I typed a reply, but it did not post for some reason, so I am typing it over again.
A bit of history on my condition:
January 2006 - Back porch collapses out from under me, I fall. Back hurts like wildfire for 3 weeks. But I get better, no real trouble until...
april 2006 - Not really sure what set it off, but it flares back up again with a vengeance. i miss most of the spring turkey season, and that that I actually get to hunt, is a miserable, painful experience...
June 2006 - I catch my wife as she falls off of the shed roof. I hurt again for 2 weeks. Severely. But, i get better and no real trouble until...
August 2006 - I am rearended at 50 MPH by a full-sized Ford, total my Dad's new truck, and put myself in traction for 5 weeks. Never fully recovered after that.
November - Fly to texas, pick up MIL, drive home in a moving truck. 4 days later I am flat on my back hurting like I've never felt hurt before in my life. I drive home for Christmas while still hurting, and that tips me even further into the hurt. I cannot walk to the end of the driveway to get the mail without stopping to rest from the pain.
Christmas - The drive back to Spokane destroys me. i end up in Urgent care, get prescribed Hydrocodone, and the first of january, I start PHYSICAL THERAPY, with the assurance from my doctor that all I have is LIGAMENT DAMAGE.
April - PT is not working. I still hurt (albeit not nearly as badly as i hurt over Christmas, but most of that is because I stopped driving long distances). PT doctor told me that I have a bulged disc. But that it is not a big deal, and can be fixed via PT.
I hurt. I went into the doc again and said "look, this ain't working, please help me" and he told me to go get an MRI. Did that on Monday.
On Tuesday, I got he call that S1 L5 and L4 L5 discs were not just bulged, but RUPTURED. And not just a little bit, either. They are almost totally destroyed.
Went in this morning to the neurosurgeon, and here is what he told me...
PT is out. it is a bad idea at this point and may end up causing more harm than it fixes.
Surgery works very well in cases where the pain is nerve-related, and radiating out to legs, etc. Surgery does NOT work very well to cure back pain. I have back pain. To boot, he said that having TWO areas to work on make it into a very invasive and difficult surgery.
He did not recommend that I try surgery right off.
What he did say was that he could shoot my back full of cortisone and see if the anti-inflammatory would allow the disc to shrink up and go back where it came from, and then maybe heal itself.
So, we are starting from the bottom and working our way up. PT did not work. We are going to try cortisone. However, if that does not FIX the problem, I am not interested. I'm not interested in stopping the pain but still being broken. I am interested in going back to waterskiing, riding quads, and hiking/hunting whever I want. So, we'll see how it works. But if this does not help, I may need to start getting some second opinions, and check out some microsurgery options.
