I am giving it one more year and then I'm going to submit to the knife. I just hear so many horror stories about back surgery that I'm concerned about that path. Its a last resort for me.
After my injury, I was in bed for 4 1/2 months, unable to walk more than 30 feet without serious pain. It was another 5-8 years after that before I was reasonably close to normal. I was offered back surgery a number of times during that time. After the first offer, I started to look for people who had had surgery. Some claimed to be cured. Others were either no better or worse. I did notice that most of those who claimed cures had had their surgery within the prior few years.
And then a close friend had trouble and had surgery. She worked the day before her surgery, so she wasn't too bad off; during the first few months following my injury I could not have worked to save my life. She has not worked since, she is essentially bedridden, and she is in constant pain that the doctors have not been able to control- -even by cutting nerves. And she had her surgery six years ago.
At one time I was getting discouraged and was thinking about surgery. Fortunately, my medical insurance requires that I get a second opinion for back surgery. I was supposed to have a spinal fusion. The second doctor told me that I would have to have the operation repeated every 5-10 years for the rest of my life and that I was virtually guaranteed to get arthritis in my spine in later life because of having had the operation.
I decided against surgery. It's now 15 years after the original injury. I still have occasional trouble, mostly during periods when because of work I don't get enough exercise. But I still think I made the right decision.
Think carefully about this, buddy, and investigate. This is one of life's important decisions. And, if you're interested in surgery, get a second opinion, even if you have to pay yourself. The few hundred it might cost is nothing compared to the possible consequences of being wrong.
I think you you hit a button. :-)
Still, China is pretty far away, and we should see em coming
Yeah, but they're short and might slip in under the radar. :-) |
