Cause: HighSchool car accident, driving at 55-60mph hit a telephone pole head on, no seat belt like a ass, lucky I walked away with only knee surgery at the time. Little did i know........
8 years later after chronic back pain, went in for a disectomy, went very well, great in fact, felt like a new man again :-)
6 years later, stupid stupid stupid, we moved from brookhaven to bayport (twice) while we built a house in bayport. Of course i did a lot of lifting and moving, exactly what I should of not been doing. Well, I can do that just not that intense in such a short time frame since we moved twice in two months cause we had to live in an apartment while we tore down the house. Stupid Stupid Stupid. Rushed to the hospital..........yes you guessed it disectomy #2 Jackass all I can say. This one did not go as well, still had pain, was not the same as the first, I suspected this would not last
One and a half year almost to the date: Spinal Fusion
October 2008: Started in Percocet, 1 every 4-6 hours, I was actually only taking 1/2 since they were 10/325. Really was not that bad figured just a flare up no big deal.
March 2009: Up to 8 a day depends on the day some bad days some good days. I had a MRI just before surgery as doc was concerned with my level of pain (three weeks prior), doc says not good, disc is bulging way out and need to do this now.
Day One (Mon): Surgery went well from what I was told. Doc states this was one of the biggest discs he has seen in quite some time and that I would have instant relief. Little did I know he was right. They pump 10mg of morphine in me in recovery, then ask do you feel pain uhm yes I do so they inject another 2mg of dilaudid in me, ok now i don't feel anything :-)
Day Two (Tue): Anesthesia symptoms are bad, worse then the last time. I am a mess, I keep clicking the clicker for pain which in turn makes me more nauseous, a vicious circle I am in and Roya can do nothing but watch. I finally give in and have them take the pca pump away and stop all pain meds, this was around noon. By the time dinner rolled around I was still sick and now the pain was coming on strong. They decided to give me 40 mg of oxycontin to help the pain. It did work, they even through in a few percocets to boot. This was the hardest day, the nauseous, pain just plain ol sucked balls, however, I have been down this road before because the same thing happened last surgery so I had to suck it up and get through it. A long night, very long night watching the clock. The best thing was the nurses arguing with each other in front of me because they were not giving me the right medicine, evidently percocet comes in two forms, one with Tylenol I think and one without, they were not giving me the right one and right in front of me had a argument. Lord, health care these days. Oh, the best part was the folio yes boys I have never had one in me while awake and I must say, it does not hurt while in, however when they remove it.......I can't even describe the feeling, not pain so much but a very very weird feeling of a balloon deflating, strange....a experience I would rather not have ever again thank you.
Day Three (Wed): Feeling a bit better as they keep pumping me full of Oxycontin and percocet, I am up to 80mg of oxy and 60mg of percs. The nausea is now gone, I can start to eat which is great. I start to walk on my own and surprised the hell out of the PT guy, but really, after two surgeries, the pain in the end was not as bad as I was expecting. I can say, the first discectomy was the worst pain to date. Doing okay and they say I am going home tomorrow..........Thank God get me the hell out of here.
Day Four (Thursday): I am walking around pretty good, went home around noon to start the recovery. Still taking the pain pills round the clock.
Day Five (Friday-Thursday) - Doing well, walking on the treadmill about half a mile a day, feeling pretty good except for one thing, a rash has started from head to toe, came out of nowhere, not sure what or why but i am seeing the doc for a checkup tomorrow so I will bring it to his attention then. Started to notice I would wake every morning with sweat on my neck and back, strange...
Day twelve: Wake in the morning with a rash from hell, like poison ivy all over, my ankles were really bad cause I rub my feet at night when I sleep so that was brutal. Doc says it is a drug eruption to the oxy/percocet evidently my body has had enough of it and raised the white flag. So, I have to stop all drugs except for Advil/Tylenol from today onward. I am like ok, I never asked questions as i should of in hind sight now cause without weening off these things you will see the path of angst.
