Nuru

Oh man, I hope that goes away way in weeks not months.

Mike5215

You and my ***** both. Actually over the last couple of days the dead areas have started burning which I take as a sign of healing. I see the neurosurgeon on Thursday. Great doc by the way, just some ****ty luck.

jiceoo

Get well soon, hope you get a young, sexy physical therapist to get you back on track...

triniexr

Sorry to hear Mike. Hope you recover soon.

Jason B

Ouch man, I feel for you. I never got a chance to say thanks for all you help, the EQ, etc. I haven't even had time to really mess with it (plugged in once and didn't get it back in yet), but that's not important right now. I hope this is just temporary and every day you start feeling a little better, then you get back to your old self - in all areas. I wish we lived closer. I'd definitely take you out to lunch and hang out. I'll drive, don't worry about that - your car.

Mike5215

Unfortunately she's a squat little lesbian ****. But I have to give her credit because I was seeing her before surgery was an option and it was she... not the ahole ortho I'd been getting $700 injections from... who diagnosed the herniated disc down to the exact level (l5/s1) just based on my complaints. I'm dreading going back to her though.

Yeah Jason hook that bugger up! You're gonna love it despite how ugly it is.

MBNUT1

Mike,

Sorry to hear of your medical issues. Last year I went through a tough spell of sciatic pain.

I think everybody recognizes your comments are said in jest and they are damn funny,

Hope for a speedy recovery. Looking forward to you piloting your S again and more of your humor when you are back to 100%!

Mike5215

Thanks. Mine was sciatica as well but the impingement was happening at the S1 nerve root as it exited the spine, so surgery was it. How did yours resolve?

The way I can tell if I've crossed a line on the forum is if I feel bad about it three days later. Generally that doesn't happen because the intent is harmless but it was not harmless in this one instance. Really the reason I get away with so much goofiness on the forum is by being funny without being mean. Funny alone doesn't cancel out mean.

Took the S out twice today. First was 45 min round trip to take my kid to school. Big mistake. I was cooked about 20 minutes in. Second was a 5 min hop to the pharmacy for pain meds. Can't wait to be able to enjoy that car pain free again.

MBNUT1

The MRI said I had minor impingement on my L5-S1. I was lucky after about two months if finally subsided. I had gone through about three bouts in a years time. During the beginning of the third bout it was excruciating to the point where I understood why a guy I knew with spinal stenosis offed himself. I have been very careful since to not load up my lower back. So far so good. Best of luck on your recovery.

KNBS550

Thanks for the heartfelt message about life in general. I see people in different hospitals for my job and it always makes you realize how important it is to stay healthy. Get well soon.

snovvman

How's it going Mike? It seems like things are progressing for the better?

Mike5215

Thanks for checking in! Yeah, slow steady progress. Still on the f'ing caths so that gets old, but otherwise much improved. Luckily we own our own business so I'm not missing work or dealing with that stress. Starting PT next week.

RichM

Three words that may make a painful process a little less painful. Polished eyelet catheter. Take it from someone who knows. Hope your situation improves rapidly.

snovvman

Is the prognosis, then, that everything (*EVERYTHING*) will be back to normal in time?

Mike5215

That seems to be the way it's going, just slow. Once I'm voiding at least 51% myself I can come off the caths. I'm probably 2 weeks away. Not sure what kind mine are...disposable French 14 whatever the F that means... but the cath process isn't as horrible as it probably sounds. It sounds like it's 100% horrible but it's closer to 25% once you get used to it. It's definitely a strange sensation but not crazy painful. I'll be glad when it's over though.

Numbness is slowly receding but the deadest part is where all my junk is so dick is still pretty dead. Doc says nerves regenerate at at about 3mm a day and they have about six inches to recover. Not that that's the size of my dick. It's the distance from the deadest spot to the most distant normal spot. Oh, who am I kidding. It's pretty much the size of my dick as well. I have started getting morning pee-boners so that's a promising development.

Really I'm just happy to be as far along as I am versus where I was a month ago.

1bad540

its 25% painful because your numb. I was heavily sedated with a shot to my spine and 25% was not what I was thinking at the time. Luckily for me it was a 24 hr event. wish you a speedy recovery.

