mckatie,

I just had a surgical procedure for my Left-sided L4-L5 hemilaminectomy and microdiskectomy and I went to the ER 2x within a month 1st time via ambulance and second visit with me crawling into through the sliding door of our van, one captain chair folded into the floor of van, and I was holding on to the other chair for balance. Absolutely the MOST EXCRUTIATING PAIN I have ever been in, nor did I ever think a person could actually be in that kind of pain....but I am sure there are so many people that actually do have to deal with excruciating pain every day, that it breaks my heart!

Thank goodness on my 2nd ER visit, my Fam Dr. told us to Demand an MRI! He said that the ER will not typically do MRI's, however my Dr. made sure that my records were updated with his strong recommendation for an immediate MRI, which the ER Dr. clearly did not want to do. Not only because I have MS, but he was so sure that my pain was due to 'muscle strain'.

After being hooked up to IV of Percocet and Valium and being in the ER since 8:30 am in the Morning on 4/15 - I was finally able to get an MRI @ 4:30 that afternoon. I never did see the initial ER Dr. again, however by 6:00 pm a Neuro Surgeon came in to see me. He pulled up my MRI scan, "which showed quite clearly that I had a substantial sized herniated disk at the L4-L5 level with significant impingement upon the L5 nerve root" (from actual report). Now this was Thursday 4/15 in the evening and we discussed what options I had. Due to insurance reasons, the Surgeon felt that we needed to get me admitted at least until Monday morning and I would be kept on steroids and pain relievers every 4 hours....and if by Monday morning it had not given me significant relief, he would have me scheduled for surgery Monday at noon. Well....by Saturday, I knew that things were not improving one bit and I still needed quite a bit of assistance to even get out of bed and onto the commode that was only one step away from my bed.

I went in for the surgery, and honest to goodness.....the pain was so much better, that within 4 hours post-op, I was actually upright and walking on my own two feet, pulling my rolling IV with me and I was able to walk around the whole 4th floor! Of course I had a nurse following me closely, asking how i was doing. I was feeling so amazing, even with the post operative 'pain' in my lower back - but that was only a small area on my back that I would imagine to be the size of a DVD disc.!!! By the next morning, I was wide awake by 5:30 am, ate some breakfast. Took a walk around the floor Two times! Plus the pain had significantly improved since the evening before. By noon on Tuesday, I was absolutely ready to GO HOME!!!! Could not believe the amount of relief that surgery did for me! I was at home before 1:30 on 4/20.

I have to say, if you have this type of surgery....remember the nurses at HSP are dilligent about giving you pain meds every 4 hours...and I found out that on Wednesday morning I was in some pretty bad pain. It took me just that one time of not 'setting myself an alarm' to make sure I had enough pain relievers in my system that I set myself and alarm every 4 hours for the next 7 days. By Wed. April 21st...I no longer needed any pain relievers to function. I was happy that I didn't require 'fusion of the disks', however I highly recommend that you follow your post op instructions very closely. I was told not to do ANY bending over to pick things up, not to empty/fill the dishwasher, wash clothes, etc. until I see the surgeon for my post op on Wednesday May 5th at 3:30 at the afternoon.

I have been able to resume normal activities as tolerated, but do not lift anything over 5 lbs until I see him. I started driving again 10 days post op.

I honestly thought my back pain had to do with my MS, because I know that
lower back pain is not unusual for MSers.....but I should of had a clue that taking Methocarbmomol for 4 months, without any relief....that there must have been a reason it didn't work for me....it really was because of the herniated disk! Yeah! So i am planning to be back to work FT on 5/6....which is 3wks post-op, and I am so ready to get back to being productive. It has actually been super hard for me to be gone for so long, that last week I put in nearly 40 hours of work at home.

I really hope your Dr. will find that you do not need your disc's fused, however if you do....you may be out of commission longer, but it is so worth not having that kind of pain....you will be so happy that you had the proceedure done.

Best of Luck to you - try not to stress about it too much - because the anxiety will only wear you down. Take it easy, take your pain meds as directed...and what ever the surgen finds, be confident that he knows what he needs to do in order for you to get the best results.

Take care....I will be thinking about you!

I just realized that you have most likely already had some surgery.....I didn't realize that your post was from a few weeks ago.....please give us an update!!