looking for sound advice

[rodman]

I am new to this site so i hope i'm doing this correctly . i am in the information gathering stage . i got hurt on the job 10 months ago , we now know that i have problems at L5-S1 , ddd plus a fissure found by diskogram . i would by no way describe my pain as excruciating . it is a daily debilitating backache , with some butt and thigh ache , not the shooting type pain . the more i do the more i hurt , anything prolonged or repetitive aggravates , sitting is the worst , laying down is joyous . if all i had to do for the rest of my life was stay out of work and walk to the mailbox once a week to get my comp check , given a little bit of prescription pain relief i would elect to live with my situation as it is now . of course life is more complicated than that thus my dilemma . saw a neurosurgeon yesterday , he presented three options , do nothing , anterior fusion , disc replacement . he was very careful to choose his words , promising me nothing but at the same time confident he could improve my situation . here is where the story gets difficult , i work for a big delivery company ( associated with a certain color ) . i am 40ish , and i have been there for 20 years . my job is extremely physical, realistically i lift in the neighborhood of 10,000 pounds a day . my goal which evidently is an unrealistic one is i want to return to my job . i want my 30 year pension , if necessary i could buy my last 3 years , so i want to return to work at least 7 more years . if i choose neither surgeries and do nothing i cannot do my job as i am now . if i have either surgery my doctor nor most anyone who frequents this site i gather , would find it very likely for me to return to my job , but nonetheless it is a possibility . i know people are going to say face the facts a career change is in my future things could be worse and so on . i know that is the absolute truth , however , that is a very bitter pill to swallow , i have made huge sacrifices to get this far with this company and i am not willing to walk away and start over . ( if anyone is thinking i should take a settlement and forget it , it is my understanding that this is a very employer friendly state and what i would get would only be a slither of whats at stack for me financially ) ok thats my story , shower me with advice and wisdom . oh also one more thing i am the worlds worst typist and spelling has always been a challenge so please forgive both .

[Alastair]

Hi Rodman,
Mmmm! I don`t know anything about your USA stuff as I live in the UK.

However I would think your job would come a poor second to your quality of life - -- these things are all your decisions- - - - sometimes Disc replacement can be a solution, sometime a fusion can - -- you need to get more opinions and more options!

Many people have retrained to better and less physical jobs. We all take a pride in our work and job but some times the old "Mr Compromise" pops his head at you

Best
Alastair

[Justin]

Hi Rodman,

Welcome to the forum--sorry it under such circumstances. Are you able to transfer to a less physical position with your employer? I want to echo Alastair's advice about gettting more opinions.

Surgery should be your last option, and at the same time it is in your best interest to avoid activities that increase the likelihood of your spine condition getting worse.

Justin

[annapurna]

The reason why no one has jumped to suggest suregery is that you are in the unenviable state of not being bad enough to ensure that surgerical correction would be an improvement. You didn't mention a pain level (0-10, 10 being worst) but it sounds like it is in the 1-3 range from your description. Surgery could leave you at the same pain or slightly worse or slightly better. It could improve things drastically or make things drastically worse as well but those are low probability events. Disc replacement could return you to the point where you are structurally capable of working but it isn't likely to render you completely pain free. My wife, who normally posts as Annapurna, chose to get ADR earlier than her pain would have dictated and her cervical ADR worked but her lumbar ADR failed to address all of her pain, probably because of underlying damage that her disk pain concealed but was not addressed with the ADR. Basically, doing nothing has the potential to make you worse as the disk and surrounding structures degenerate, but there is no way of predicting how much and how quickly. Fusing and ADR could address your current problem with some possibility of improvement but without being sure of how much. ADR could send you back to work where fusion is unlikely to do so, but it could also fail to live up to that promise. I know this is very little concrete advice and mostly things to think about, but much of it is goign to be how you personally percive the various risks.

[annapurna]

I've thought more about this and want to add one more thought. If you can retire comfortably on your thirty-year pension then you have ten more earning years that you have to be able to work. If you are questionable on retiring on the thirty-year pension then you probably have 25 more years to work; way to long to get by without addressing this problem. As you also pointed out, the choice is ten years of lifting every day or twenty-five or so years of some other job, after having thrown away your years at your current job. I'm not going to recommend surgery, but the same logic is what convinced my wife to get her lumbar ADR; at our age (~36 at time of surgery) perserving her ability to work was the best possible investment.

[rodman]

my sedentary pain level is probably as a rule within 1-3 . however virtually any activity prolonged , prolonged meaning 10 maybe 15 minutes if i am lucky . standing , driving , walking, stooping , bending , lifting , increases my pain level rapidly . and if i get that pain level up it will usually stay at a heightened level for a few days . no offense to the profession , but if i were a car salesman all i would want would be a reasonable dose of meds to get me thru the bad times and i would be own my way no surgery at least not at this point . but the reality is i am in an extremely physical line of work . i know none of you are going to post some magical solution to resolve this mess . i realize that the stakes are very high , and i am in fact/information gathering mode right now , just hoping i can make a well informed decision . thanks....rodman

[letteski]

I can relate to your situation. I too have a very physical job I have to lift and carry a lot. I chose to go with surgery in my case in hopes I may get my job back. I was on total disability and spent much of my time lying down too.

It has been 8 months since my L5-S1 ProDisc replacement surgery and I am back to work full time with not restrictions. I can lift, carry and do all the physical things necessary for my job. However I sure would not lift 10,000 pounds a day. Can you make more trips? I have developed my own adaptations and modifications for my job to help me get through the day.

What can I say but after this type of surgery you just look at things differently. I’m sure you will and your employer should make accommodations for you and if they will not then they would be in violation of the American’s with Disabilities Act(ADA). Since you got hurt on the job it would be their responsibility to re-train you and find you a comparable job that would keep your pension in place.

Hope this helps

[andromeda1111]

In some aspects your situation correlates with mine, I had the disc problems you had and dealt with it for 11 years, I am a bodybuilder and refused to give up training...might as well give up on who I am. I trained right up until my surgery and resumed 6 months after. I ended having to have the surgery because I was in excruciating pain, since ADR I have been able to return to my lifting and refuse to give it up, I have not had any problems lifting. Although being aware between the differences of moving packages around and contolled lifting, your best bet would be to keep yourself strong and in shape pre and post ADR. The Charite will last a real long time and since you are not quite bad enough to have the surgery you can still endure your job, so I would say again keep yourself in the best muscular shape possible, your disc will continue to deteriorate with what you are doing, you will know when you need the surgery, but I still think you could hang onto your job post-ADR for a while...my two cents.

[rodman]

i am so glad i found this site , you guys are all great and i appreciate the responses i am getting . just to clarify i am not working and have not been working since 7/08/05 . i am in reasonable shape , kind of comes from being so physically active for so many years . really good to hear you can have the surgery and do heavy lifting . now i know there is some hope for me returning to work .

[andromeda1111]

There is definite hope!