Surgery!

Note: Not my photo. I forgot to ask for photos. I stole this off the net.


As you know I have been suffering from a back injury since... forever? No, it was September I believe, got bad in December, really bad in February and now I'm on the mend. I pray.

Four weeks ago I had an MRI and Wednesday I got the results of it.... drum roll please......

I have a MASSIVE herniated disk. Specifically L5 effecting L4 and S1 (for those of you who want the technical info). How did this happen? No idea. Brief running injury? Sitting too long? Sitting too long on very low couches? Stress of moving and starting school? 10 hour flight? No idea- none of those seem to account for this major disk injury.

The surgeon, who was lovely and from Seattle- so we had a great session of West Coast bonding- has offered me surgery. Yes, it's that bad.

But since I'm not in a lot of pain and I'm young and fit, surgery as much as it is an option, it is also my choice. Some study that both my physio and surgeon quoted said that the difference for patience who had surgery versus those that didn't (and did physio etc) is none or 0% difference. The main benefit of surgery is that it alleviates pain.

However I do have a pinched nerve which is cutting off the connection to my calve muscle. Meaning- if I stand on my left foot and try to raise my body up and down on my toes, I can't do it. This is what really bothers me. It means I can't run, have difficulties going up and down stairs and have partial numbness from below the knee in my right side.

So, my inclination is to stick with the physio and see if I get better. I've already been seeing a private physio for 7 weeks and have improved greatly. I finally got in with the NHS physio so I don't have to pay out of pocket anymore, but all physio is telling me now is to stick with core strengthening and do pilates.

One issue is that if I wait to decide on surgery, the waiting list for it is about 3 months. So in 5-6 months time (November) I don't know where in the world I may be. If I'm back in Canada I'll have to go through this whole process again and may have to deal with a 6 month waiting list there- maybe, I don't know.

Essays, Builders and Surgery oh my! 2009 is turning out to be quite the interesting year and it all started by getting punched in the face in Edinburgh. What will happen next?