Tell your son there are some folks you know that are proud of how he's helped his mom! And, SF, please do take it easy, relax and perv a bit extra here at Pixies.

Well, here's the current state of things. I had an epidural shot today, which is supposed to help with the pin. However, when I've had these shots in the past, the effects haven't been the good for me. At best, I've gotten 3 days of relief. In 2 weeks, I go back to the doctor and let him know if the shot worked or not. And if it doesn't, the next step is to get refered to the neuro-surgeon who performed my other back surgeries.

As for the depression, it's as best under control as I'm likely to get. I'm on an anti-depressant, and the addition of the puppy should also help (which was a part of the reason my neighbor got the pup, as she suffers seasonal depression, and figured the pup will help us both out).

Basically, the way it feels now, I'm probably looking at another surgery in the near future, while being on the anti-depressants for good (as long as I can afford them, that is).

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

We'll keep the prayers coming.

See, now that's the kicker. Hang in there.

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

New update:

I saw my family doctor on Monday, just over 2 weeks after I had my epidural. And since the epidural failed to give any long term relief (it worked very good for 2 days, then gave about 50 relief 2 more days before it failed to give any relief at all), he's reached the limit of what he can do. So he's passing me on to a neurosurgeon.

The bad news is that it is likely I'll have to have surgery again, plus I'll have to wait before I can get an appointment (part of it is his long waiting list, and part is because he requires a new MRI done and my insurance requires around 2 weeks to approve it). Additionally, it's a hour and a half drive to his office (but, fortunately, I've already got a couple of people that have offered to drive me when I need to, including my best friend who's offered to take time off of work if she needs to to make sure I can get to my appointments).

The good news is that this neurosurgeon is the same neurosurgeon that did both of my other surgeries and he is the type of doctor that explains everything in a way I can understand them. And he does a good job too, considering that in the 5 years since the last surgery, I've been doing landscaping (not an easy job for some one with a good back, let alone one like mine). But, following his advice when I asked him if I'd be able to do work like landscaping, I took things carefully and lifted as properly as I could and avoid to strenous an activity on the days my back was acting up.

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

The bad news is...
The good news is...

Seems like it never, nor will ever change, doesn't it?

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

yeah, unfortunately my medical problems will never go away completely. I just have to enjoy the days when I'm healthy and take it easy on the bad days

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

New update, though not much of one. I have an MRI scheduled for tomorrow (the 6th). Additionally, I have an appointment with the same neurosurgeon that did my other 2 surgeries on November 15 (the earliest he could get me in).

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

hope things turn out better then they have been

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Lisa

I hope they don't make them worse.

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Calm, quiet, smooth, devastating

Not much could really be done to make it worse. Right now, I can't work because if I spend too long standing or sitting, I lose strength and feeling in my leg. Even trying to clean my apartment takes a hell of a lot longer than it should, cause I can only do a little at a time. Fortunately my son is old enough and understanding enough to know that he has to do the lion's share of the work to keep the place clean. Plus I lose quite a bit of sleep due to the constant pain/pressure on my lower back.

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

Ah, sleep-induced insomnia. I'll get back to you after I manage to avoid this myself.

Glad you're getting your MRI, hopefully, that will tell the neurosurgeon what needs doing.

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Actually had the MRI yesterday, and made sure they were giving me the contrast dye too (which, after the gave me a shot of it, made me want to puke although that never happened the other times I've had it). And the neurosurgeon requires an updated MRI before making the appointment, which is good since he is an hour and a half drive away from me.

Last time I went to see him for a possible (which became definite) surgery, they forgot the contrast dye and I made a wasted trip because he couldn't tell for sure what was going on because of the scar tissue from the first surgery.

I'm just hoping that they won't have to fuse my back yet, but I'm afraid sooner or later that that is going to happen.

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!

Blech. Yeah, here's hoping the spinal fusion won't be necessary.

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Ok, I saw the neurosurgeon today. After looking at my MRI, he told me he can see some degradation in the disc that was last operated on (in 2005) and the disc above it (which hasn't had any surgery) BUT nothing stood out as any cause of my current problems. So now I have to go in for a nerve induction test (which is what I had to do the last time, since the disc was bulging into the spinal cord and causing the problems. Unfortunately, his schedule is pretty tight right now (since he is going to be gone all of December) and since I don't want to have to make two trips back out to the city where his office is located, the soonest I could get in for both the nerve induction test AND to see him (doing both the same day) is January 10th. That means almost 2 more months of suffering (and me probably going back to my family doctor to see if he can give me anything for the really really bad days, as today has turned into) before I can get any specific answer.

However, he said (depending on the result of the test) that it could go one of two ways:
1). Physical therapy and meds, if the tests show no specific problem. Personally, I don't think this is probably going to work, but if that's what the tests say, I'll try it.
2) A partial fusion of my lower back, which may or may not get me back to what my current (or the current before the back went) normal.

So I get another 2 months of stressing over this before I can get a definite solution.

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To those that understand, I extend my hand. To the doubtful I demand, take me as I am!