I had a Lumbar Discectomy, or microdiscectomy, on 21 November 2018. Before my surgery, I went online to read what other people had gone through after the surgery and found mostly stories of people who were unhappy with their surgery because things hadn’t gone well. It didn’t make sense to me, because the statistics say that 85% of these surgeries are successful. Perhaps those with a positive experience are too busy getting back to their lives to post anything online? Anyway, I thought I would put my story out there as an example of a microdiscectomy with a happy ending, so here is the story of my Big Bad Disc, as a friend called it:
I had a car accident in July 2018. Following that, I had whiplash and then a few weeks after the accident, I started feeling tingling (pins and needles) in my left thigh. I had no idea what that meant. The tingling stayed for a several weeks, (now I know that any pins and needles in the legs is most commonly due to the sciatic nerve being pinched), and then one day, D-Day, I kneeled on the floor and in an instant, was in severe pain. I’m guessing that’s the moment the annulus of the disc (a group of surrounding cartilage rings) ruptured and the nucleus (the disc’s inner substance) exited the annulus (extrusion) and pinched the sciatic nerve. That night and the following, I could hardly sleep because the pain was so intense. Two days later, I went to the doctor, who put me on Oxycodone for pain relief.
I suffered a lot for the following three months. I mostly couldn’t sit, stand or walk. My husband arranged a comfortable place on the living room floor for me. I was mostly lying down on a rubber sleeping mat, covered with two blankets and a doona. I was up against a step into the dining room, and I put a few pillows there. I had my iPad, laptop and iPhone with me and I could do work that way. I’m a private singing teacher and choral conductor and I had to cancel all of my students because I just couldn’t sit or stand long enough to teach anybody.
Regarding treatment, I tried everything: I started out with visits to the osteopath, then I added massage, which really helped the leg muscles that were tense from pain, then I added acupuncture, to help relieve pain and promote healing as well. Two months after D-day, I got a CT-guided steroid injection. That seemed to help a little bit, but not enough to get me back on my feet.
I finally opted for surgery. The best decision of my life. I’m now day 5 after surgery and I am feeling so much better! My sciatica pain is completely gone. I can sit, stand and walk again. Yes, I have post-op pain, and I can’t bend nor twist my back, so my movements are limited and I need help with many things during the day, but post-op pain is temporary and will decrease day by day.
Now, the most important thing is for me to not bend or twist my back. It feels easy enough these days when my back is a bit stiff from the surgery, but as the surgery pain begins to recede, I’m a bit scared that my constant awareness might falter and I might make a sudden movement that could re-herniate my disc. If I can manage to keep my back like a log, then I should be fine.
The best time I had was day 3 after surgery: I went for a 40-min stroll! That was amazing. Walking is so nice. And the easiest thing to do that is pain-free and risk-free. Even though I don’t need it, I take a walking stick with me just to warn other people to be careful around me.
I’ll continue to update my progress here, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, here is a great photo I found on the internet that clearly shows the difference between a bulging and herniated disc.
I had a car accident in July 2018. Following that, I had whiplash and then a few weeks after the accident, I started feeling tingling (pins and needles) in my left thigh. I had no idea what that meant. The tingling stayed for a several weeks, (now I know that any pins and needles in the legs is most commonly due to the sciatic nerve being pinched), and then one day, D-Day, I kneeled on the floor and in an instant, was in severe pain. I’m guessing that’s the moment the annulus of the disc (a group of surrounding cartilage rings) ruptured and the nucleus (the disc’s inner substance) exited the annulus (extrusion) and pinched the sciatic nerve. That night and the following, I could hardly sleep because the pain was so intense. Two days later, I went to the doctor, who put me on Oxycodone for pain relief.
I suffered a lot for the following three months. I mostly couldn’t sit, stand or walk. My husband arranged a comfortable place on the living room floor for me. I was mostly lying down on a rubber sleeping mat, covered with two blankets and a doona. I was up against a step into the dining room, and I put a few pillows there. I had my iPad, laptop and iPhone with me and I could do work that way. I’m a private singing teacher and choral conductor and I had to cancel all of my students because I just couldn’t sit or stand long enough to teach anybody.
Regarding treatment, I tried everything: I started out with visits to the osteopath, then I added massage, which really helped the leg muscles that were tense from pain, then I added acupuncture, to help relieve pain and promote healing as well. Two months after D-day, I got a CT-guided steroid injection. That seemed to help a little bit, but not enough to get me back on my feet.
I finally opted for surgery. The best decision of my life. I’m now day 5 after surgery and I am feeling so much better! My sciatica pain is completely gone. I can sit, stand and walk again. Yes, I have post-op pain, and I can’t bend nor twist my back, so my movements are limited and I need help with many things during the day, but post-op pain is temporary and will decrease day by day.
Now, the most important thing is for me to not bend or twist my back. It feels easy enough these days when my back is a bit stiff from the surgery, but as the surgery pain begins to recede, I’m a bit scared that my constant awareness might falter and I might make a sudden movement that could re-herniate my disc. If I can manage to keep my back like a log, then I should be fine.
The best time I had was day 3 after surgery: I went for a 40-min stroll! That was amazing. Walking is so nice. And the easiest thing to do that is pain-free and risk-free. Even though I don’t need it, I take a walking stick with me just to warn other people to be careful around me.
I’ll continue to update my progress here, so stay tuned. Meanwhile, here is a great photo I found on the internet that clearly shows the difference between a bulging and herniated disc.
Note: please don't read other people's horror stories online. Trust your surgeon, and trust the success rate he gives you for your surgery. There is no way you can know why people have bad experiences, maybe they didn't follow their surgeon's advice post-op. Maybe their initial physical condition was different than yours. It's not worth getting scared. I've learned to only read the success stories.
