, but am working through them ok. These are simple frustrations, like I'm sick of lying down, I'm sick of not being able to contribute, I'm sick of doing nothing. It's not like I want to going mountain climbing, kayaking, play rugby or take up MMA, its just that I'd like to be able to put my socks on myself, I wish I could take the garbage out. I wish I could reach the bottom cupboard with the dish washing liquid so I could wash up. These are the frustrations I have.

I have my computer, a playstation, TV, books, a Kindle and an iPhone, all to keep me busy, but still, I'm bored. I want the stimuli of work, of engaging conversation, new challenges. None of which I can get while being on my own.

I'm glad I knew these frustrations would be coming, the insights gained from my last surgery have been invaluable and have allowed me to develop coping mechanisms. If you had this surgery with no preparation, it would be really hard. I think you'd struggle with your own expectations on recovery time, and what you could do and what you wanted to do. For anyone about to have this surgery, please, make yourself aware of this and put plans in place.

I find if I'm frustrated for a day it helps to keep the bigger picture in mind. I think back to last week, how mobile was I then compared to now, what about the week before, and the week before? In bigger chunks the progress is noticeable, if not day by day

Day 24 of PLIF recovery

Been a few days since my last post. I've been distracted by Assassins Creed 3 and test cricket (jeez the Aussies are struggling at the moment)

The facts:
3x 30 min walks. Stride is freeing up, walking much more freely and looking less and less like a senior citizen. I'm walking between 4.5 and 5.5km a day. The pain is very manageable. Probably 2/10 if I forget to take pain killers. I'm using pain killers less and less.

My Mum went home this morning. It was awesome to have her up here for a week. Someone to take the pressure of looking after me off my 25 week pregnant wife. It was great to have someone do all those little things around the house; washing dishes, hanging out clothes, making lunch etc. All the little things that add up. Plus with baby on the way, there were plenty of stories about what my brother and I got up to as kids, some hints, tips, methods to cope etc. Also, living 3 states away, it was great just to hang out, watch a movie and have a chat. Thanks Mum.

The other point now is that I largely feel OK. I sense that this is the "danger zone" (Archer quote there - you like that Jarrod?). An example; I'm spending most of my days lying in bed. My iPhone is next to me. I get up for lunch and my phone rings. Sure, I feel fine, I'll just lean over and grab it  - NO - don't do it. I find I'm picking myself up on these types of things. Constantly reminding myself not to over do it, not to twist, bend, lean, lift, all those little everyday things. Very frustrating and a major exercise in self-control. I've got the time off work to recover, use it, don't do anything stupid to risk the recovery.

I have an X-ray this time next week, followed up with an appointment with the neurosurgeon back up in Sydney. I'm very keen to get this done, and see how its all going .

Day 16 PLIF recovery

Change is slow and steady at the moment. I'm hopeful that it continues along this road.

Speaking of roads, I'm walking more and more of the streets around my home. Today I did 1 x 17 min walk and 2 x 20 min walk. 17 min gets me about 750m and 20 min about 1km. The walks are getting faster each couple of days and my stride is getting better as well. If I'm not careful and overstride a step I can feel some tightness in my sacrum and lower back - a good sign to keep taking it easy and to listen to my body. I think this is important as it will drive the speed, and ultimately the success, of the recovery rather than any arbitrary goals if speed, distance or time.

A few frustrations are kicking in. I'm sick of lying down for most of the day. I have the tv, PS3, kindle, iPhone all set up but I'm still annoyed. Managing this and my own expectations remains a challenge.

My wife has taken the last week off, it has been so great to hang out with her and to have someone to do all the little things. I'd have been screwed without her. But she goes back to work tomorrow. So my mum arrives at lunch time tomorrow to take over caring duties! Very thankful. With me being injured and my wife being 24 weeks pregnant, it will be so nice to have an extra set of hands around the house to take the pressure off.

Day 13 PLIF recovery

Almost 2 weeks post surgery, and everything seems to be going really well. The numbness in my right leg is dissipating, which is a great relief. The pain in my back appears to be gone, and the same for the leg pain

Scar at 13 days

I'm still surprised at my mobility. Currently doing 3 x 15 min walks a day. This is dictated by what I can do, rather than trying to stick to a time. Still problems sitting, and this is something I am avoiding. I can handle stairs ok and all personal ablutions.

I'm coming down off the meds, using less and less which is great. I'm wary of managing the pain, so still being proactive with them. Night times are fine, sleeping and easy 6-8 each night, not waking up in pain.

