20th Days after surgery - Very Happy!

Today has been 20 days after my surgery. I can tell you that it is my second day been pain free doing my normal activities such as sitting and walking. Not disconfort at all. I still experienced some minor pain when i sleep at night while turning and rolling. i still cannot put my socks on without help but after all I am very happy with the results. I am just taking one day at a time. I follow the doctors directions right on. I dont lift anything heavier than 5 lbs. i dont make any movements that will cause a negative effect on my spine. I am not taking any medicines.
Today i started physical therapy. Hopefully these exercises will help recovering some of my movements back. It should also help with the nerve recovery after being pinched for a year.

December 17th - 11th day after surgery

We are getting there...slowly but surely....nights still rugh. Rolling and turning causes pain. Also when i wake up in the morning, until my body gets moving. an example is when i try to put on my sweatpants this morning. When i try to put some weight on my right leg i feel pain. But when i try to do the same thing at night, i dont feel any pain. So hopefully this will go away with time.
This morning i was pain free 100%. I was able to walk without feeling any funny sensations in my body. But again when time goes on during the day....i start to noticed minor pain in my buttocks. Nothing horrible but annoying.
Today i also went for a longer walk. A little more than i've been doing until now. I have to to rest in the middle of it because my back was getting tired. But afterwardds i was ready to keep going.
I continue to sit down without any pain. That is a big plus. I dont sit that much. Only to take some rest from work. Lets say 15 minutes at a time. I have a stand up desk at home.
Also, today i didnt take any meds.

Remember this: Do not ride in a car until you are clear to do so by your doctor. On Saturday, i went to my sons soccer game. Only 5 minutes away from home. My wife drove. I was in the passanger seat. On Sunday i was in a lot of pain. I have to take some meds to get through the day.

December 14th - 7 Days after Surgery

Today is Friday December 14th, 2012. First day without taking any pain medication. I still having issues rolling at night while sleeping. It also seems that my sciatica pain is worse while sleeping face up. When the pain is a little too much I turn to my left side for a while. I woke up feeling a little tingling on my right buttocks that causes my toes a very light numb but after I my morning walk it seems to go away. After the nap I noticed that I am starting to move better. My back is losing up. I even have to sometimes remind myself about the surgery. I am starting to walk faster even when my normal walking form is not there yet.

december 12th, 2012 - 6th day after surgery

Today is wednesday...almost a week since surgery day. I'm still having pain in my right buttocks when i try to move in and out of bed. I still can feel some sciatica pain when I am laying down face up. But i am able to sleep after all. The only issue is when i try to change positions. I swith it up between face up and left side. I dont want to try right side yet because that is where the surgery was. Besides, that will require a complete 180 degrees.
I am getting pretty good getting in and out of bed with my back straight using my hands and elbow. Today i woke up a little sore but after i start moving around it gets better. I walked a good 40 minutes around the neighborhood. Still very slow pace but faster then yesterday. I will see how my body feels in the afternoon. Yesterday, i tried to go for a second walk in the evening and i was not able because of some leg pain. Today i will also try to start cutting back on the meds.
I still need my wife help to put my socks and pants in the morning...so far the only three things i can do by myself is walk, brush my teeth and type.

December 10th, 2012 - 4 day after surgery

Since Saturday I continued to do more of the same. Walking around the house until my back or leg pain tell me to stop. I am seeing progress every day. Today, I am able to move around the house for about 90 minutes before I need to lay down again. The leg pain is there but nothing that I cannot tolerate. The worst pain is when I am trying to lay down or get out of bed. Other than that I feel little numbness on the bottom of my right toes that come and goes.
Tomorrow I will try to get outside for a little walk. Weather is not cooperating today.

december 8th, 2012 - Second day after surgery

on december 6th 2012 i had my microdiscectomy surgery. surgery was a success from the surgeon point of view. i was released from the hospital at 2200. this was because my bladder did not want to cooperate until them. i was adviced that i could go home when i was able to pee by myself. that is why i was released at 2200.

i vomited a couple of times the night of the surgery. once at the hospital and once on my way home. this is normal because of the iv.

while in the hospital i managed to walked from my recovery area to the bathroom a couple of times. very short and slow steps but i was able to walk.
when i got home i was also able to go upstairs to my bedroom without an issue.
around 4am i woke up because i wanted to go pee. my wife helped me to get out of bed and i noticed that i was not able to put pressure on my right leg. this meant that i was not able to walk by myself anymore without assistance. this was also a sign that the anesthesya was wearing off.
i called the surgeon office next morning and i was told to keep taking the meds on the clock and they will check back next week.
today i woke up and my right leg is ok. i feel pain but i am able to walk by myself again. i am also starting to feel sore where the surgery was. until this morning i did not noticed any soreness or pain. i am seeing minor improvement and that is good.
i am convinced that this will be a slow recovery so every little sign of progress does help.
my routine so far in these 2 days is to be laying in bed face up for 90 minutes and walk, stand up, move around for 20 minutes and so on.
looking forward for tomorrow progress...

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday and because of the coming surgery I was advised by the doctor to don't drink alcohol. So i decided to take it easy. I am really looking forward to this surgery. I cannot wait for the day I will wake up and don't feel this pain anymore. when I will be able to drive to work without pain while sitting down. Almost there. 9 days left.

A brief introduction of my case....

I'm a healthy and athletic 36 years old man. I've player soccer since I can remember. I love sports. My real problem with a herniatic disc started back on November 17,2011. I was in very good shape. Exercising 3 to 4 times a week. Running and lifting weights. A month before my injury, I participated in duathlons and the Tough Mudder competition, just to give you an idea. But that morning of 11/17/2011 when I bent down to pick up my wallet from the floor I felt a pinch on my lower back. I was barely able to stand up straight afterwards. After several days the pain continue and was getting worse and worst. The pain was so bad that I had to take time off from work because I was not able to walk straight.
I visited an orthopedic doctor right away, X-rays didn't show any issues. He recommended PT. After a few weeks of PT sessions and home exercises the pain was still there. I went back to the doctor and I requested an MRI. I got back home from the hospital and put the CD with the images on my computer. I was able to see the L5 disc touching the nerve right on my computer screen. After he saw the results, he decided to give the cortisone injections a try to ease the pain so I can continue with PT and give the herniated disc time to recover. He mentioned that many patients recover within 6 months because the body try to heal itself.
The first injection (February 2012) helped a lot. Pain was 80% gone. I was able to go back to a semi normal life. When I went back for the second injection (March 2012) two weeks later my pain increased. Now I was at a 70% but I decided to deal with it because I was told that I can only have 3 injections a year. So I hold back to have my third shot. Meanwhile I was trying PT, Chiropractors and Yoga. After 3 months the cortisone start to wear off and pain was increasing. This was a sign that all the PT, chiro and Yoga sessions were not working. I even replaced my office desk to a stand up desk so I don't have to spend a lot of time sitting down. I tried to hold back the third injection as much as I could dealing with the pain. On August,  I went back for my third cortisone shot. The outcome was not what I expected. Pain increased again plus now I'm not able to sit down. There is a sharp pain when I'm sitting down on my right buttocks. I told this to the nurse after two days went by. They gave me a forth injection without luck.
Here is when I seriously started to look into surgery. I had already opt-out all my options and time is going by. I want to move on with my life and all the things I love to do. I make an appointment at the Spine Research Institute to see if surgery was an option and I was referred to a spine surgeon.
After discussing my options I scheduled my surgery for December 6th, 2012.

More to come.....