List of must haves for surgery/recovery

Take with you to surgery:
Chapstick (before you get anesthesia load you lips up)
Extended trigger gripping tool
     (Hip Kit) Google Shopping Hip Kit List
Your most comfortable waist line shorts, pajama bottoms, underwear (they will let you wear bottoms under your hospital robe after you last procedure)and clothes to leave when you get discharged.
Laptop, Ipad, Tablet, E-Reader, smartphone and power cord/ charger for them.  Unless you have 24/7 visitors, you will be bored and their t.v. is just like yours at home, nothing good is ever on.

At home for after you are discharged:

Either a cane or a walker, I preffered the cane because the tendency to lean over a walker.

Grab bars for bathroom toilet/shower.

Elevate your bed. 4 pack of lifters @ big lots $5.00

Bed rails (remember how nice it was to use the hospital bed rails to help you raise up before you stand up)
under mattress bed rails

Elevate you toilet:

Google shopping Elevated toilet seat.

Lift Chair (make sure you get one that can recline fully if you desire)  Obviously new these can cost a fortune but try your insurance company, they may cover some or all of the cost, You can also rent them. I bought used but you know that's a roll of the dice with bed bugs and shady people and I ended up with one that wasn't as comfortable or versatile as I would have liked.  I would try estate sales, the earlier you start searching the better deal you are going to get.
All About Lift Chairs

Bath seat There are several different styles, I recommend one with a back and it might come in handy to have one that is a bench that stretches out of the bath tub (if your shower has a tub)  You can find these at Goodwill Outlets all the time for extremely cheap if your not too prissy (just bleach/disinfect the hell out of it when you get it home)  you will save a lot of money if your insurance doesn't cover it.
Bath seats

Whatever you need to stay warm.  You absolutely do not want to be cold enough to shiver as this is extremely painful.  This is one of the reasons I had my surgery in the beginning of spring.  You also do not want to cough, sneeze, get the hiccups and especially vomit after the surgery.  Try not to get a laugh attack either, a good belly laugh hurts like hell after this surgery.

