Back Fail!

So I enjoyed the past 3.5 days in the hospital at Beaumont - the Baptist Hospital in Beaumont sucks, the ER doc was a d!ck and should be kicked in his nutz. 2mg of Dilaudid every two hours for three days should be enough to kill a horse but was just enough to numb the terrible pain in my back - doc saw some stones which were confirmed by CT scan but that didnt explain the numbness in the right leg... took me a day and a half to get a freakin MRI - the pain meds wore off too fast... I didnt get any rest and no hot nurses at all.. none! Finally found that I have this:

At L5/S1 there is moderate symmetric bulging extending into the right nureal foramina both exiting L5 nerve roots are compressed by the bulging material and the adjacent facet material the right is compressed more severely than the left.

Moderate sized right lateral disk herniation at L4/L5 likely compressing the nerve root, Bilateral L5/S1 spondylolisthesis [spon-dee-loh-lis-thee-sis]

In English - the disk squirted out and the bone is compressing the nerve root that leads down the right leg.

OK boys and girls.... here is what a bad parachute jump and basically being hard on your back for your whole life will look like:

You can see that the disk looks like it "squirted" out towards the front of the photo, leaving little room for the nerve to get out.


This is the Xray pic... shows the way that the disk is pushed out towards the front of the photo....


I got a nerve block (Spinal Tap sucks!!) aka "an epidural" like what is given for child birth, I can't feel the front of my right leg but am home at last... gonna see a specialist on Monday, hopefully I can get this thing worked out.

Mr.RonGilbert wrote:

the ER doc was a d!ck and should be kicked in his nutz. .

name, schedule and what he drives please................your good friends at RockRash4x4 want to donate a midget to go punch him all up in his man-junk........



sorry to here about your back, if ya need anything let me know................even if ya need someone to come mow the yard, give me a call

if ya need someone to take care of the old lady while your out of commision ..............call terrahawk though

Ron, just reading this makes my back hurt. Hope you get to feeling better real soon

Hope you get to feelin' better real soon bro. Blown discs are a MOTHER!!

Glad they figured it out.

Hope they can get you fixed up soon.

redneckhouston wrote:

if ya need someone to take care of the old lady while your out of commision ..............call terrahawk though

Hang in there and good luck.

man Bud, that really sucks! Hopefully the specialist will get it squared away quickly.

Holy crap!!! Didn't realize that my back pains are contagious. Must have past it on to you at Katemcy. LOL (notice we're both 38 years old)
I have a, what I thought at the time, was just a pinched nerve. This is around the time we were at Katemcy and it was a pain throughout my left leg and numbness at my left foot, I was still able to wheel luckily.
Little did I know I had a herniatated disc in my L5.

I was living with the pain for 2-3 weeks, annoying kind of pain, but you know, as a former Marine you're not allowed to bitch about pain. Woke up a few weeks ago and switched off my alarm, hole shit, heard two pops and tears were flowing and I cried like the little bitch I really am.
Was on my back for three days.

Went to the specialist had MRI done, and was diagnosed with a herniated disc on my L5.

Man I feel your pain, I hope you get better and that you don't need surgery.
I had a steroid shot (epidural) last week and man did it feel like a MF'er but I was walking straight and feeling a lot better. At least the nurses were hot. Couldn't perform even
This is a false sense of thinking things are about to get better, about 5 days later the steroid effect wears off, and you're hurting again.
So be carefull.

I am going thru physical therapy right now, maybe mental therapy might work better on me.

Man, I hope you feel better soon. Your not the only one that is going thru this right now. Renee also has upper back issues.

Good luck and hope you feel better soon.

I feel for you, I was told a couple months ago that I had two herniated discs at L4 L5 and L5 L6. Mine are pushing on my sciatic nerve going to my left leg. My left foot is numb and I have crazy pain all down my left leg. Went to a specialist and he told me to come back when I was ready to have the disc removed. I'm 28 and am not having back surgery yet. So I've just been living with it. If you find a way to fix it with out going under the knife please share. I'm going on about 4 months with no change and I can't get a straight anwser from anyone about if it will heal on its own or not.

TXSteeler wrote:

I feel for you, I was told a couple months ago that I had two herniated discs at L4 L5 and L5 L6. Mine are pushing on my sciatic nerve going to my left leg. My left foot is numb and I have crazy pain all down my left leg. Went to a specialist and he told me to come back when I was ready to have the disc removed. I'm 28 and am not having back surgery yet. So I've just been living with it. If you find a way to fix it with out going under the knife please share. I'm going on about 4 months with no change and I can't get a straight anwser from anyone about if it will heal on its own or not.

Are you going to some sort of Physical Therapy?
Are you doing a lot of leg stretches? I heard deep tissue massages can work too.

