Wednesday, November 29, 2006

The non-post post

Sorry. No time to post today. I'm watching reruns of Grey's Anatomy to catch up for tomorrow night. (I know ... I said I don't watch commercial TV. My wife got hooked on this show.) I'm sure never going to want to have surgery after this.

After suffering through back and leg pain all summer, and having an MRI confirm that I have sciatica from a herniated lumbar disc, and waiting yet another month to finally see a neurosurgeon, I was told I should definitely have the discectomy surgery, because the condition had not resolved itself in the 3 months that it normally takes. I chose to get second opinion.

After waiting another month to see a spine specialist, I was told not to have surgery. It takes 6 to 8 months for this condition to resolve itself, and apparently in that last month of waiting, things had finally started to improve. So now, a month after that, I feel great! From May through October, I was in constant pain, 24/7, especially when sitting, driving, putting on my socks, etc. I still get the pain occasionally, but it's infrequent.

Lo and behold, a new study last week confirms that waiting is just as effective as surgery for this herniated disc/sciatica condition.

All of which goes to prove nothing, except that I had more time than I thought.

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