Day Thirteen: Oh boy, this was the worst day. I sat in a dark room with a cold towel on my head listening to music for hours. I would cry uncontrollably for no reason, I had no idea what was going on till it hit me, withdrawal from the meds. I was watching overhaulin and at the end this girl started to cry because she was so happy then I cried I am like what the hell is wrong with me. As Roya put it, welcome to PMS! It freaked Roya out, I just wanted to be alone and get through it myself. There is no feeling in the world of becoming addicted to something without knowing it. Your mind seems rational but your physical control is tested to the extreme. I had Roya take the pills and hide them all cause I was not sure what I was going to do, my mind kept saying no but the physical body was like give it to me. I guess I understand how and why now people get addicted, I do not have an addictive personality, so this was really weird for me. Ok, enough of this, I get through the night not easily but who needs sleep at this point, I needed to get over the physical portion, my mind was fine it kept arguing with my body. I must sound like a fruitcake right now but this is the truth and no other way of explaining it. Sunday comes, a bit easier not much, nothing like losing yourself and trying to get yourself back, a journey in itself without drugs......
Day Fourteen-Today (Friday) I am sleeping about 2-3 hours a night, very sporadic and not a deep sleep like I had prior but at any event it is sleep. The drug is out of my system, I feel so much better, the pain in my back is gone, I have my feeling in my leg/foot everything is almost normal again. The surgeon was great, for him he has given me quality of life. As for the sleep thing, well, it will come I suppose in time, a good friend who has gone through almost the exact same thing still can't sleep, however, she was on a lot more meds than me, she has been great, she understands, she gets it and I think she knows the dark times you face through this surgery and afterwards. It is these times the doctors don't talk about because I suspect most people would not go through with it. Talking about it for me, helped out a lot. My wife was a sounding board (I could not bear to talk to anyone really and I tried) and although she can't understand it, she sees it and is right there by my side the whole way, that is the definition of love till death do you part. I love her so much.
So, in the end, after reading this what could of been done to prevent the surgeries/withdrawal, not sure. I was in a lot of pain (also a jackass with the moving) and I guess without meditation the only way to get through it is medication. I feel pretty good now, and it was a tough journey, one that has aged me a bit. In the end, i will be able to give my daughter piggy back rides again before she gets too old for that. I can go on vacations without being in freakin pain all the time, it's like a new lease pretty cool and looking back worth every bit of c**p i had to go through to get here. The reason for writing it, to help someone else out as I was on the internet quite a bit searching for answers and if people did not write I would of had a much tougher time.
8 years later after chronic back pain, went in for a disectomy, went very well, great in fact, felt like a new man again :-)
6 years later, stupid stupid stupid, we moved from brookhaven to bayport (twice) while we built a house in bayport. Of course i did a lot of lifting and moving, exactly what I should of not been doing. Well, I can do that just not that intense in such a short time frame since we moved twice in two months cause we had to live in an apartment while we tore down the house. Stupid Stupid Stupid. Rushed to the hospital..........yes you guessed it disectomy #2 Jackass all I can say. This one did not go as well, still had pain, was not the same as the first, I suspected this would not last
One and a half year almost to the date: Spinal Fusion
October 2008: Started in Percocet, 1 every 4-6 hours, I was actually only taking 1/2 since they were 10/325. Really was not that bad figured just a flare up no big deal.
March 2009: Up to 8 a day depends on the day some bad days some good days. I had a MRI just before surgery as doc was concerned with my level of pain (three weeks prior), doc says not good, disc is bulging way out and need to do this now.
Day One (Mon): Surgery went well from what I was told. Doc states this was one of the biggest discs he has seen in quite some time and that I would have instant relief. Little did I know he was right. They pump 10mg of morphine in me in recovery, then ask do you feel pain uhm yes I do so they inject another 2mg of dilaudid in me, ok now i don't feel anything :-)
Day Two (Tue): Anesthesia symptoms are bad, worse then the last time. I am a mess, I keep clicking the clicker for pain which in turn makes me more nauseous, a vicious circle I am in and Roya can do nothing but watch. I finally give in and have them take the pca pump away and stop all pain meds, this was around noon. By the time dinner rolled around I was still sick and now the pain was coming on strong. They decided to give me 40 mg of oxycontin to help the pain. It did work, they even through in a few percocets to boot. This was the hardest day, the nauseous, pain just plain ol sucked balls, however, I have been down this road before because the same thing happened last surgery so I had to suck it up and get through it. A long night, very long night watching the clock. The best thing was the nurses arguing with each other in front of me because they were not giving me the right medicine, evidently percocet comes in two forms, one with Tylenol I think and one without, they were not giving me the right one and right in front of me had a argument. Lord, health care these days. Oh, the best part was the folio yes boys I have never had one in me while awake and I must say, it does not hurt while in, however when they remove it.......I can't even describe the feeling, not pain so much but a very very weird feeling of a balloon deflating, strange....a experience I would rather not have ever again thank you.
