I am now, today, officially six weeks post-op and feeling GREAT! Since my last post, I have hit the gym almost every day… religiously! I have lost about 15 pounds, and have now been narcotic pain med free for more than 3 weeks. I have even stopped taking all muscle relaxers (Flexeril and Tizanadine) and am down to one Cymbalta per day (AM) and Meloxicam (NSAID) only when I need it.

I visited my Orthopedic Surgeon (Dr. Levin) on Friday and he was elated with my progress. I think he may have been worried about me and the Percocet for a while. His eyes grew large (surprised and happy) when I told him how long it had been since I had any. He was impressed with all of the self directed physical therapy I have been doing at the gym (he even said that it was OK if I jog or run a bit, but not too much) and asked me if I wanted to start something formal. I said yes right away. I want to be sure that I am doing the best things for my self and I’m all about anything that will increase my chances for a FULL recovery! The PT office is (co-located) adjacent to his office. They share the same waiting room in fact. I think it’s great and I am hopeful for excellent results because I am sure that they are used to dealing with folks after surgeries such as mine. I go for my initial evaluation on Thursday.

After Dr. Levin did a physical evaluation of my strength and feeling (or lack there of), he told me that he is a little worried about the progress of my L5 nerve. The strength of my big toe and numbness in my toes, shin, and heel are not progressing as quickly as he would like to see, if at all. At this point he said that it might come back fully in two months or two years or it may not come back at all. It’s not the best news but I can live with it I guess, all things considered. Of course I am hoping that it WILL come back fully and I intend to do whatever I can do to make it happen. If it doesn’t, at least I know I tried everything.

This morning I visited my pain management Doc at The Spine Center. She was thoroughly impressed with my progress as well. Strangely, she recommended that I watch the weather often and only take Meloxicam when there will be a drastic change in the weather (like tonight because we are supposed to get lots of rain, which has just started). She also said that I can start taking Cymbalta every other day in about two weeks, do that for a month and eventually stop. I asked her about acupuncture and thought that maybe it could help wake up that L5 nerve (like I said, I am willing to try anything and everything!). Thankfully, she informed me that I should wait a week or two. I should be off the narcotic pain meds for a full month or a bit more for the acupuncture to be completely effective. Something about the receptors in the brain not being ready sooner, due to the narcotics. Good thing, I was going to start sooner. I guess I will wait until a week or so of PT goes by.

I told her about my lingering L5 symptoms and what I have been doing at the gym and she immediately told me that I should go and get some Vibram Five Fingers. She explained how they could aid in strengthening the weak muscles in my foot and leg which were affected by the nerve damage. As my friend Will put it “Propioceptive input to increase central nervous system processes that will facilitate greater motor output. Or….simply stated “Stepping it up to work it out” :-)” So I listened and here’s what I got!

I’ll say it again… I’m all about anything that’s going to increase my chances of having a FULL RECOVERY! I also have to say that I went to the gym today with them on and… I dig ‘em! They are pretty comfortable (once you get them on, which can be difficult and time consuming with NUMB TOES!) and I can already feel the difference. In other words, I know my feet and leg muscles are going to be sore soon from doing 30 minutes of intervals on the elliptical (1/2 the time with no hands), about 12 minutes on the treadmill walking and running (landing on my forefoot as she recommended) and lifting chest and biceps. I’ll be sure to keep you updated on how they continue to work for me.

As Always… Thanks for reading and I’ll see you again soon, Hopefully soon enough on the MAT!

Until then… Keep rollin’ without me. 

Love and Peace!

Hey Ya’ll, Remember me?

I know, I know… It’s been quite a while since my last post; About 3 weeks and 6 days to be exact. I was ordered by my Doctor not to sit, so I have been doing the least sitting possible since my last surgery. This includes sitting at my computer, or working (I’m a Tech guy), or driving, or being a passenger in a car for more than 20 min at a time (making the holidays a challenge since we usually travel 4-5 hours to see family, Thanks everyone for readjusting this year)…etc. Less than 2 hours a day total if possible. Lots of walking, standing and lying around. Anything to keep a straining load off my lower lumbar discs.

This has just generally been one of the toughest years overall for me physically, especially the past eight months since the beginning of my hiatus. That’s hard to type; I can’t believe it’s been that long! In the past eight months I have battled  with my back being healthy (…and I mean BATTLED both physically with pain and weight gain, and mentally with depression) and it [my back] allowing me to be who and what I want to be and do the things that I enjoy and need so much in my life… Being an outstanding husband, father and coach, Wrestling, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Running, Disc Golf and just being an active and healthy human being. I have been on and off a myriad of medications, muscle relaxers and narcodics, quit smoking twice, turned 35, gained 50 effing lbs, been through several physical therapists with minimal success, acupuncture, nerve root injections, and two (yes TWO) lower lumbar discectomy surgeries. Am I missing anything here?

