It’s just another health setback….got worse today. Now it’s better!

[ScottsGT]

4 hours ago, HubertB said:

Don’t miss on the rehab / physiology training. When you have a number of vertebrae welded together, there are movements you took for granted you cannot do anymore, and you have to learn other ways of achieving the same result, and re-train the brain for those.

Hubert
 

Hubert, as always you say the wisest and best things.  Once again, you are spot on.

 The above paragraph is kind of ironic since I’m already partially fused together from bone spurs and arthritis and as my surgeon put it, he’s going to fuse them in the correct positions and shapes.  I have one main vertebrae that has slipped forward slightly and he feels this is the one causing the majority of my issues. 
But yes, also a fear I have is my mobility and movement afterwards, but as he put it, it will probably be improved over my current situation.  
My goal right now is the less invasive pain reduction techniques such as steroid injections and PT so I can continue on my weight loss adventure to lighten myself up as much as I can before surgery.  I’ve lost almost 40 lbs since the end of May and as of this morning I finally hit the full dose of the semaglutide meds I’m taking.  

[Peterpools]

Scott

Hang in there as your schedule for the procedure and the recovery period will open up a world of being pain free and allowing you to live a normal life again. We're riding with you all the way.

 

  

[GusMac]

Sensible idea to do the surgery now Scott. My father is basically housebound now and can just about shuffle around with a walking frame as his back has basically collapsed and he has stenoses at multiple levels. He's lost about 5 inches in height but at 84 it's far too late for the surgical option. He had the chance 20 years ago and decided against and is now regretting it.

[BlrwestSiR]

Sorry to hear about the ongoing health woes Scott. At least you're getting them looked after. 

[ScottsGT]

Update with some improvement!  
Started PT this week and the therapist gave me a simple seated bend over exercise that would help open the disc spacing.  Started Tuesday and I’ll be damned.  By Thursday I was walking without my cane.   
Even better, last night getting up in the middle of the night for my bathroom trips I didn’t need it.  Night time and the mornings were my worst. 

[CANicoll]

Great news, Scott!!  Back and foot issues are debilitating but glad to hear you are on the mend.  Whew.

[ScottsGT]

Yea Chris, it’s great to see some improvement. But as I told the PT guy, I’m still going through with the surgery.  Just make me strong as you can so recovery is easier.  
The silver lining to this is that it tells me that the nerve damage isn’t 100% permanent. 

[Peterpools]

Scott

Great to see the PT is helping and your fight is fantastic. When this is all over, you surely will be a 'new machine', pain free enjoying family and life. 

[ScottsGT]

Crap….wife just got a text from the neurosurgeon.  Said he looked at the latest MRI.  Not good.  He said my surgery is going to be bigger and longer than expected looking at the old MRI.  He’s scheduling us an appointment ASAP. 😢

Edit: Tuesday morning consult scheduled   

  

[CANicoll]

Hang in there...

[Peterpools]

Scott, right with Chris - hang in there are your doctors are on top of everything and you will be good as new. 

[ScottsGT]

Looks like a possibility of a delay to surgery.  I still haven’t had my follow up appointment yet, but now due to the loss of the major supplier of saline IV used all the time with patients, hospitals all over SC are starting to limit surgeries to emergencies only. 
The biggest supplier in the nation was in the Western NC area.  Haven’t heard yet if it was a total loss or just shut down due to infrastructure or employee issues dealing with everything.  

[Peterpools]

Scott not good at all and now a saline IV shortage ... seems every day we're dealing with shortages of one kind or another. Hope your follow up appointment gets scheduled as soon as possible and the hospitals will be able to find a new suppliers so the schedule surgeries can move forward. 

[ScottsGT]

Baxter is the supplier.  Did some reading after this post.  Apparently they just shut it all down for people to tend to their lives and the disaster.  Sounds like the plant is okay.  
But you’re correct Peter.  While distribution of goods across the country has made it easy to get products moved it has also created a situation where lack of competition or facilities in different areas are seen as an expense that can be cut back to increase profits.  No one ever gives a second thought about the “what ifs” in life.  I remember a few years back when Texas was hit with a major freeze during winter.  The nations only paint pigment plant was shut down long term.  You couldn’t find paint for months for new construction.  

[Lusitanian]

On 10/8/2024 at 2:42 PM, ScottsGT said:

Baxter is the supplier.  Did some reading after this post.  Apparently they just shut it all down for people to tend to their lives and the disaster.  Sounds like the plant is okay.  
But you’re correct Peter.  While distribution of goods across the country has made it easy to get products moved it has also created a situation where lack of competition or facilities in different areas are seen as an expense that can be cut back to increase profits.  No one ever gives a second thought about the “what ifs” in life.  I remember a few years back when Texas was hit with a major freeze during winter.  The nations only paint pigment plant was shut down long term.  You couldn’t find paint for months for new construction.  