Two weeks - Post Op Check-up

     Other than my newest accessory, the orthopedic back brace, I got my freedom, discharged from the hospital out to the open road... the bumpy road (tried to support myself on the door handles and arm rest to take pressure off my back)... to the pharmacy waiting area, to my apartment which, thank the Lord, is ground level!  I quickly learned my first mistake in preparation for recovery.  I bought a lift chair off craigslist, I was careful enough to inspect it for bugs, and I work for a cleaning company so I brought home a truck to clean the chair before I even took it into the house.  It is mechanically sound but what I didn't know about lift chairs were the different levels in reclining.  Check this page out before you get one Everything you need to know about lift chairs.  I ended up with one that only reclined a little bit and had to put some pillows on it to get comfortable.  I would have liked to have had one I could fully recline in and sleep in, but at the same time it's lack of comfort has made me get up and walk around more.  I'm not sure if I would have used a bed if I could have slept in my chair, but I'm pretty sure sleeping in a good bed is better for recovery.
     Sleep naked.  I don't know if it was from the medication, stress, or something else but I would wake up soaked in sweat and it was so painful changing clothes that I quickly learned to sleep naked and kept a towel by the bed and an extra dry sheet I could throw over myself.  I had gone to Big Lots before the surgery and purchased these little bed lifters that you put under your frame which brought my bed up to hip level so getting in and out was very easy on my back.  I was also using a small twin bed in a separate room from my wife as I didn't want to disturb her sleep because she would need it having to take care of me and our 3 boys during the day while I was recovering.
     Incision pain is high for the first week, I tried to find the clothes with the softest waistline and I either pulled them up over the incision line, or I sagged them down below it.  The brace doesn't hurt the incisions unless the clothes under it are wrinkled up and irritating them.
     While in the hospital I purchased a pack of tools called a "hip kit" to help with daily tasks.  The pack included a extended trigger grabber tool, a sponge on a long stick to help bathe, a little contraption that helps put socks on without bending over, and an extended shoe horn.  You can find these kits, some even have an elevated toilet seat included (which I already have and highly recommend) just google "hip kit".  I paid $25.00 at the hospital which is actually cheaper than most I've found on the internet.  I have 2 trigger grippers luckily because they do lose their strength and you have to tighten the rope on the trigger.  I was using a lighter to melt the rope and accidentally burned through the rope on one.  That grabber is your best friend I would get a couple of them and even take one with you to surgery just in case they don't offer those at your hospital.
     I was also walking with a cane for the first week home.  For showers I was using a plastic lawn chair in the tub, I recommend getting a bath chair with a back rest on it.  I am at two weeks right now and I still don't stand up for my whole shower (I do take longer showers, I shave in there too as it is easier to rinse without bending over the sink.)
    Another big milestone upon returning home is the bowel movement.  Some hospitals want you to have one there before you are discharged but they were happy with me just passing gas.  The pain medication will constipate you, (in my case where they also did surgery from the front, anterior, and had to manipulate my intestine this causes your body to shut down that system temporarily) so they prescribe stool softeners.  With the fear of pain and the incision I'm sure there is also a mental block on pushing.  For me it came to a point where I had to get into enough pain from being backed up (gas) to where it outweighed how much it was going to hurt to push to get it all out.  I think it was late in the second day of me being home when it happened.  Wiping is also a challenge, I recommend getting some flush-able moist wipes as they seem to clean up down there a little better.  I got it done but I could see where someone a little larger or with shorter arms might really have trouble, they didn't offer a tool for that but if you foresee that being a problem I would find some kind of handle where you could wrap toilet paper around a little extended arm.  It got easier to "go" within about 4 days and I was having regular daily movements at 10 days.
     Also at ten days my wife and I were walking my 3 sons down to the apartment pool.  I was able to sit in the pool chair with my back brace fairly comfortably, and I could lay on the chase lounge without my brace.  we would stay there for a 2 or 3 hours and I didn't have any problems other than water envy!
     I also wanted an easy way to keep track of my medications as they sent me home with a lot and I wanted to stay in control of my dosages and slowly wean myself off the narcotics so I do not become dependent on them.  I made this simple spreadsheet on excel to track what I was taking and when.  I used to be much better at using excel but I have forgotten most the formulas to make a really fancy easy to use spreadsheet but this worked.  It also let me know when i would run out of each medication and that I needed to ask for refills at my first post op check-up two weeks after discharge.

    