I'm scheduled to see the neurosurgeon on 12 December and will review the current status and discuss the way forward

Overall, I'm stoked. I'm looking forward to continuing the recovery as fast as my body allows.

Day 8 - Home time

What a turn around, I wasn't expecting to get home until Monday, then suddenly the ambulance guys turn up, and I'm on a medical plane at 1pm. Home by 2.30pm. So glad I flew, was able to lie down the whole way, ambulances at either end for door to door pick up and drop off. Couldn't imagine sitting for over 5 hours in a car, bending and twisting in and out a dozen times at rest stops. Well worth it.


Below are a few photos of the transport home

My ride home Kingair 350 - takes 2 patients and about 6 nurses

Getting winched on board

I'm in the front bed, other stretcher in the background

Day 7 PLIF Recovery

One week post surgery, and I've had my first disappointment. Nothing, medical, no increase in pain, just a failure of administration (a pretty pissy issue I admit). I was supposed to be home on Thursday or Friday. That's not the case unfortunately. The ambulance services patient transport service has been unable to get its shit together and arrange transport home.Frustrating really, made worse by poor customer service staff and no one taking responsibility or being accountable. There's plenty of compromise solutions that I can think of, jeez inefficiency pisses me off. I was really set on getting home, seeing my wife, being in my own house and really kicking off my rehabilitation.

Anyway, in the bigger picture its not a major issue. I'm in good care, can do some recovery here, there's no pressure on my wife to care for me.

I managed to walk a 400m return trip today - I needed coffee. Getting into and out of bed is getting easier. I'm moving faster and freer each day. What amazes me is the difference between my microdiscectomy in April 2011 and this fusion. At the same stage of recovery, I seem so much more ahead. Not exactly sure on why though. More pain killers? Prior knowledge helping? A better surgery? I don't know.  I do know that my recovery is still going to take a long time, that I can't get ahead of myself, that I need to be diligent on my recovery and that I can't rush it.

Day 6 - PLIF Recovery

Six days post surgery, and I'm heaps more mobile. Still in pain, but its manageable. I haven't had to have morphine again which is great.
 
I'm walking (very gingerly and cautious) about 200m, three times a day, after each meal. I have been able to shower, shave, brush my teeth. All with some difficulty, and very slowly so as to avoid upsetting the surgery. Restrictions include no bending, twisting, lifting (over 2kg). No physical activity, short of walking. This is to be reviewed at the 6 week mark, just before Christmas, and again at the 12 week point. With my bub due in 18 weeks, I'm really conscious of this timeline.

There's still phenomenal pain from the surgery (you can't exactly escape that) but even despite that I can tell the pain in my back is so much better. There's a little numbness in my right leg, but the excruciating pain  I had in both legs is gone. The neurosurgeon explained that the numbness is likely to be a combination of residual nerve damage, inflammation/swelling from the surgery, and some trauma from the surgery. It should calm down again.

The staff at Royal North Shore Private has been great, very helpful for pain management, very encouraging for the recovery, very supportive - even passing on movie tips for wasting time while stuck in bed!!

Day Four - PLIF recovery

Holy crap. Now I know what pain is. Didn't sleep at all Monday night. I couldn't shake off the pain until about 11am when the doc gave me another shot of morphine.I knew this day was coming, I had read about it, been told about it and was glad I was prepared for it, otherwise I would have gone out of my mind.

As all the major drugs worked their way out of my system the pain really went up a notch. It is so frustrating to be unable to fix it, unable to take the pain away. To wait and see if the drugs work. Even lying still was agony, I couldn't roll over, sit up, stand, eat or drink. I ended up watching movies to try and distract me but even that didn't work.

Once we agreed to try a shot of morphine, the pain became much more manageable. Tuesday night I was much more proactive in managing my own pain rather than have the nurses do it for me. We came up with a better pain management strategy, without morphine, and that seemed to work last night. Slept in 3 hour blocks from 10pm to 7am.

As far as recovery goes, its very early but the neurosurgeon is confident.With help from the in hospital physio team I've got a series of exercises to do while in bed. While they are such tiny exercises, I am doing the religiously as I am sure they'll help. They also help pass the time!! I am walking laps of the ward after each meal about, 200m.That and general stretching help the body stay active. I can feel the affect on my body of lying down so much. For example, my hip flexors are cramping up really bad. I'm trying to stretch them when ever I'm out of bed.

