Some fresh pictures for youse guys.

Mike,

Great pictures, again! I'll add my 2 cents on back surgery/problems. I work as an x-ray tech and have seen lots of bad backs, lots with hardware too. Some people feel great after surgery, others are not as happy. I've also been in a number of the procedures providing images for the surgeon. I'll second Pete's recomemendation of a neurosurgeon. There are some great orthopedic surgeons that do the procedure. But, I would use a neurosurgeon personally.

To all the young bucks who still have good backs, take note. That back has to carry you around for your whole life, take care of it!

Tom
 
Don't go under the knife unless you have to. Can you lose any weight or are you in shape?
If I lose my extra twenty pounds and get plenty of exercise my back doesn't hurt as bad.
I have compressed disks between L2,L3,L4 due to an over active childhood.
If I stay in shape my back is fine, otherwise I'm sore everyday.

I've been sore lately :(
 
Thanks for all the good advice on the back guys. I've got a few things to consider I guess. My understanding of the problem is thus:

My L5 is now fractured into three pieces due to a birth defect and 40 years of active living. The disk compression is normal for a guy my age, but because of the break and resulting scar tissue from where it has been trying to heal itself, I get alot of swelling and pressure on my spine which is pinching my sciatic nerve as well. I'm 6' 215 lbs, and active as I can be given the back situation, so not overweight, but not 17 anymore either.

If they fuse L5 to L4 the doc figures it will take 20 years to see problems from "passing on" the structural stress. If he's right, that sounds good to me.

I really do appreciate all your advice guys.

Mike
 
Mike,
I always put off any surgery for as long as I can. My theory is look what they can do know compared to what they could do ten years ago. I figure if I can wait longer they may come up with something better 10 years from now.

For example look at knee surgery as opposed to 20 years ago. Little cut faster recovery time as opposed to major surgery.

But if the pain is unbearable you got to do something.
 
Mike,

Those photos explain a lot to us down here in Washington. We get most of our bird, mallards and geese from Alberta and seeing all that grass with no snow tells a lot. We may have, maybe, 4-5 percent of the birds we normally have. Heck, I've shot more canvasbacks and honkers on the rivers than mallards. Not that that is a bad thing, just no puddle ducks at all here.
Hurry up and get cold, we only have 20 days or so left.
 
Mike great pictures, I thought you'd gotten snowed in or something. That sucks about your back, about 4 years ago I was in a car wreck and my sciatic (sp) nerve was cut on the left side of my right knee. That's got to be the worst pain ever, every week i would go in for nerve blocks but they would wear off within two or three days. Finally they went in and did a "cryo" where they freeze/kill the nerve completely so I have no feeling in my right leg from about 4 inches above the knee to 4 inches below. That was great and everything but it still hurts like hell in my back where that nerve joins up on my spinal column.

Now onto your surgery, are they wanting to just fuse two or more of your vertabrae together with plates and screws or are they wanting to insert a pain pump/ nerve stimulator? I work for the hospital down here and we do quite a few of the pumps and nerve stimulators for people with chronic pain. I've never heard of the procedure you've listed so I don't know anything about it.
 
I like the shot of the girls.
Look up the 22-29 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association study on back pain. 13.5 million dollars worth of study showed no significant difference in results from surgery vs less invasive treatment.
Heat, streaching, good posture when working, sitting and sleeping all help. One bad chair or car seat in your life without lumbar support can give you daily problems. Number one thing our insurance at work is worried about is the guys pullining out their backs.
Take ten pounds off your frame and streach with the hot hippie mommas at the yoga studio for one year. Read every thing you can find on back health and conditioning. Then revisit the guy diong the latest insurance company/government sponsored back treatment.
Your a physical guy and are not going to easy chair the recovery like some. I would give the best effort you can to the health changes you can do yourself first. Good luck from a guy who said his back would never be a problem back when he was young, dumb and full of.....
 
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