     I had my 2 week checkup today and everything is good with my progress in recovery, I do have a slight bulge in my back along the incision which my doctor says is normal and should go down in time.  I was starting to get a little nervous because I allowed myself to get on the internet and start looking up some different symptoms I was having and of course I found and read all kinds of horror stories about spinal fusions.  I would be aware of the potential dangers, but I wouldn't dwell on them as I believe like anything else you hear way more about the negative experiences as the people with positive experiences aren't online documenting them. 
    As for my pain level and general feeling right now at two weeks.  I am alternating every 4 hours with Vicodin and Tramadol which is keeping my pain under control, I can feel the pressure at the incision and across my lower back right along the top of my tailbone.  If I do not wear my brace that pressure increases a lot.  I am not waking up to take medications through the night and I am sleeping 8 to 10 hours so when I wake up I am in some pain.  I can still get up and function but I definitely cannot stay on my feet for long.  I take my medicine and usually that eases the pressure within about 45 minutes.  Throughout the day I am walking a lot just picking up random toys and clothes with my extended grabber thing.  I have tweaked it a couple times, one from walking off my sons bed to fast and landing too hard.  The other I slipped on a set of keys in the kitchen and while I didn't fall, catching myself using my back muscles sent pain thru me.  I have no leg pain, no muscle spasms (although I am taking flexeril, one in the morning on before bed.) I only had leg pain rarely before the surgery and that was only after really overworking my back.  The pain is still worse than my worse days before surgery but I expected as much this early in recovery.
     Riding in a car for the first time today, the bumps did increase that pressure/pain, I can drive short distances now according to the doctor, but I have yet to drive.  I have to tomorrow so I'll document how that goes.   My incisions are scabbed up, the steri strips have all come off, I gently wash over them in the shower, but no scrubbing.  I have been pulling the glue off around the incisions as they used stitches inside the wound and glue on the surface.  The doctor said I should be able to get into the bath/pool after a couple more weeks once all the scabbing has come off and the wounds are totally closed with new skin.  My main mode of exercise is walking at this point.  Haven't broke out the Tens/EMS just yet but I might be doing that tomorrow.  The doctor said the muscles are still healing in my abdomen so I won't be doing anything to strengthen my core for another 3-4 weeks probably.  I can't wait to work out again but that's 3 months away.
     I have worked my way down to 30 mg of hydrocodone from 90 mg of roxicodone when I first was discharged.  I am taking 300 mg of tramadol  and the flexeril in the morning and before bed.  My next checkup is in 1 month I hope to be off narcotic and the muscle relaxers.  I was only using tramadol before the surgery so I will feel good to get down to just that again. 
     In the mornings after no meds for 8-10 hours I swear I can feel the screws and instrumentation in my back, it is a different feeling.  When I lay on my side my lower back feels out of whack so I have to have a pillow in between my legs. 
     So far I can't predict whether the surgery was successful in relieving pain but I do feel much better knowing that my spine is secured and that vertebrae cannot shift out of place anymore.  I think I had an excellent team of doctors and surgeon.
    

Day After Second Procedure = Reality Check

     Quick recap from last post.  Up all night due to antibiotic, got up and around without nurse assistance as I felt great due to the heavy dosage of drugs I was on for the second procedure.  After the extreme pain I had coming out of the first procedure the pain management doctor upped my dosage of ketamine from, in her own words "The highest of a low dosage, to the lowest of a high dosage".  They had switched me from morphine to dilaudid in my button controlled pain pump, and they had begun to give me 3, 5mg roxicodones, along with tylenol. In other words I was in la la land all night watching television shows and movies.  My night nurse left with my next dosage time on the board of 8:00am.
   
     I will say before hand, this next description is pretty rough on the nurses, but in the end, I love the nurse I had throughout this day, she followed her orders.  She was very busy and I'm sure there were others in more dire situation than my own that she was attending to.  When I needed it the most she went to bat for me with the doctor and got me the pain control I needed in order to be back on track by the end of the day for release the following day.  She didn't show any frustration, if she held a grudge against me or my wife for going to her superior she didn't show it, she was professional and courteous throughout.  In the moment tho things got a little rough.

     I hadn't seen my day nurse come in yet and it was about a half an hour past my pain medicine dosage time of 8:00am.  I pressed my little nurse button and asked for my dosage, and my nurse quickly appeared.  She was rambling on that I had my last dosage at 5am according to what the previous night nurse had recorded in the computer system and that my dosage time should have been 9am and that the night nurse must have written it on the board wrong.  I disagreed but couldn't be sure because I was the one on drugs,  at this point tho I don't know why it was even brought up because by then it was already 9am anyway and time for my dosage, now I was a little stressed from arguing for my medicine for no reason while I was in pain.  She gave me my 3x5mg Roxi dosage, then it was time for my ketamine drip to be discontinued for my 24 hours had expired.

