Okay, I'm not a doctor, but my back is what fucked me up, why I had to leave the army. I deal with this everyday; my bed and the wall show damage from tossing and turning, wife's side doesn't. I have insomnia a lot because of the pain. I went to the VA back school and they had a bunch of guys there and they asked everyone with a spinal fusion to raise their hands. Half went up. How many had 2? One went down. 3? 4? 5? Then one guy had 7. When asked if it helped with the pain or returned mobility, they all said no. Keep in mind these are VA patients so some are lucky they woke up with nuts.
Still, some of the specialists are civilian doctors that DO give a shit. If you are VA, make SURE to get another opinion.
So my predicament is this: I have to see a pain doctor. Had to for last decade. But a year or so ago I divorced the VA's pain team and went to a real doctor. VA couldn't get me a shot in the back for 3 months, but when I need it I need it NOW. So my new doc can do that, but I don't want a needle in my spine unless I'm ready to just end it. So they can manage the pain, to a point, but I'm still a fucking cripple and IN pain.
Then a couple of appt.'s back, one of my 3 doctors there tells me about a new surgery that is offered in Germany, not approved by FDA yet, that FIXES this problem. I don't know what exactly it is, but I got the idea it has to do with replacing the actual disc. When it gets approved, I'll wait a bit to see how it works, then I wanna get in line.
Which, if you have DDD (degenerative disc disease) like me, you would want. I was warned that if I had spinal fusion done, I'd just be starting a cycle of surgery to fuse 'em all. She has one patient almost like that now. And mine has gotten progressively worse for ten years. I hate MRI's, I know they'll be bad, and the nerve tests suck and I know they'll turn out positive and bad too. I fucked up all my S's and L's and one or two T's. S1 to L4 or 5 are just totally shot.
So I'm waiting for the surgery. I'm already in pain. I've been in pain and spent six months of last year laying on the floor in the prone, Dilaudid drips, etc. So been there, done that. I've only talked to one guy that LIKED the spinal fusion, and he was real young. He said he could play soccer again. Still, he's young. He may not be ready for his second surgery yet. My wife's mother had a cervical fusion here recently; I guess she's much better and was up and around pretty fast. That is more dangerous than a sacral or lumbar fusion, and more important.
If you're getting lots of nerve pain, you may end up with no choice. I tough it out, but there's been some days I wanted to just quit. Pain meds work for all but the nerve pain; then Gabapentin can help but nothing really stops it, not even the synthetic heroin. I use lots of ice packs, learning that helped a lot. Some will stay cold for hours.
Personally, if I can't run and I'll still be in pain, I don't want the surgery. I want to run again, as in marathons. I used to be able to run for 3 hours and shuffle all day long. No shit. That's my goal, to get my life back and tell 'em to keep their government checks. I probably would have gotten the fusion, BTW, had I not went to that back school and met others farther down the road than I.