Nope, I really don't know what to do. My family doctor told me he had the same thing and he did physical therapy and his healed. But the specialist I went to is a surgeon and he was terrible. He told me that nothing will really work except surgery but I may trade the leg pain for back pain after the surgery. That just isn't going to work for me. I've read that surgery for this should be the last resort after physical therapy. Well I went back to my family doctor and he was very surprised about what I was told. He is going to get me to somebody who is so trigger happy with the scalpel.

thanks for the new sig line sacha

redneckhouston wrote:

thanks for the new sig line sacha

That's alright G, on this forum, you'll find another sig line within a few days.
I am sure someone will say something stupid by the end of the week.

TXSteeler wrote:

Nope, I really don't know what to do. My family doctor told me he had the same thing and he did physical therapy and his healed. But the specialist I went to is a surgeon and he was terrible. He told me that nothing will really work except surgery but I may trade the leg pain for back pain after the surgery. That just isn't going to work for me. I've read that surgery for this should be the last resort after physical therapy. Well I went back to my family doctor and he was very surprised about what I was told. He is going to get me to somebody who is so trigger happy with the scalpel.

Sounds like you need a second opinion.

redneckhouston wrote:

name, schedule and what he drives please................your good friends at RockRash4x4 want to donate a midget to go punch him all up in his man-junk........

There were two that needed a kick to the sack - the ER doc for not ordering an MRI earlier and he was slow to administer the pain meds because of the tweakers who come in wanting to get numb. I am sure that there was no doubt that I was in severe pain, the pain would take my breath away, all I could do was grip the side of the bed and wince... it was bad. Took him three hours to give me someting strong enough to make a dent in the pain. That is two strikes on Mr. Loc Tan Nguyen who probly drives a Subaru even though he is a MD.

The second doc is the A-hole who could have given me the nerve block earlier in the day. Once diagnosed I was told that I would get the nerve block first thing in the AM on Friday - great!! Then I would be able to get out of there. The next morning I got up and hobbled to the bathroom to take a much needed shower and was only in there for a few minutes. The wife went down to the truck to get a clean pair of shorts and while I was in there the Doc came in... looked around and left. Didnt give me a chance to finish my shower and no one told me what time to be ready. The bad thing is that I was on "NPO" or nothing to eat since midnight and because the block was a surgical operation I couldnt eat anything... I was told that he was going to do the procedure that day so I couldnt eat anything.... time goes by and it is 7pm... I am getting pissed at this point cause I am hurtin and hungery as hell... I called the nurse and said that I was going to order a pizza and if it showed up before the doc I was going to eat it!! They took me to OR at 930pm.... The doc showed up and I could tell that he was in a huge hurry, he was bitching about leaving a patient over at the other hospital and how he had to get back ... I told him that a little better comminucation with the hospital would make things go a lot smoother. He could care less what I had to say. He was bitching at the nurses and rushing them. I got a little worried that he was in too big of a hurry and would get in there and F something up. He yelled at the nurses, and bossed them around and was talking on his cell phone on the way in to the OR. I was awake during the operation, sedated but awake so I could provide real time feedback.... He asked about a tatoo that I had and I told him that I was a fireman and it was suddenly like he connected with me or something, he calmed down and apologized for being in a rush. It was wierd, the wife was scared to death and damn near in tears from the whole ordeal. He got the nerve blocks placed and now I can go see what happens next. His name was Dr. Ravi Halaswami I am sure that he drives one of those fancy sports cars because he wants everyone to know he is "the man". I have already sent a nice little note to the hospital about how this dude made me and my wife feel during our stay in Beaumont.[/quote]

redneckhouston wrote:

sorry to here about your back, if ya need anything let me know................even if ya need someone to come mow the yard, give me a call

I have some of the best neighbors around... when we came rolling in yestarday my neighbor had just got through cutting the grass. He didn't even know that I was hurt, just did it because I let him borrow the mower and he thought I was out of town. Cool dude, nice thing to do.

redneckhouston wrote:

if ya need someone to take care of the old lady while your out of commision ..............call terrahawk though

I have his number and won't hesitate to use it if she gets too cranky.... she might be a little young for him at 34 though.

TXSteeler wrote:

Nope, I really don't know what to do. My family doctor told me he had the same thing and he did physical therapy and his healed. But the specialist I went to is a surgeon and he was terrible. He told me that nothing will really work except surgery but I may trade the leg pain for back pain after the surgery. That just isn't going to work for me. I've read that surgery for this should be the last resort after physical therapy. Well I went back to my family doctor and he was very surprised about what I was told. He is going to get me to somebody who is so trigger happy with the scalpel.