I'm appreciating small things. Like a shower, shave, deodorant, clean linen and clothes. They really help mentally as I feel fresher and more positive.

Day Three

Check out the X-rays below. See, told you, I wasn't lying.

The screws are so long apparently because they adhere to the engineering principle of cantilever.  Still, they match the scar nicely. It also shows why the recovery is such a challenge and has to be done so carefully.

Meds are tailing off, which makes it a hard balancing act. Walked a full lap of the ward today, spoke with discharge officer about hitching a ride home. Also got basic plans off the physio for recovery. Will post them later.  Still finding it hard to type - concentration and focus are hard to master on the pain

Day Two

Massive Morphine syringe - and Eva Green in the background!!

Scar on day 2

Finally able to type today. Morphine drip gone, just on oral pain killers. Been up walking twice, only about 10m though!! Catheter out to this morning.  Any guys reading this, you'll feel my pain.

How is the pain - hard to describe. There's obviously massive pain around the incision, but the pain in my back is gone and so is the numbness that was in my legs. Obviously you want this to be the case, that the current trauma isn't just overtaking all the pain. Its to early to tell if its a complete success, there's still so much that can go wrong.

Eating ok, drinking ok, and getting around ok.Still needs a month or 2 off!! Good thing its cricket season!!

Day One - What a day

Draining the wound

Out of my mind??

What a day.
Nausea, pain, nausea, agony, drugs, nausea. Nothing like waking up in ICU, stubbornly eating a a hospital made mcmuffin (it was machappy day after all) only to throw up on yourself.

Transferred from ICU to neuro ward about 1pm. Team here are great. Struggled with a fever overnight. Anything to keep the temperature down!! It doesn't help when the fire systems are being tested all day and the air conditioner is off!!

The night before PLIF surgery

Travelled to Sydney ok Hospital admin went ok. I've got my own room, so can't complain,

Out the front of RNSH

View from room

Nervous

Met neurosurgeon, discussed risks, outcomes, recovery, strategy for the operation. Going to be using the InterFuse system.http://www.vti-spine.com/interfuse.html The animation here shows how its done. (I really need to figure out how I embed videos that aren't on youtube!). Found good studies on this method, the one the maker has on there website is 97% successful fusions, at six months, from104 patients.The question remains though with fusions, will this take my pain away?

Anxious 

Met anaesthetist. All sorted for the day to. That must be a cool  job to knock people out eveyday.

Worried

I've been bumped down from early morning to the afternoon. A couple of brain tumour patients are ahead of me. I know I'm in pain, but seriously, they can go first.

From surgery to ICU overnight to keep an eye on everything, then out to the normal ward. All going to plan, a few days there, and then into the rehab section.

Second guessing myself? No. I'm in pain, have been for a decade, I'm over it. Lets focus on the recovery. I have a great support network around me - from wife, family, friends, co-workers, to surgeon, sports doc, physio, rehab. I will be drawing on this as much as I can. Thank you everyone

L5-S1 Posterior Fusion - facts

Only 5 days out now.

For those that don't know what surgery I'm about to have I'll spell out a few of the basics in this post.

Animated video of what the operation does:
http://www.spine-health.com/video/posterior-lumbar-interbody-fusion-plif-video


The big choice seems to be anterior (through the front) or posterior (from the back) fusion or disc replacement. There are advantages and disadvantage for each - whether its access to the disc, less moving of the spinal cord. Anterior vs Posterior has the added risk of injury to the bowel, ureter and for men - the lovely topic of retrograde ejaculation (no more babies!!)

Risks for PLIF fusion:

1. Non-union
2. Damage to the spinal cord or nerve roots 
3. Infection
4. Bleeding
5. Continued pain 
6. Adjacent disc disease 
7. Injury to the vertebral artery 
8. Blood clots 
9. Stroke 
10. Paralysis 
11. Bowel or bladder incontinence 
12. Death 

In discussing all this with my neurosurgeon, I decided for posterior fusion. I wasn't comfortable with the risks with anterior or disc replacement. Also I have a work college who had the procedure in March and after 6 months is doing great, something which encouraged me greatly.

The chance of it working according to medical journals is >70%.
A lot of journals focus on things like the pedicle screws loosening, or the adjecent disc disease (where the problem moves up a level).

The basic philosophy I am using to accept the treatment is:

1. Ongoing conservative treatment - tried this for over 10 years.
2. Discectomy and S1 nerve root decompression - the least invasive surgery.
3. L5/S1 fusion - permanent, last resort.
4. Life long maintenance of my condition - I will always be conscious of my back, I'll always be doing things to keep it healthy and functioning well.