Mike5215

I'm half numb...left side only. Strangest thing. I feel it, though not as much I guess. There are dudes who have to self cath for life and I figure if they can deal with it I can handle a couple of months. I'd characterize mine as some pressure starting out, a moment or two of discomfort as the cath passes thru the prostate, and then a little resistance to get past the bladder sphincter and it's over. It does burn a bit on the way out.

I wonder why yours was so painful. Maybe some underlying issue?

Atcpup

You're a trip! Glad your getting better...

1bad540

well I couldn't pee for almost 24hrs, I was about to explode. Would prefer never to have to do it again!!

Mike5215

Oh damn. Somebody messed up. Four hours without voiding is dangerous to the kidneys. They should never have let you go that long (or your bladder to get that distended.) My nurse used a bladder scanner ultrasound thingie to monitor how many cc's I was retaining and once I got to 600ml they had to cath me.

Mike5215

So here's we're I'm at. I still have complete saddle parasthesia on the left. (My own diagnosis BTW). Still on caths. Tried to bone my wife and it felt like I was wearing ten rubbers. Couldn't climax. Same exact thing when I tried boning my girlfriend. Just kidding about the girlfriend part.

Anyway, since my surgeon's response has involved use of the words "hope" and "pray" when it comes to a recovery, and he has stated repeatedly he can't figure out what happened in the surgery to cause it, I decided to get a referral from my primary MD for a nerve conduction study. I want a baseline of the nerve latency so I can go back in at 6 months and see if it is in fact improving, because if it's not, somebody's med mal insurance is going to be writing a check.

. I call my MD on Friday and speak with her nurse. I tell her my tale of woe and she's horrified. She agrees we need a neuro consult and the nerve velocity studies. I tell her I don't want a referral to the same practice as my surgeon, and she agrees.

On Monday I get a call back. "We've decided that everything is normal and the recovery will take time and that's that." I asked who "we" was, since my primary doc hasn't seen me, and there hasn't been a single diagnostic (including a post surgery MRI) done and the surgeon has told me repeatedly that he's stumped. The nurse advised that my doc had spoken with the surgeon and she agrees it's probably not permanent, and given that do I still really want the neuro referral and tests.

I told her it seemed like my surgeon was put off by my request for a neuro referral, and she said absolutely not, because they're "stellar doctors" and "stellar human beings" over there and they know no mistakes were made and they welcome a fresh opinion. I told her I still wanted the conduction studies, because if it's permanent I'd rather know now, and she stated that regardless of when I find out, it's not going to change the prognosis. Obviously the docs have already started to circle the wagons, so I decide I'm gonna need me some serious indians.

I bring in a very tough med-mal lawyer just for an assessment, not represented, don't need to be represented yet, and not interested in "building up" a claim if in fact I end up improving. He loves the case. Raring to go if I want to pull the trigger.

How much is a claim like that worth if it's a permanent impairment? I guess ask yourself how much money I'd have to give you to take away your ability to urinate, maintain an erection or have an orgasm for the rest of your life. Florida has a $1M cap on general damages in a med mal case and I told the attorney I expect to be bumping up against that.

My overwhelming preference is that this will self resolve in time and nobody pays anything. Stay tuned...

MBNUT1

Mike Hang in there. Nerve issues really do seem to take an inordinate amount of time to resolve themselves. When had my last bout of sciatica it took close to two months before things got better.

I hear the nerve conduction studies are torture and truthfully they won't change anything.

You will know in time if things haven't improved.

As hard as it might be to do the best thing is to do things to take your mind of it.

Certainly there are other model agency's to correspond with....

Best of luck.

Mike5215

Thanks. I'm waiting for 90 days post op to get the nerve study done. By then the swelling and stuff should have subsided and I'll know what I'm really dealing with. It does start to mess with your mind after a month.

Garticus

Damn.....sorry to hear about the surgery mishap and the pain and anguish you're going through........especially the gentelmens sausage issue.


What hospital did you end up in ICU ?

Mike5215

NFRMC in Gainesville.