Day Three (Wed): Feeling a bit better as they keep pumping me full of Oxycontin and percocet, I am up to 80mg of oxy and 60mg of percs. The nausea is now gone, I can start to eat which is great. I start to walk on my own and surprised the hell out of the PT guy, but really, after two surgeries, the pain in the end was not as bad as I was expecting. I can say, the first discectomy was the worst pain to date. Doing okay and they say I am going home tomorrow..........Thank God get me the hell out of here.
Day Four (Thursday): I am walking around pretty good, went home around noon to start the recovery. Still taking the pain pills round the clock.
Day Five (Friday-Thursday) - Doing well, walking on the treadmill about half a mile a day, feeling pretty good except for one thing, a rash has started from head to toe, came out of nowhere, not sure what or why but i am seeing the doc for a checkup tomorrow so I will bring it to his attention then. Started to notice I would wake every morning with sweat on my neck and back, strange...
Day twelve: Wake in the morning with a rash from hell, like poison ivy all over, my ankles were really bad cause I rub my feet at night when I sleep so that was brutal. Doc says it is a drug eruption to the oxy/percocet evidently my body has had enough of it and raised the white flag. So, I have to stop all drugs except for Advil/Tylenol from today onward. I am like ok, I never asked questions as i should of in hind sight now cause without weening off these things you will see the path of angst.
Day Thirteen: Oh boy, this was the worst day. I sat in a dark room with a cold towel on my head listening to music for hours. I would cry uncontrollably for no reason, I had no idea what was going on till it hit me, withdrawal from the meds. I was watching overhaulin and at the end this girl started to cry because she was so happy then I cried I am like what the hell is wrong with me. As Roya put it, welcome to PMS! It freaked Roya out, I just wanted to be alone and get through it myself. There is no feeling in the world of becoming addicted to something without knowing it. Your mind seems rational but your physical control is tested to the extreme. I had Roya take the pills and hide them all cause I was not sure what I was going to do, my mind kept saying no but the physical body was like give it to me. I guess I understand how and why now people get addicted, I do not have an addictive personality, so this was really weird for me. Ok, enough of this, I get through the night not easily but who needs sleep at this point, I needed to get over the physical portion, my mind was fine it kept arguing with my body. I must sound like a fruitcake right now but this is the truth and no other way of explaining it. Sunday comes, a bit easier not much, nothing like losing yourself and trying to get yourself back, a journey in itself without drugs......
Day Fourteen-Today (Friday) I am sleeping about 2-3 hours a night, very sporadic and not a deep sleep like I had prior but at any event it is sleep. The drug is out of my system, I feel so much better, the pain in my back is gone, I have my feeling in my leg/foot everything is almost normal again. The surgeon was great, for him he has given me quality of life. As for the sleep thing, well, it will come I suppose in time, a good friend who has gone through almost the exact same thing still can't sleep, however, she was on a lot more meds than me, she has been great, she understands, she gets it and I think she knows the dark times you face through this surgery and afterwards. It is these times the doctors don't talk about because I suspect most people would not go through with it. Talking about it for me, helped out a lot. My wife was a sounding board (I could not bear to talk to anyone really and I tried) and although she can't understand it, she sees it and is right there by my side the whole way, that is the definition of love till death do you part. I love her so much.
So, in the end, after reading this what could of been done to prevent the surgeries/withdrawal, not sure. I was in a lot of pain (also a jackass with the moving) and I guess without meditation the only way to get through it is medication. I feel pretty good now, and it was a tough journey, one that has aged me a bit. In the end, i will be able to give my daughter piggy back rides again before she gets too old for that. I can go on vacations without being in freakin pain all the time, it's like a new lease pretty cool and looking back worth every bit of c**p i had to go through to get here. The reason for writing it, to help someone else out as I was on the internet quite a bit searching for answers and if people did not write I would of had a much tougher time.