     My nurse is beginning to remove the designated ketamine IV tube from my IV while leaving the needle in my arm.  She also informs me that at that time they have requested that my pain pump with the dilaudid be removed as well.  I begin to question that as my roxi's have not kicked in yet and I was beginning to hurt more.  She received what sounded like an urgent message so I told her to just go take care of that and we would finish up with me afterward.  She decided to remove the dilaudid anyway then left me there with two IV needles in my hand but nothing attached to them.  The nurse that gave me the IV's before my first procedure had told me that they could not stay in for more than 72 hours, so I thought that they were going to come in and remove them so I would just talk to them then about maybe weaning me off the dilaudid rather than stopping it at the same time as my ketamine.  But, they didn't come to remove it.

     I just laid there while the pain steadily increased to the point where I had to be absolutely still and stiff as I never even felt the effects of the roxi's they had given me before removing my IV pain medications.  My breakfast had arrived but I couldn't move to eat it, my patient care specialist came in and asked if I was going to eat, I informed her of my pain situation and she left to go find my nurse.  She did not return.  I cannot tell you exactly how long it was I laid there waiting but it was not less than an hour.  My wife called me to see how things were going and I was practically in tears telling her I was in a lot of pain and couldn't find my nurse whom I assumed was taking care of somebody else maybe in worse shape than me.  She said she was on the way.  Before she arrived I called my case manager, the one who I was pretty sure asked me to take part in the ketamine drip in the first place, I got her voicemail and left a detailed message of my situation, but being Saturday I wasn't sure if she was even working.  A couple of physicians assistants had come in from the hospital doctors office and another doctor from my vascular surgeon's office to check on my progress.  They were amazed one that my nurse had put me onto an unrestricted diet so fast post surgery as they usually give 24 hours for liquids but I was eating meat loaf around 10 hours after the procedure, and two that they had removed the strong hospital medications so abruptly while I was in considerable pain.

     As I was talking with them my wife came to my rescue before she even came into my room she had made contact with the head nurse and my nurse and had them both on the way.  As the doctors I was talking with exited my nurse entered with her boss and I gave them the rundown of my situation.  They got me a dilaudid injection into my IV and got a couple other prescription pain relievers into my rotation.  I asked about my IV needles needing replaced and they responded with "yes after 3 days" she did return later and removed one of the IV needles, but the other wasn't removed until just before I was released on Sunday, which made it 5 days or 120 hours.

    My nurse returned after another half hour and gave me another injection of dilaudid that the doctor had approved a higher dosage than they had originally given me, she also had added non-narcotic tramadol and muscle relaxer Robaxin.  She told me that all of my medications were "scheduled" into their computer system so that I would get them automatically without asking for them, except for the dilaudid as that was the drug they wanted to wean me off of.  They were trying to get me to where I could get my pain control through prescription pain medicines available through the pharmacy and dilaudid was not.  After a couple of the injections of the dilaudid I had adjusted my pain tolerance and I didn't ask for any more injections, I just wanted to be down to prescriptions so I could go home. 

     Even with the dilaudid injections and the new prescriptions I had a new level of pain and had to adjust to a different type of pain once the ketamine treatment was gone.  I would say that the Ketamine was a good choice, but the transition should have been handled a little better rather than going from elevated dosages of ketamine and dilaudid to nothing but prescription strength medications, they should have removed the ketamine and lowered the dilaudid dosage a bit and it would have been a much less painful process.  I would also say that the doctor's and nurses should prepare the patient a little better for the mental effect of coming off of the ketamine.  Like I said before I had built up in my head that I was so much further down the road in my recovery than I really was, mainly because I just didn't know how much of pain was being blocked by the ketamine as I didn't have any real side effects from the drug.    

    I finished out that day, Saturday, slept the best I had slept since I had been in the hospital only waking up to take my medications when the night nurse came in.  I got up around 5 and walked the furthest I had yet covering all the halls I had available, then returned for another catnap and finally woke up to one of the doctors from my orthopedic surgeon's practice who asked me if I was ready to go home, you can guess my answer!  I met with all the doctor's or their staff and got releases from all of them.  All were very impressed with my recovery to that point.  I was released Sunday at about 11:00am after being there since Wednesday 7:30am.

