No Surgery is Needed!

Brace yourself. This is a long one but a good one...

I wanted to follow up on my post yesterday since it didn't contain many details of my visit with Dr. Tsahakis. He took a look at my MRI from August and my recent CAT scan and, just like Dr. Giedraitis, said the herniated disc had gotten much worse between the two. He showed me in the films that all my other discs look normal with a nice, while color and some body to them. The disc between L5 and S1, however, was almost completely flattened and black. It was not a pretty sight. He said that in most people this kind of thing would almost definitely indicate surgery, but after asking me lots of questions and examining me thoroughly, he saw no reason for me to undergo surgery. Yaaahhhoooo!

For the next 2-3 months he said I need to take it easy on my back. No bending, lifting, or twisting (or BLT as he called it). He said I should most certainly keep up with the core-strengthening exercises I learned in physical therapy. I'm also going to continue to do the stretches my chiropractor showed me. I'm debating whether to go back to my chiropractor. I'm a little touchy about anybody touching -- let alone adjusting -- my back right now as you might imagine! But he did seem to be pretty knowledgeable in stretches and did some things other than adjusting my spine that I think would continue to be helpful. Maybe I'll just tell him no adjustments for now.

Well really I guess that's about it. The journey of life is still on of course, but amazingly and miraculously it seems this major part of that journey is winding down. Just 1 1/2 weeks ago I thought I was really up the creek, and now I'm pain free. Thank you God!!! I just need to be sure to take care of myself physically. From this point on I need to do my back exercises and stretches everyday. In addition to that it's going to be very important for me to get back into a more active lifestyle. Since moving to North Carolina from Arizona I haven't done a very good job staying active. Vicki and I miss the outdoor accessibility we had there a lot, but that doesn't mean we can't be active here either. It's a choice I have to make and keep if I want my back to stay in good shape. Over and over I've read about the benefits of staying active, especially in taking care of my back. Of course I'm going to take it very easy at first!

The one last thing we have to do now is to purchase a car. We have the two we like and are still considering. Hopefully we'll be buying one of them this weekend, and I'll be returning to work on Monday. Being that I've got a sitting job, I'm going to do all I can to ensure that that doesn't contribute to more back problems. I've been alternating between standing and sitting while working from home, and I'm going to see if that will be a possibility back at the office. I've gotten really spoiled with working from home and would like to find a job where I could do that more often, but in my field that can be hard to do. So for now I'll just be glad that I'm employed and able to provide financially for my family. Of course priority #1 is being there for them emotionally and spiritually.

I imagine this will be my last blog entry for now, but please do keep in touch. Thanks to David and everyone who supported and encouraged me. A special thanks to all of you who prayed for me and asked others to pray for me. On that note, please continue to pray that I will have the desire and willingness to do the things I need to do to take care of myself. I know it seems silly to think that after this I wouldn't have to struggle with that, but I know myself. Even with all I went through I still have challenges with my willpower.

God bless,

Aaron

P.S. Normally I don't get up at 4:30 AM. Once again I was having trouble sleeping. It could be remnants of the oral steroid I was taking because I'm still getting headaches in the evenings. Hopefully all of this should go away with time. Or maybe it's because I'm just so excited to not have to have surgery!