Check this out... I have not spoken to anyone who has had the procedure but a buddy of mine who is in EMS said that he heard this was the latest and greatest for minimally invasive surgery of the spine...
http://www.spine-health.com/video/idet-interactive-video

This has been a long time coming... I had a bad parachute jump way back in 1990 and my back has hurt every day since then. I know that I fractured it, was out of commission for about three weeks and had to lay on my stomach for a month. Uncle Sam saw no need to even do an xray on it, prescribed the wonder drug Motrin and told me to suck it up. I have been living with it since then. I got an MRI a few years ago that confirmed that there was a hairline fracture that had scar tissue around it that had to have been from the bad jump. I knew I would have to face it eventually. There are two probs with my back - one that can be fixed with what is called microdiscectomy

http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/back-surgery/microdiscectomy-microdecompression-spine-surgery

This might be what the doc is talking about for you TXSteeler... I thought that the doc was talking about taking the disk out too and was like - no way can that be healthy long term. He explained it to me and I understand that it is most likely the best option. They just trim the disk that is causing the problem, they don't remove the whole thing.

That will fix the numbness on the front of my leg caused by the L4/L5 herniated disk. That one is not as bad as the L5/S1 which is ruptured, meaning all the "shock absorbing jelly" squirted out when the disk blew out. That one will most likley need fusion which is where they take bone from your hip and use titanuim cages to build a "bridge" between the two vertebrae. The disk is too far gone to trim and I don't want to mess with this thing again in a few years....
http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/spinal-fusion/lumbar-spine-fusion-degenerative-disc-disease

Man, reading all this is like a nightmare...

Take care of your back Todd, take care of your back Todd...........

Oh yeah, and remind me never to need medical attention in Beaumont....sheesh.

Thats why when Dad had his stroke in Harlingen, we got him on the first Air Ambulance jet to Methodist.

skoalman wrote:

Man, reading all this is like a nightmare...

Take care of your back Todd, take care of your back Todd...........

Oh yeah, and remind me never to need medical attention in Beaumont....sheesh.

Thats why when Dad had his stroke in Harlingen, we got him on the first Air Ambulance jet to Methodist.

That is another f'ed up part of the week. I knew I needed to get the F out of Beaumont from the moment that they fumbled the treatment in the ER, my Primary Doc was on vacation and there was no one backing him up - which is BS - I wanted to get orders to transfer me to Houston where I could get some real help but couldn't do anything without going through him first. If I left the hosp AMA I would be responsible for any charges, and I racked up a few during my stay. I called the specialist who was no help because he didnt have any "referral" from my doc who was no where to be found.

I switched to HMO when my kids were born because it saved me thousands.... I am about to go back to PPO so I can skip the middle man who just wants his co-pay before referring me to the real doc. I am also going to get a PCP "group" rather than just one doc so there will be a better chance of getting someone when I really need it. I don't like not having any options and feeling like I was at the mercy of the clowns in Beaumont. I am going to fix that just as soon as I get my back worked out if not sooner.

Hope they get you all fixed up!!

yes like G said even if you just need some one to mow they yard just give us a call

P.S. I love mowing yards....lol

Looks like I am going to be down for a bit.... apparently the numbness in my leg isn't going to go away any time soon and I was told that it might not go away at all... which is weird because my leg doesn't work right.... might come back in six months or so.... that was some great news....

So far I have three Drs that have said that I need to have the bad disks fused, which is what I figured after extensive "research" over the past few days in my chair. One problem is making the other weaker, one disk has failed because of carrying the load of two....

So... I get them fused - no more herniation, no more pinched nerves and no chance of it ever happening in that spot.. and the rest of my back is strong and healthy.

I have an appt with a neurologist to get another opinion, hopefully he can work on the numb leg.....

Dude, that sucks. Good luck with that. Keep us updated.

Well... finally... . after almost a month of waiting to have the surgery done - tomorrow is the big day!!!! A little bout with kidney stones and a high white blood cell count from an angry kidney has delayed it. I drank about 15 gallons of water in three days... I could win a pee for distance contest!!!

0900 tomorrow over at Texas Orthopedic Hospital, surgery should take about 3 hours then a 4 day stay.... I get to go home once I can walk a "lap" around the floor... hopefully home no later than Monday.

One good thing about having to wait so long is that everything is in order, the house/yard/kids/pool are all good to go... the neighbors are going to do some cooking during the first week, which is pretty cool.

Here is what they are doing. It will be done on two discs... L4/L5 and L5/S1
http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/back-surgery/posterior-lumbar-interbody-fusion-plif-surgery

They said "nothing to eat after midnight" I fell for that little trick when I had my last knee surgery... I damn near ordered a pizza the next evening when I still hadn't had the surgery at ~630p. I just woofed down a big stack of midnight pancakes!!! That should tide me over until well into tomorrow.

Hopefully I will be able to do some surfing Friday or Sat.

Mr.RonGilbert wrote:

I have an appt with a neurologist to get another opinion, hopefully he can work on the numb leg.....

It's tough sh!t on the numb leg... nothing that they can do - if it is going to heal it will have to heal itself and the rate is about 1cm a month. I will just have to get used to it, like I said earlier I will take numbness over motor function any day.

No joke. I want the use of my limbs, even if I don't feel them properly. There are risks, of course, like injuring yourself without realizing it, and I'm clumsy enough to do that easily

Good luck with the surgery!