 

If you knew the number of items that are *critical* to the everyday practice of medicine and surgery in the United States that are sourced from China, India, Pakistan, and/or from single-source suppliers, you’d be terrified.  Literally every drop of heparin (an anti-coagulant used daily in many surgeries, including cardiac and major vascular procedures) is made in China.  It’s derived from porcine GI tract tissue, and the Chinese eat more pork than anybody on earth.  The US drug industry wisely decided it wasn’t worth their time to retain the ability to manufacture it (and thus, keep the supply chain intact for making it), so it all went to China.  If China decided to f*ck the rest of the world, one very easy way for them to do it would be to simply turn off the tap on heparin.  Hundreds of thousands of people would die every month.

[ScottsGT]

Woohoo!  Great news.  Went in today for discussion with neurosurgeon after he got my latest MRI’s and X-rays.  Since my first visit when I hobbled in with a cane, I’ve had some significant improvements. No cane now except situations where I know I might lose my balance.  Like a cruise ship on rough oceans. Yea, that was last week.    PT seems to be helping and he wants me to put off surgery at least another three months and then follow up and re-evaluate.  They are going to schedule steroid injections in the next few weeks as well. 
I am slowly getting back the hypersensitivity in my lower extremities and he did say it could take 6-9 months.

Now the bad news…The wife has kind of gotten use to me knocking out projects in preparation for 6-12 months recovery.  She wants me to keep it up and stay off the bench a little longer.   
I’ve spoiled her.  But I make no promises.  Might do a few more odds and ends then back at it. 

[Peterpools]

Scott

Fantastic news and always pulling for you. 🏆

Yup, most important item on our list: Keep the "chief" happy. Do what you can do, just don't overdo it.

 

[KevinM]

24 minutes ago, Peterpools said:

Keep the "chief" happy.

Now Now Peter!! We all know the drill the faster you clear that list another is created fast=wrong pace it our bodies can only take so much.

[ScottsGT]

4 minutes ago, KevinM said:

Now Now Peter!! We all know the drill the faster you clear that list another is created fast=wrong pace it our bodies can only take so much.

Oh, that’s so true!   I’ll set a goal for the day when she’s home.  Get it done by noon and she’s already asking what else am I going to work on today.  My standard answer is “Retirement.”  

[ScottsGT]

Another happy update.  
 

I went in yesterday for a spinal steroid injection at L3/L4.  I’ve done this years ago at a different place.  There they put in an IV, hit me with a very mild dose of the good stuff my wife pushes just to relax me.  
Not this place!  We going in dry!  😱

Crap, if I had known this I would have taken one of my muscle relaxers.  Sweating profusely anticipating what was coming was almost worse than the injection.  
 

Local hurt like hell as they always do. Didn’t feel the 5” needle going in. But when he loaded up the area with the meds it felt like I was exploding from the waist down to my ankles.  
Injections years ago was waist to mid thigh.  Lasted about 10-15 seconds of intense all over spasm and extreme pain.  They gave me an hour to shake it off and sent me home with my wife to drive.  We assumed I was getting the good stuff because I needed a driver. Hell, that was like taking a DD to a bar and not drinking!  
 

But last night between 3 and 4am I started getting back hypersensitivity that has been gone since August when all this happened.  Still getting some of the strange sensations related to the nerve damage and already feel stronger this am.  Now I just gotta make sure I don’t over do things thinking I’m Superman.  

[KevinM]

11 minutes ago, ScottsGT said:

Not this place!  We going in dry!  😱

I have had that happen and went be nice please!I injured my back on 9/13 on a WC deal I am thinking T8/T9 area(ole injury bulge) I finally see an orthopedic doctor this Thursday after almost 90days!!WC sucks I have been thinking lawyer up?not yet.

[ScottsGT]

Lawyer up!!!!

Best friend is a WC attorney and the wife was doing life care plans for him years ago.  WC insurance has their bottom line at heart, not your health.  They will delay and deny care as much as they can get away with.  

[ScottsGT]

Oh, and you might want to see a neurosurgeon. 

[HubertB]

2 hours ago, ScottsGT said:

Lawyer up!!!!

Best friend is a WC attorney and the wife was doing life care plans for him years ago.  WC insurance has their bottom line at heart, not your health.  They will delay and deny care as much as they can get away with.  

Isn't it what ALL insurance companies do ?

"Give me an example of the use of the word "insurance" ...

- Once you have subscribed the contract and paid it, you have the insurance of being screwed in every possible way !

Yes, A++ for your understanding of vocabulary"

HUbert

[Uraynah]

Seriously, listen to the chiropractor.