[ryegal]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading this enormous set of posts for weeks now, and have laughed and cried over everyone's very moving stories. I've also learned a lot -- many thanks.

Here's my story: I'm a 48-yr-old woman, mom of two. I've had lower back pain for over two decades. I've always been extremely active physically, and have had my share of accidents, but nothing specific to blame for the pain. Constant throbbing pain in the lumbar-to-sacral region, with pain in the right buttock and hip. Every few months I'd have an "episode" and be flat on my back for a few days. Had chiropractic treatment for many years.Over the years, especially after two pregnancies, the pain intensified. Nothing relieved the pain.

I visited an ortho in January, 2006. Pain on my right side was major, and pain was also starting up on my left side. Had x-rays; diagnosis was DDD; I was sent for PT. PT was way too vigorous. Early in February, I got up one morning and started to wash my face, leaning slightly forward over the sink, heard a loud "pop," and felt the worst pain in the world shooting down the back of my right leg (and I've done natural childbirth). Was screaming, rolling on the floor. Crawled to the sofa, got the ortho on phone, was given heavy drugs which knocked me out, but didn't affect the pain. After two days of lying on the couch, I had slightly less pain, but was completely numb from buttock to knee on my right side.

MRI showed hernia at L5-S1, right side. Disc was flattened, dessicated. Also grade one retrolysthesis, foraminal narrowing. Disc bulge on left at L4-L5. Also have a "transitional" spine because of lumbarization of the sacrum. This is a birth defect in which the top part of my sacrum is not completely fused, so it forms an extra little vertabrae. Supposedly this makes my spine inherently less stable and more prone to DDD.

After the February incident, I was unable to sit down at all; the sciatic pain was excrutiating. I had weakness in the numb leg and could only walk with baby steps and a shuffling, leg-dragging kind of gait. I also could not look down without exacerbating my back and leg symptoms. My ortho prescribed "conservative" treatment, because the hernia was not massive. He felt the numbness would probably resolve itself. I found a better PT --more gentle exercises, lots of disc traction, training in daily tasks. Had a series of epidurals, took oral steriods. I was a model patient, but improvement was nill after an initial, minimal improvement. Also, the symptoms on my left side started to worsen, probably from the traction always pulling to that side. I switched doctors when, after six months of no improvement, the ortho still counseled "patience." Had an electro-myelogram of my nerves -- it confirmed the dead nerve and the source at the L5-S1 nerve rootlet. December 18, 2006, I had a microdiscectomy at L5-S1, right side, performed by neurosurgeon Chima Ohaegbulam of the Boston Spine Group at New England Baptist Hospital in Boston. He found a lot of "disc material" encrusted on my nerve root; it had been hidden in the MRI. He also shaved off some of the arthritic growths in the foramen.

I found recuperation very long. It was six months before I noticed the numbness and leg pain beginning to recede slightly. By October, 2007, I was beginning to be able to sit for up to 20 minutes without too severe sciatic pain. I could walk more normally. The weird sciatic symptoms in my calf, ankle, and foot were improving. I was beginning to feel alive again.

By December, 2007, many of the improvements had eroded. A series of minor mishaps may have reinjured the disc. An MRI done January, 2008 looked about the same as my presurgery one. Currently I am not quite as bad off as I was in spring 2006, but I cannot sit above 30 seconds, cannot drive, must lie down several hours each day to relieve disc compression from standing. I cannot open a window or lift even a half-gallon of milk. I cannot reach my calves or feet, have difficulty using the toilet, dressing, cannot do any but the lightest of household chores. I am basically housebound, cannot play the piano, do any sports, or care for my children the way they deserve. (Imagine living in the suburbs with a mom who can't drive!) My current self-treatment is walking (back to the small-steps), traction by boosting myself with my hands on counter-tops, and natural anti-inflammatories. My surgeon is offering me a choice of repeating the microdiscectomy, or doing a fusion. But I don't see the point of dealing with the pain and recuperation of a microdiscectomy again, especially since it can only address the right side (they can only do one side at a time), and I now have personal experience of how temporary the results can be. My doc is saying he'll be more aggressive this time, dig out more space in the foramin for the nerve root. But my PT says that what would really help would be to regain the proper disc space. I have to agree.

So now I am looking into my alternatives. Would a minimally invasive procedure (like laser or sonar microdiscectomy) buy me some time? Or am I fooling myself that anything short of a fusion or ADR will free my nerves and allow me to resume normal activities? Frankly, I'm scared of all the options!

Any thoughts you might have would be appreciated. I know I'm not as bad off as many members, because I can at least manage my pain by cutting back on activities, and I can at least sleep at night. So, thank you all for reading, and I wish everyone here all the best with their own treatment oddyseys!