Why so keen to get it done?

I must admit, there's a ulterior motive for why i am so keen to have major surgery.

I want to maximise my recovery before 20 March when my wife is due with our first bub!!

Waving

Blowing bubbles?

We are both super excited about our little bub!!

So with regards to the surgery, every day delayed is a day less of recovery. I have been in pain for a decade, managed it every way I can, had one small surgery on it already. So I know I need this oen now to take the pain away, there just aren't really any other options that I have left. So if I need it, then lets do it ASAP.

To the neurosurgeons credit, he has resisted me pushing a little bit. We have tried more cortisone injections

Its been three months since the really big relapse and despite a lot of treatment during this time, it isn't going away. The pain is there, so I need to do something.

On the upside, I will hyper-focused on the recovery. I will do everything I can to be able to help my wife in February/March and to be able to look after my bub when he arrives. I think I will actually have to watch carefully that I don't overdo it!!

Surgery delayed by a week!!

So.... I was all excited about the surgery finally coming around this Friday.

Only - NO.

I have had to have it rescheduled. I was so devastated about this. It felt like I'd been kicked in the nuts!! To be honest, I felt almost felt sick when I was told on the phone.

Only by a week, so its now on for Friday 09 November 2012.

Outcome of September Neurosurgeon appt

So, after having a relapse mid August, I got to see the neurosurgeon in September.

In the mean time I had gone back to phsyio and massage team, had seen my doc again, had tried some more cortisone injections.

After close to an hour of talking we had settled on a two track approach. The surgeon was hesitant to go straight to the fusion - it had only been about 6 weeks since the major pain relapse, and he wanted to wait and see how much it would improve. So we tried another round of cortisone injections. Also during this period I pursued a pretty aggressive approach to the pain and hit the gym at work every day for stretching and core work.

The second track to take was the fusion option. While doing everything in the first option, I put the extra paperwork in for the hospital for the fusion and submitted a request in to the Department of Veterans Affairs (it is for my old Army injury after all) to help out with funding it.

Personally, I wasn't happy with some of this. I wanted the surgery ASAP. In hind sight the surgeons advice is right, try one more time, if it doesn't get better then we'll really know. It was always going to take time to organise things - approval, hospital, DVA etc. I'm glad we didn't rush into this and that they don't hand out this type of surgery like its candy.

By the time the surgery was all booked in and approved, the date was 02 November 2012. I had been in pain for close to 3 months, it wasn't going away. I was so keen to get it over and done with at start the recovery.

2012 relapse and images

After an awesome 18 months post microdiscectomy - BAM - it fell off the cliff. I had even managed to go overseas for 6 months with no drama. How the hell could this happen.

What brought me undone this time? A bad chair. Pathetic I know.

I had a training day and sat in a terrible chair for the day, I was sick with a really bad cold, was fatigued and I think I just couldn't have a decent posture. I reckon it was the straw that broke the camels back (really bad pun that). I'd come home, everything was fine and I went back to some bad old habits. I was exercising as much as I could have been and wasn't proactively taking care of my back.

I couldn't put one foot in front of the other, I couldn't walk. I could lift my legs up. The pain in my lower back was excruciating. After about 2-3 days like this, then the leg pain returned - that felling of your legs being on fire, on the inside, but cold, with my feet going numb.

Back to the Dr's - cortisone injections onto the S1 nerve root and some MRI's

It was so disappointing to see the disc protruding back out - I had just had this cut off!!! It had been so good.

In September 2012 I got in to see the neurosurgeon.

2012 scans - disc bulging out are beign trimmed off 18 months ago via micro discectomy

2011 - Microdiscectomy

The pain was unbearable. It wouldn't go away. I couldn't sleep, I was tired, cranky and irritable.
After a long talk with the neurosurgeon it was decided to go for the less serious microdiscetomy. Fusion was discussed as being possible in the future, but for now, we decided to go for the microdiscectomy. This was based on numerous things, probably the most of which was the severity of the leg pain I was suffering in comparison to back pain

For info try
http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/back-surgery/microdiscectomy-microdecompression-spine-surgery

Or for an animated version of the surgery try this one
http://www.spine-health.com/video/microdiscectomy-lumbar-microdecompression-spine-surgery-video

I underwent the surgery in April 2011. I took 4 weeks off work and then came back under a graded return to work program (i.e. 3 days at 3 hours, 3 days at 6 hours, 3 full days, then 4 full days, leadign to 5 full days - over about a 10 week period).