With all that, I am improving every day. I am no longer a smoker for over 4 months now (Thanks to Chantix, willpower, and the support of my wife and kids). Although quicker than my pain management doctor recommended, I am free of narcotic pain meds (Percocet and Fentanil Patch) for a week now and feel pretty good (Not great). I am SLOWLY regaining strength and mobility in my calf, ankle, shin and toes. I am still pretty numb though, and when I do feel anything, it’s painful pins and needles. I am happy to be sore from going to the gym this week and using the elliptical to finally get some kind of low impact workout activity in. Walking around the neighborhood and on the treadmill were just not quite cutting it for me. 

As we head into the New Year tonight, I am happy and sad (more happy than sad). I am sad that this year has been tough and that I have not been able to train and be healthy and everything else I mentioned before. But I am happy that I am on the upswing, and I can put this year behind me and learn from it.

In 2012, I have no resolutions, just a promise to myself that I will continue to use every opportunity to become stronger, healthier, and better man, husband, father, coach, and grappler! I will push my mind and body to the limit, while being smart by listening to my family, doctors, physical therapists to come, and most importantly, my body. I will continue to learn from every experience in my life.

I have two more weeks before I return to work by doctors orders, and I intend to use that time wisely and spend as much time as possible working on my promise to myself. When I return to work, I will add “continue to be an outstanding leader and employee” to the list, but not until it is time. I do love my job and have since I was hired over 8 years ago, but I need these next two weeks to be selfish, and work on me, so I can achieve my goals.

Well…Thanks for all of your motivation and support… and for reading! I wish you all the BEST New Year possible, and I look forward to sharing my never-ending story with you next year.

Peace and Love!!!

I’m Going in this morning for my second Discectomy at L5-S1… Wish me LUCK!

Well the hospital called and changed my surgery time from 3:30pm to 9:30am on Monday. Really… not a big deal but now I can’t drink, or eat anything after midnight the night before (Duh… Sunday). Also, I have to be there by 7:30. (a little earlier than I prefer) but at least I’ll get it over with quick and be home early. When it was at 3:30, I just had to stop eating or drinking 3 hours prior to 3:30, and didn’t have to show up until 1:30, so I could have had a nice lunch and strolled on over to the hospital.

I have complete faith in Dr Levin that everything will go just great. I am feeling really positive and optimistic. I wish that It was today, I just want to start recovery already!!!

Wish me luck and I’ll see you all again soon on the “inter-webs”

Peace and Love!

Like I said before, I’m no Doctor, but I sure am getting good at reading these MRI’s!

Here’s what the report said:

So, I just met with Dr Levin again, and we discussed surgery as an option again. The funny thing is that this herniation or extrusion has nothing to do with the other one that he operated on just six weeks ago. It was just a case of bad timing. If they both went at the same time, he could have taken care of both of them at once. He did say that this extrusion is much larger than the other one and has progressed quite rapidly.

As it stands now, I am waiting to hear back from his scheduler tomorrow, and we are hoping to get a time on the 5th of December for another discectomy (Just in time to be layed up for my birthday the  following Saturday, the 10th). When I get a time and date officially, I’ll be back for a quick post. As it urns out, this means that I wont be travelling for any of the holidays this year. I am limited to no more than 30 minutes of time being seated, which I have already broken writing this post. My family is in the other room telling me to get up right now as I type, so….

See ya’ll again soon, but unfortunately, not on the Mat(t) again for quite a while. That day WILL come though. I can promise that!

Until next time. Keep rollin’ without me. :(

“Then” has come and gone, so it’s about time I write this.

I went to meet with Dr Levin for a surgery consultation yesterday. He explained to me in more detail what I have going on as he sees it on the MRI. Basically, my extruded disc is actually a piece or fragment of the disc between L4 and L5 that has dislodged itself and is now caught between my vertebrae and the nerve that controls my big left toe, some of my shin, and the sensory feeling of the skin in those areas. My condition is pretty common for this type of herniation or extrusion at that level and is sometimes refereed to as “foot drop” or “drop foot”.

Initially, the doctor leaned into me and said, “I can’t take your pain away.”. He went on to explain that my lower back pain is much more complicated than the drop foot symptoms that I am experiencing. With that disclaimer out of the way, he began to explain my options. Actually, first he said ” Spinal Fusion wasn’t a good idea when you were 19 (in the Marines) and it’s not a good idea now.” boy was I ever glad to hear him say that. Now on to the options.