I will continue with weekly updates as to my recovery progress.  I will also fill in some of my back story such as symptoms and also my recommendations for anyone that is going to have this procedure done.  Thank you for your interest and I hope this helps somebody out there. 

















 

The Second Procedure

     They wheeled me back to the pre-op room about an hour before my scheduled surgery time.  I talked with my orthopedic surgeon about the difficulties of recovery so far, with the worst being the roll from my back onto my side from which I would swing my legs to the floor and simultaneously bring my upper body upright into a seated position.  That roll from my back onto my side was the most painful and hardest move to perfect keeping the spine in alignment and without twisting.  I expressed my belief that after this second procedure this maneuver would be even more difficult.  He assured me that the second bracket they were about to place on the front of my vertebrae would stabilize the spine to an extent that those types of maneuvers should be easier with less potential for pain.  He was right, that particular move became one the the easier.

     The procedure began similarly to the first, only this time I made it into the surgery room before they gave me the anesthesia, that was a little intimidating. I remember being rolled next to the operation table, but I don't know if I scooted over to it, or if they picked me up and placed me on it, I just remember thinking, "I hope they don't expect me to scoot with my back this way."

    They had upped my dosage of ketamine for the second procedure, I also had been on the dilaudid and robaxin drips which made my coming out of anesthesia after the second procedure much different.  It was almost as peaceful as waking up from a nap, except for the catheter once again which wasn't as bad but I could tell it was there.  Luckily I didn't have to prove that I could walk this time, the nurse tending to me in post-op was working on something for what seemed like 15 to 30 minutes while I tried to fully wake up and keep my eyes open.  Once I was totally awake she had me take a deep breath and upon exhaling she pulled out the catheter, yes hurt like hell again, this time the pain during urination lasted most of the day but slowly got better each trip to the bathroom.  The good news was with this new surgery the pain in my back from the first surgery all but disappeared and my pain was all in my abdomen now, temporarily.  All of the pain seemed to radiate from the 4 inch vertical incision starting 2 inches below my naval.  The doctor gave me the option of a vertical or horizontal scar, i had no preference but females may consider the horizontal to be less noticeable on the bikini line.  I had covered my lips with chapstick this time before the procedure and woke much more comfortable from that aspect, still a dry mouth but the ice chips the nurse gave me in the post-op was sufficient to help that.

   I returned to my recovery room, and went to town hitting my pain button which delivered my dilaudid.  They kept my Roxi's coming along with the stool softeners, robaxin and Tylenol.  I was able to make it to the rest room to urinate as I wrote earlier, moving from the laying flat position up to sitting upright had become much less painful having my spine more stabilized by the bracket on front.  The biggest hassle I was having at that point was the back brace sits right on the incision area under my belly button, so that hurt when putting on and taking off the brace, but not too bad from walking with the brace.

     I had bought a package including a sponge attached to a 3 foot plastic handle for cleaning lower extremities and back, a special soft contraption which makes it possible for me to put on my socks, an extended shoe horn to help me get into sneakers, and the extended gripping arm to grab things out of reach.  It was 25 dollars sold to me by the occupational therapist who came into the recovery room to cover different ways to do common everyday tasks.  These are worth every penny especially the grabber tool as I carry that with me everywhere I go.

     My surgery was at 7:00 am, I was limited to clear liquids until about 5:00, which was fine as the pain medicine had lessened my appetite.  They listen with the stethoscope to my bowels, when your intestines and organs in that area are manipulated during a surgery they tend to shut down, they take a little while to become active again and when they do the nurses can hear the movements and churning through your stomach area.  They heard them start to me so i got a couple cups of jello at around 5:30.  After I ate the jello they listened again and everything sounded normal so they took the restrictions off my diet and I ordered a full dinner.  I had no cramps, pains, or nausea from eating.

