Wow...bummer having to wait ...good luck with that. I just had surgery on L 5 four weeks ago. I had herniated/ruptured the disk. I had extreem leg pain until i got this done....but i only had to wait 5 weeks. Feels great now.....Im walking normal and usually for 45 mins a day now. Just saw the surgeon yesterday and he said back to work in the new year ....i really hope so...

 

<div class="FTQUOTE"><begin quote>Originally posted by: Rowe

Thanks HD. What did you have done. He's calling mine a microdiscectomy.?? He said he was gonna have to trim my L4-L5, L3-L4. Did they tell you that you were gonna go home that night right from the get go? He told me I'd have to stay over night and that is definitely something I don't wanna do. It's not holding me back but it just sucks. Also did it eleviate your back pain or just your leg pain? I have a lot of back pain with mine and he said it should help but it's more for the leg pain. Were you able to walk around and o.k afterward, and how did you feel the following day? I may schedule it just before the holidays so that I can get it done soon and get it all over with and behind me. How long did they say you'd be off your wheeler? I was supposed to schedule today but held off again. I better do it tommorrow or my wife will kill me. LOL Thanks for everything man, I feel better knowing one of my fellow Polaris Brothers is saying it's O.K</end quote></div>

The microdiscectomy is what I had too. Most of my pain was in my leg area but most of my problem was confined to one disk to where you have two.
They told me that I would have to spend one night but I was doing well enough that they gave me the option to go home early.
I was up walking once they got me to my room,and walking is one of the best exercises for recovery.
I felt pretty crappy the first night ,after the drugs from surgery wore off.
Within a few days I was wanting to walk alot but I could only walk for short periods before getting sore and tired.
You should recover a little faster,I was on my face for 2 months before surgery so I'd lost all stamina and tired REALLY easy.
The most important thing is proper body mechanics, sit straight,don't bend to lift,walk frequently,etc.
I know it's really scary and you've got good reason to be nervous but just trust your doctor. It don't sound like they rushed toward the recommendation of surgery so that says a lot.
As far as the surgery itself,the worst part is the the IV....YOU WILL NOT REMEMBER ANYTHING ELSE..!!!LOL! It was just like taking a nap!
You may have nausea after you wake up but I doubt it.
Anyway if you have ANY questions or just wanna talk about it give me a shout.
Keep me posted and good luck!

 

I feel for you guys. 4 years ago I had part of my spine removed as I had shattered L4 & L5 by a fall I had taken. I tried all the therapy, steroids etc as per doctors ordered before they would considr the surgery. I got so bad in 6 months time that I could not walk and they decided to let me have the surgery. The VA here in Phoenix sent me to Tuscon where they supposedly had the best surgoen in the arae for it. Well I can say it was worth the painful ride there. My wife wheeled me into the hospital at 6 am. Surgey at 7, it was worse than they had seen on the MRI and surgey ended up lasting 10 hours. I did have to stay the night but the next morning I walked out to the car to come home. I can tell you that there is no better feeling than to be able to walk again. As for follow up I am not supposed to lift more than 10 lbs,not ride quad or do anything with an impact on my back. I am a contractor and go to work everyday and ride my quad as much as possible. Get the surgery done and look back and say WHY DID I WAIT! It still does bother me from time to time but I will never regret making the decision to have the surgery. Good luck to you on it.

 

Thanks for all the good will guys. My injury, even though it is life altering, isn't so bad that they want to go the surgery route right now. I'd be willing to do it, but the other hitch is that lawyers are involved because I was helping a friend move out of a dump that didn't have a gutter to channel the snowmelt away from the steps we had to go up and down. Hopefully everything will get hammered out.

 

Update on my situation:

I went for my follow up yesterday and everything checked out good! The doc said that I could start lifting more weight (30-40 lbs) carefully! He also said I could start riding again but to be really easy( sight seeing rides). I have no problems with those rules,merry Christmas to me!

Rowe do you have an update on your situation? Did you decide on the surgery?

 

Yeah, I have it scheduled for Jan 9. Cant wait! Hoping I turn out as good as all of you guys. I just need to be able to go back to work. I have been collecting comp. since Feb. and although I know I'm lucky to still have an income it sure is a change of lifestyle. It could definately be worse though and I know it. I'm kinda feeling good about it now, not too nervous or stressed about it. Rifle season has just ended so it was keeping my mind off of it a bit until I started trying to climb those steep mountains or walked a lot. Thanks for all the encouragement fellas and I'll keep you all updated.

 

Cool man! be sure to post here after your surgery to let us know how it's going!