Surgery

Oh my... this is scary two posts in the same week? No!!! no brain sucking alien has taken over my keyboard it really is me..

Just a quick update to the other day's post about my back issues. Ron and I went to my dr. yesterday, we looked at the new MRI. What had looked like a small protrusion on last months MRI now looks to be about the size of the tip of my pinkie and where there was no discernable herniation on the l4 l5 lumbar before there is a tiny one showing up now. So.. we discussed and scheduled surgery. I will be having what the dr. termed a diskectomy on Tues the 10th.. We discussed all the risks and benefits and it seems like the most logical step for me at this point. I can't tolerate this pain any longer and if that much damage has occurred in just a month I don't want to put this off too much longer. I am good at damaging myself , so the longer I wait the worse it will be.

The dr did put me on a pain patch thing that is a powerful narcotic. Finally someone that understands the pain I am in and is willing to give me something to relieve it... I am not a junkie.. I am not looking to get high.. I just want to be relatively pain free for a little while. Most of the drs. I have been to will not prescribe any type of pain killer that can be abused and while I do understand the fear of addiction and abuse of drugs I think our doctors need to be educated in pain relief and the necessity of short term drug therapy in some patients. Even long term therapy in some patients is not a worry for addiction but a humane and kind way to alleviate severe pain. I have done a lot of research on the subject and all of the studies I have been able to find indicate that drug therapy for those in severe chronic pain can help those people live more normal lives or at least in some cases relieve the pain for whatever duration of life those people have left and in a large percentage of these patients whether they have terminal conditions or not addiction does not become a problem..My personal opinion is that most of us with severe chronic pain just want to be somewhat normal and be able to do things with our families and not have the burden of pain always with us. This morning I woke up mostly pain free and feeling a lot like the old me.. something I haven't felt much of since Oct when this whole thing began. I am only using half of the patch and it is good for 3 days.. wow sounds like I want to get high don't it?

Ok off the patient rights soapbox.. other than planning for my surgery I think I will try to get some things done around here beforehand. I need to leave my house in good shape. I know I will only be gone for one day but I know my children they can do a lot to a house in 24 hours...

I am outta here for a while.. who knows I may turn up again soon.

Y'all have fun