In a nutshell (a very big nut shell) There are three things to focus on: Pain, Numbness, and Weakness. He already told me about the pain, so we zoned in on the numbness first. Usually the numbness is the first to get better between it and the weakness. The presence of the weakness usually takes longer to go away.

So now what? The doctor recommended that I wait it out for 4 to 6 weeks to see if there is any improvement. There is a possibility that my body can just absorb the disc chip and that my symptoms would improve. Frankly, I think I feel a bit of improvement already. So…. that’s scenario 1…. Do Nothing and get better!

Scenario 2: Do nothing and get worse. There is a possibility that the chip could float around and cause more nerve damage than it already has.

Scenario 3: Do Nothing and stay the same. He explained that there is a possibility that the nerve damage is permanent, and it will stay like that, whether he performs surgery to remove the chip or not….

…which brings me to scenario 4: Have surgery (outpatient, it takes about an hour and a half) to remove the chip, look for other possible chips waiting to extrude, go through 6 weeks of recovery, and stay the same.

Scenario 5: Have surgery and get worse. This obviously would be the worst case scenario and also the least likely to happen.

And last but not least - Scenario 6: Have the surgery and have immediate results. I could wake up feeling like new (best case) or it may take a few weeks or months for the numbness and weakness to completely go away, which I am OK with, as long as it gets better. I’m patient.

I then asked him about Total Disc Replacement and he shook his head as if that would be crazy. Although he has done them in the past, he hasn’t seen very significant positive results. Besides that fact, I am too young for a procedure like that. He said that if I were older and I had no disc left at all, where my vertebrae were rubbing together, then maybe. And even that was a maybe.

So I have a decision to make and some time to make it. The doc said that it may take 3 to 4 weeks to get me on the schedule for surgery anyway. With that in mind, today I called and made an appointment for the surgery on September 26th. This way, I can wait the few weeks as he said I should and can cancel the appointment if I need to. Also, I don’t risk waiting 4 to 6 weeks, not get better, and then waiting another 4 weeks before I can get in for surgery, and risk the chip to float around for all that time and possibly cause more damage.

A good friend of mine made me look at it in a different light today too. He said “Just remember that it’s an injury to fix another injury.” He’s right… I guess I just have to think about which injury would give me the best recovery result in the future. The doctor also mentioned that after surgery, there is a 6 week window where I would be very prone to a new injury in that area, and that it also makes it more difficult to do surgery in that area in the future due to scar tissue. I would have to really take it easy for a while.

What to do? I guess it’s just a waiting game at this point, But I am leaning toward surgery. I want that chip out!

I appreciate those of you who have expressed concern about this. It really means a great deal to me, so THANK YOU! (you all know who you are) If anyone else has any comments or advise or whatever, I welcome it.

Thanks for reading……. Until next time.

Well… I said I would keep you updated… So here it is. I went for the MRI last Thursday after my last post. What I failed to mention then, along with the numbness of the skin on my left shin and foot, was that I also have weakness in my shin and a reduced range of motion than normal. This was apparently a pretty important factor today as the doctor was looking over my MRI. 

The picture below is my MRI from Thursday, in which I have circled three areas. The blue circles show my degenerated and herniated discs at L3 and L4 (top circle) and L5 and S1 (bottom circle). Those, along with the red circle which I will get to in a minute, are what have been causing me all this pain for the past 4 and a half months or so. The difference from my last MRI (about 4 months ago), is that in addition to the blue circle herniations getting worse, The disc at L4 and L5 has become extruded and is causing the numbness and weakness in my left leg. The doctor described it to me like this: “These (blue circles) are like a jelly donut being squished between your hands until the jelly comes out a bit. This one (the red circle) is like squishing the donut until all the jelly is all gone and the donut itself starts to squeeze out between your hands.” I’m no doctor but I’m guessing… that’s pretty bad. You may also notice in the photo, that some discs are white in the center. That whiteness is the jelly. The bottom three are black (Degenerated); No Jelly!

So what’s next, you ask? They have referred me to a orthopedic spinal surgeon…. Yes I said SURGEON, named Dr. David Levine for a consultation at The Orthopedic Center of MD. I will be seeing him this Wednesday. I must say, I have always been nervous about the thought of back surgery, and I still am frankly, but if this will take all of this pain away, there is no better time. I will definitely be doing my homework before I see him so that I am sure we go over all of my options, including disc replacement to minimize losing any range of motion caused by fusing of vertebrae.

I want to continue to live the life I choose, running and swimming and BJJ of course. I want to continue coaching wrestling and stay an active, healthy, and fit human being. I refuse to settle for anything less! That determination is what squalls any nervousness I feel.

If anyone has any experiences or anything (positive) to share, I welcome your comments. I’ll be sure to post again after my consultation on Wednesday. Until then…..

…..Ummm Yeah… Until then!