    I was warned that the testicles can be a drainage area under a procedure in that area where they were working and that the possibility of significant swelling could occur there, I did not have that.  There is also the minimal chance of a nerve being damaged leading to impotence, and a chance of a particular adverse affect of ejaculation exiting inward rather than through the tip of the penis.  This isn't harmful and usually reverses itself on its own with time.  Obviously I cannot answer that one yet, but as to the impotence, I'm safe there.

     That night while on all the higher dosages and strong pain medicines I was able to do everything without nurse assistance.  I had told the staff that I had adverse side effects to a certain antibiotic which they usually use in this procedure as it a wide spectrum strong antibiotic.  I believe there was a miscommunication because I discovered that they had used it during the first procedure and I hadn't noticed the side effects.  Since it wasn't a long term dosage I let them use it again on this second procedure, and I did have the adverse side effects this time.  This antibiotic doesn't allow me to sleep, If I do happen to dose off I have such vivid and overwhelming dreams I immediately wake up after less than a minute of sleep.  So I was awake the whole night but I cared for myself as I was sufficiently drugged and felt great.  I began to get a little itchy toward morning and started getting hot spots but the antibiotic treatment was almost over so I toughed it out.  I felt as if my recovery was going to be a walk in the park with how far I was just 16 hours out of the second procedure.  It was mostly due to the drugs tho as the next morning would provide a little reality check.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Day of Surgery

(Quick apology in advance, I am skipping a couple things get get to the meat and potatoes of the post since anybody searching for this title probably wants to know about the surgery, not my personal story leading up to, so I will complete that while it is fresh in my mind, then return and complete the back story just in case that part can help somebody as well.  And again, sorry about the horrid grammar!)

     Also in short I am having 2 procedures, the first will be performed through the lower back and will be two titanium screws in each of the two vertebrae L5 and S1 along with two titanium rods along the screws parallel to the spinal column which will bull the fleeing vertebrae into alignment and decompress the spine in the affected area, crushed bone will be packed alongside the titanium rods which will harden forming the fusion.  The screws and rods are to hold until fusion is healed can be removed but most likely not.  The crush bone will come from a center portion of the vertebrae which they remove as well as either cadaver or synthetic bone.  I am writing this mostly from memory and will fix any inaccuracies I find later.  I will recover for approximately 48 hours from this procedure then be brought back for a second procedure.  The second procedure will be performed from below the belly button and will include a cut through the abdominal muscles, moving some organs out of the way then they will remove the disc completely and replace with a "cage" which will hold the decompression and then another titanium bracket with 2 screws into the L5 and 2 into the S1 will further stabilize the spine from the front.  This second procedure aims to insure the fusion from failure, possibly decrease recovery time, and increase acceptable activities post recovery.  After which I am expected to have 3 days in recovery at the hospital and at least 3 months before any thought of returning to work.  Guess that wasn't in short but should be understandable.

     I followed all advice to a "T" leading up to pre-op.  Quit eating, drinking at midnight, took only the medication allowed.  Allow me to preach, if you smoke you will be hit with the most dire of complication WARNINGS due to the habit, I quit 3 years ago, best thing I could have ever done in order to achieve lowest level of risk in surgery.   Okay that is done.  Arrived at hospital extremely nervous but I brought my game face.  Got the pre-op out of the way then it was off to never never land.

     I elected to try a somewhat newer procedure to the hospital where I was being treated in a ketamine drip added in its own designated separate IV.  I was told this could allow a greater control over pain and potentially lessen the need for as many narcotic medications throughout the procedure and recovery.  Yes this is "special K" on the street, and yes the doctors even said they were putting me in a "K hole" which is street lingo.  Once again, google diagnosticians beware as you will receive nothing but horror about this drug, and according to my mother if you are into drama/mystery television programming you already know the mischievous nature of "K".  I'm adventurous to an extent so I decided to go with it.  I can't lead you one way or another because I don't know what difference it made other than to tell you of my overall experience.