It was a huge success. The first 7-10 days were hell. I could hardly move. If it wasn't for my wife looking after me I would have been screwed. I walked 3 times a day - it took me 12 minutes to walk my drive way the first time I tried. Each day I went a little further and a little faster.

I managed to get back to the sports I loved, could go the gym. I took up scuba diving. It was great. It was the best my back had been in 10 years. The leg pain was completely gone too.

2011 update and images

The beginning of 2011 was ridiculous. My back had stiffened up so much I could hardly move it. If I played any sport - like trying to kick a footy - I could hardly move the next day. But worst of all was the leg pain. Unbearable. It was like my legs where on fire, on the inside, but they were cold, and numb if that makes any sense. Nothing could take the pain away - not physio, massage, chiro, stretching, or core workouts. The only thing I found was acupuncture, but the gains were short lived.

 Again in the side profile you can see the disc sticking out and putting pressure on the spinal canal and nerve roots. The disc itself continues to degenerate.

This is where the bigger difference can be seen.

From the top, you can see that there is no space left for the nerves to come out the side. They are constantly under stress - hence the leg pain that doesn't go away.

Its great to see it next to a good disc (the second image is from L4 I think). The disc looks in better condition (black outside, with a gel centre). There's no pressure on the spinal canal and there's room for the nerves out the side.

At this stage, my doctor (who is an amazing sports doc by the way) and physio team started talking about surgery. We tried once more with some CT guided cortisone injection into the facet joints and onto the nerve roots. But this only aggravated it more.

So neurosurgeon it was.

2010 update and images

By 2010 the pain had really started to ramp up.

I could no longer do the sports and activities I was used to and my back pain was starting to impact my lifestyle. I was working my physio and massage team pretty hard and we were holding back the tide, but it was inevitable that it was just a matter of time until the pain became too much. The cortisone injections weren't working as well as they had, nothing seemed to be able to reverse the degeneration of my condition.

2010 Side profile

From the image on the left, you can see the disc is sticking out a little more than in 2009 and there is more of an impact on the spinal canal and nerve roots

It's a good shot as you can see the rest of the spine is in pretty good condition. Especially the other discs. They are black on the edges (due to the harder wall of the disc) and a nice 'creamy' white in the centre which is the gel that cushions everything(see right). The L5-S1 disc is much darker and has hardly any gel left.

The top down shot on the right gives a great picture of the change since 2009. The spinal cord is crushed a little more and there white space between the disc and the facet joint is smaller. This is key, because through this space is where the nerves travel - the nerves out of here, S1 - travel down your leg and give you the leg pain we all now about.




This was the begining of a sharp decline in my back.

2009 update and images

After about 7 years, my back was holding on OK. The disc hadn't protruded much more, and it was still in an acceptable condition. I was exercising enough to keep it in check, was seeing physio, chiropractors and massage therapists to keep my back working. I also had some good results from some CT guided cortisone injections on the facet joints. It was not however cool to watch these injections happen 'live' on a TV. Seeing those needles get placed with such precision, so close to spinal cord and nerves, was not an easy experience.

2009 Side profile

2009 Top down.  Disc bulge is about the same as 2002

Background to my injury - 2002

"I think the best way to tell this story is by starting at the end, briefly, then going back to the beginning; then periodically returning to the end, maybe giving different characters' perspectives throughout. Just to, you know, give it a bit of dynamism . Otherwise it's just sort of a linear story."

- David Ershon in The Other Guys 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk7OGX-s0aI

No seriously, I was medically discharged from the Australian Army in 2003 due pain in my back that I just couldn't shake. I tried for 12 months flat out - physio, doctors, drugs (the prescribed kind!!) I just couldn't do the army thing anymore. Standing was the worst - so drill and parades were just not going to happen.

This is what it looked like in 2002

Why am I writing this blog?

I don't really read blogs, or write them for that matter.

However, when I knew I'd be needing some pretty serious surgery with a tight deadline for recovery, I found myself seeking answers. Particularly with regards to other peoples experiences and recovery.

The more I looked, the more negativity I found. For every forum or comment section there would be 20 negative comments to each positive. That or it was just a stack of people asking questions like myself. These people came across like myself; nervous, scared, anxious, uninformed.

In the middle of all this I found two stories.


http://excusemefuseme.blogspot.com.au/
and
http://insanum.com/blog/spinal-fusion.html

I hope to make this a third...