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Re: [RC] herniated discs (long) - Jim Ferris

About 20 years ago, I had a lot of lower back pain. I consulted with a
Neurosurgeon and he did an MRI and diagnosed as having a grade 1
spondelothesis (sp?). Essentially what this meant was that I had a
vertebra that was slipping underneath the vertebra above it. His
advice at that time was to delay any thought of surgery until I
couldn't stand the pain any more. His reasoning was that back surgery
was only about a 50% chance of recovery at that time and that the
longer I put it off, the better the surgical techniques would become.
About 2 1/2 years ago, I couldn't take it any longer. I could not
stand up for more than 5 minutes at a time and, after a full days ride
(NATRC Open Division), it was difficult to properly take care of my
horse. I had a lot of sciatic pain which got worse whenever I stood
up. I could ride all day and sit all day with little problem, but try
to stand up and even sleep became difficult. So I consulted a
different neurosurgeon and he found that L5 was not only slipping
forward above S1 but was starting to slip forward underneath L4. So I
went in for surgery 12/2000. I had 3 vertebra fused, L4/L5/S1. The
surgery took 8+ hours, but when I woke up I was in no pain at all
except from the surgical incision. I did spend the next 11 months
without ever riding my horses. But I did go back to riding in 11/2001.
I competed in NATRC Open Division in 2002 and am planning to do so
again this year. I have had no problems at all and I wonder why I
waited so long to have the surgery. All I can say is find a good
surgeon and do get a second opinion and only then consider surgery. A
lot depends on what kind of problem you have, but, for me, surgery was
the right choice.

For the record, I live in Northern California in the Bay area (San
Jose specifically). I had my surgery at Good Samaritan Hospital in San
Jose. The neurosurgeon that did the surgery was recommended by the
neurologist I had at the time.
-- 
Best regards,
Jim Ferris


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