   Upon waking up from anesthesia,  immediate extreme pain in my lower back and overwhelming urge to urinate to the point of excruciating pain from the penis.  I informed the medical staff best I could and as repeatedly as I could but I just couldn't get the words to add up other than,  I gotta pee!!! HURTS!!!  but,  they got the point.  I remember extreme confusion and asking "where are we in terms of surgery, am I done, is this the first or second" "My Penis, I gotta PEE"  "PAIN" in the fog of coming out of anesthesia it took about an hour extra in the post op phase to get my pain under control.  In my memory now it seems like it was about 10 minutes.  My mouth was extremely dry, lips extremely chapped (note to anyone having this done- TRY TO INNUNDATE YOURSELF WITH CHAPSTICK BEFORE HAND) I mean dry to the point my skin was breaking and I have sores on my upper lip now that I either bit or just broke open from chapness.  My throat was so dry I almost couldn't swallow the miniscule saliva I still had forming in my throat.  Finally I had some ice to chew, but no water!!!  Again at the time from my perspective it was life or death, but now it was just a couple minutes of discomfort.

    In the completely confusing pain scale of 1 to 10 that they use I gave myself a baseline of 5 which was bearable and only a little worse than the worst pain I had felt in my back pre-surgery.  I entered into the post op recovery room at a 9 or 10.  But was brought down to 5 between the Ketamine and Morphine.  The worst pain at that point was the catheter which is the tube they put down the urethra of your penis into your bladder to extract the urine during and after surgery, they put it in while you are under anesthesia.  How do you get it out, if the pain isn't controlled it feels like the most extreme urge to pee without the ability to because there is no urine buildup, just a tube blocking the pathway.  Sounds horrible, it is.  Pain control helps but only to a certain extent, lets say 7 to compare it against their pain scale at my ratings.  I've passed a kidney stone about half the size of a BB with jagged edges through the urethra... pretty much the same feeling.  Now in order to have them remove this tube you must show them that you are able to make it to the toilet with assistance to relieve yourself when you need to go.  I wasted no time, I probably shouldn't have but I got up and willed myself to that bathroom door, probably turned green in the process but that tube was coming out!  Now when they go to pull it out, they asked me to take a deep breath, then upon exhaling they whip in right out... yes, PAIN but relief immediately follows, until you have to pee, then its razor blades for about the first 3 times only while you are peeing over about 3 hours I think, then that subsides completely.

At that point your focus shifts to staying comfortable in the bed, keeping things in reach without stretching, and perfecting the art of log rolling putting on your brace, exiting and entering your hospital bed without bending your back.  PRACTICE THIS BEFORE THE SURGERY, WITH YOUR BRACE ON.  I did and I'm hurting still, but it took me no time the get the technique down to a bearable task.  You will need help getting to the bathroom for the first day at least, don't risk it by yourself, get the nurse at the first sign your bladder gives.

Yes I am throwing a lot of extreme and excruciating out there because in the moments those are your thoughts.  But let me give you an overall before I finish for the day... So far it is not nearly as bad as I imagined beforehand.  If you go in expecting the worst, any improvement from that is amazing and a welcome surprise.  Writing this right now I am 36 hours past the first procedure and I am very comfortable with heading into the second considering the progress from the first.
 

