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Well, it has been a while since I was last here. I recently went to see my esteemed orthopod (the one who deals with my back issues) and we had the “surgery” talk. Turns out my thoracic spine is in worse shape than my lumbar, which is not saying much. He became suspicious that all of my symptoms were maybe not coming from my lumbar spine. Well, I am making the commitment to try and stave off surgery through aggressive PT, exercise and losing some pounds. Don’t know quite how long I can go with this level of pain. It has been as bad as it has ever been. And the neuro symptoms are particularly annoying. I could deal with the pain if I didn’t have numbness and weakness in my legs.
It is the same story, no real assurances that surgery will do much more than provide a measure of pain relief and that the nerve decompression may improve my symptoms. I am not so unrealistic that I expect anything close to a cure. Won’t happen. I am sticking to my usual mantra: Keep moving. Don’t give in to the pain. Rest when you feel like you have to but otherwise keep on truckin’! Gets old!
Anyhow, I have given up (largely) any thought of going ahead with an implanted nerve stimulator. Too much risk for too little possible gain, and it is only a band-aid. The whole experience I had with it in the 80’s keeps me fairly jaded.
Would appreciate any thoughts, comments, words of wisdom from anyone who has had a decompressive laminectomy.
Keep the faith!
