Outlook.......dismal.

So I read through this book about Low Back Pain published by the Harvard Medical School over the weekend.  It goes into detail about herniated discs, how they happen, what they are exactly, and possible things you can do to treat them and or prevent them.

I'm a little bit past the preventing part, so we'll move along to the treatment part.

It goes into detail about the different surgical options you have, depending on the type and severity of your herniated disc and location.  My Dr. had mentioned that they would probably need to remove the entire affected disc and then fuse those 2 vertebrae together.  I thought it would be good to find out a little more about that.  There is definitely a lot of risk involved with the procedure, and it says to expect to lose approximately 20-30% of your range of spinal motion.  Outlook = Bad.  It also goes on to say that depending on which method is used for the spinal fusion process, that it can take about 6 months for the fusion to become complete.  Typically you're looking at 4-9 months of total recovery time. 

FML

Reading this has definitely ruined any kind of positive attitude I had remaining at this point.  I have no idea how things are going to turn out now long term based on this new information.

What I do know is that the pain has steadily increased and come back full force within a few days of my last epidural shot that I had about a week and a half ago.  I'm supposed to go back for a followup visit with that Dr this Friday, where he will determine if they will do another epidural shot or schedule a surgery consultation and move towards that route.  It's definitely looking like the surgery is going to happen, as I don't feel like any progress is being made thus far. 

It feels about as awesome as this picture looks.  Besides the whole muscle pain in my lower back, I also have this awesome nerve pain starting in my left butt cheek and extending all the way down nearly into my foot on the left side.  Pain is also starting to move into the right side as well.  It's really awesome.  It's not the kind of pain that dulls out either, it stays constant and is distracting to say the least.  So far I have refused any heavy pain killers, and just kept with the muscle relaxer 3 times a day, and Ibuprofen. 

To say that this is stressing me out right now is an understatement.  I am totally freaked out about all of this and my stress levels are peaked.  I just wish that Friday would hurry and come and that perhaps some miracle will present itself and the Dr. will decide that I don't need the surgery after all.  Crossing my fingers.