The diagnosis

     In short, the sports medicine specialist took an x-ray and told me he knew why I was having the pain.  I had what is called spondylolisthesis which is a condition where the pars of the vertebrae is defective and cracks which leads the vertebrae to slip forward out of alignment with the rest of the spine.  He said I am at grade 2 which is 25-50% slippage in L5 vertebrae over the S1. He referred me to an orthopedic spinal surgeon.  About a month later I met with the Orthopedic surgeon just long enough for him to tell me I needed to get an M.R.I. A couple weeks later got the M.R.I. and the results were a 40% slippage.  I had caught the slip just as it was beginning to pinch that horsetail of nerves that branches off from the spinal cord.  My symptoms for were confined to my lower back with the very rare exception of a shooting pain down either of my legs while lifting improperly, or working hunched over. 
     I was given the choice of conservative treatment of rehabilitation therapy to strengthen the core muscles to alleviate some of the pain, injections, patches, narcotic and non-narcotic pain medications, electronic stimulation or TENS treatment.  With no guarantee of a reduction in pain and nothing to prevent further slippage.  I figured that further slippage would lead to more problematic symptoms such as increased pain, decreased ability to walk, inability to continue with my current employment due to the pain medication treatments which could mean loss of insurance, decrease in my options for new employment.  I apologize for the grammar but I'm on a lot of medication right now and I'm doing my best to get my point across in between nurses visits and dosing off. 
     Now the other choice was surgery to fuse the spine from the back, then replace the disc and further stabilize the spine with a bracket on the front of the vertebrae from the front.  Honestly, I had made my choice before visiting the surgeon, I was not led by the surgeon to surgery because "that's what surgeons do".  I fully expected to have to convince the surgeon to proceed with the surgery as a first choice, with all the research I did over the internet (yes I know the dangers and misinformation so I verified all with the medical professional before made a full judgement.) I assumed that rehab and therapy were always the first "hoops" that you had to go thru in order to be considered for surgery unless you were already severely disabled.    
    To my pleasant surprise the surgeons office was asking which way I was leaning which I presented my case.  My condition is caused by a break, this break will not heal itself and no amount of therapy will bring that vertebrae back into alignment.  Surgery would almost have to be the answer at some point and since I am young, I have health insurance before the major overhaul of the healthcare and whatever that entails.  I have heard the predictions of long waits and doctors retiring and boards deciding who gets what treatment... no matter where you fall politically in my circumstance right here in the known is way more appealing than in the future unknown.  I am young enough and with the financial help of family and government I can change a career path and adapt.  If I'm going to go thru an extended period of strengthening muscles to support this spine of mine, might as well get it fixed first.

Pain, when it started and where it took me.

New to this blogging thing but I think I have something to offer and an abundance of time for what I hope is a few short months. 
It began as a constant dull pain in my lower back that was always present but increased in severity with activity.  I believe the symptoms were initiated when I over did it during a workout on a seated back extension machine.  I used way too much weight and I could tell the following days that the pain wasn't the usual muscle soreness from a good healthy workout.  As an employee of Stanley Steemer my job duties were that of an assistant; I would help set up the equipment for the job, put safety measures in place for the customer, move furniture to clean under,and I would follow ahead of the technician who is operating the cleaning "wand" and help keep the hose out of his way, sometimes spraying down a pre-treatment, spot treating and post-treatments to the carpet, tile, wood, furniture, air duct... in other words there was a variety to my movements and duties.  That is the entry level position, the first promotion and potential for an increase in pay is to be the technician that operates the cleaning "wand"  They can do all that the assistant does, but for the most part their day consists of one set of movements; throwing the wand forward, and pulling it back while rocking your body back and forth with it.  This is a burden on somebody with chronic low back pain to say the least, but like I said, you can make more money in that position and it is the first step in advancing to any other position within the company.  The time had come due to staffing issues, my desire to earn more, and a general mood in the company that if you weren't interested in advancement somebody else in their stack of employment applications would be.  Of course, I had my arguments otherwise and my stubborn fear of change but this is business in America during a recession when jobs are hard to come by for somebody without a college degree I did what I was told.  I mean, I tried, but the pain was not as willing to go along as I was and I decided to finally get a diagnosis from a doctor in order to become strong enough to do the job.  So in the long run I am grateful that my employer pushed me out of my comfort zone because he inadvertently pushed me into a chance to avoid much worse complications and pain due to the diagnosis I received.