Back surgery

When I met with the neurosurgeon we decided to go ahead with the back surgery. He said the MRI was a textbook picture of a disc bulge, so that's good I think. The surgery took 90 minutes and he ended up leaving the disc alone as it was ok and just removed debris and scar tissue. When I woke up the pain in my leg and back was gone and I was able to walk immediately.

I have some numbness in my toes and calf but they said this is normal as they moved the nerve around. Hopefully it'll go away in a week or so. I have gone for short walks down the block and back and they're pretty tiring. It'll be interesting to see if we can make it up any mountains this year in the spring.

Bulged Disc

Last year I injured my back while running stairs. I got an MRI and it showed I had a bulged disc at L1-S5 (whatever that means.) I went through a few months of physical therapy and then talked to a neurosurgeon about it. He said the MRI showed significant disc matter and that I could get a surgery, but as my symptoms were very small at that point, that I shouldn't get surgery. So I called it good.

Over the last year the back had felt pretty good and I hadn't had many issues. Last week it decided to kick in again. I've been taking various drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, some P drug and Tylenol with codine and they aren't helping too much. I'm not able to walk much, sleep or sit upright for very long. So I'm actually out of work for a few weeks and lying on my side.

This time I decided I don't want to go through PT and go for surgery. I just got the results back from yesterdays MRI and it shows the same issue as last year. I meet with the neurosurgeon on Tuesday and hopefully we get the surgery right afterwords.

Picture of last years MRI: