Surgery

Last October I herniated a disc in my lumbar spine when I tried to pick up my mother off the floor. I didn't feel anything right away, but the next day the back was tight and I couldn't bend. The day after that I felt numbness in my right leg. After a series of doctor's visits and an MRI, I was diagnosed with a herniated disc that's pressing on the L5/S1 nerve, causing pain throughout my entire leg. The pain is constant and often severe. For example, I'm typing this at 5:40 am because the pain kept me up overnight.

I tried physical therapy and injections into the affected area. Neither worked, and I have pain 7 months later. After two surgical consults in which I was told surgery was the only option at this point, I'm scheduled for surgery in a week on Monday, May 2. It's band aid surgery where they will make a small incision and remove the part of the disc that's compressing the nerve. It's a 50-minute procedure, and I could be out of the hospital the same day or worst case scenario the next day.

Not looking forward it. Was hoping to avoid it. But at the end of the day my quality of life will be drastically improved and I'll be able to do more things, especially with my daughters and at home, where my wife Judy has picked up a lot of the slack. Examples: I cannot give baths except on rare occasions, cannot get on the floor to play with my daughters and to do educational play sessions, cannot vacuum except on rare occasions, and almost always stay home on Saturdays when the girls go for their therapeutic horseback riding (helps with their physical development in terms of core strength, posture, and balance). There will be short-term pain from the surgery - I'll be on my back most of the time for the first 5 days afterward and expect there to be pain where they operate - but long-term gain.