Today is Thursday, Happy Turkey Day all!
I was meant to be having the operation today, but…I am not!! Woohoo.
I spent an hour and a half with the neurosurgeon on Monday morning, and two days thinking about my options, and decided in the end the risks out weighed the benefits. I learnt a lot of new things about my back and what my options were.
First up, my spinal cord is not compressed, it is displaced. It still has plenty of spinal fluid around it, protecting it. Next my reflexes are hyper, but not into the abnormal range. My foot is meant to bounce between one and five times, and bounces three times, just over the accepted range type stuff.
My scenarios looked like this:
- Have the operation, drill out the bone spur, all is fine.
- Have the operation, drill out the bone spur, but the nerve is so scarred that there would be no pain relief.
- Have the operation, but once they open my back up, they cannot drill out the bone spur due to the proximity of the nerve. And so close me up.
All these scenarios meant 6 weeks recovery. So in all I had a 33% chance of success. The Dr was very nice, patient and went over everything a lot! He feels that if I start suffering a lot again, then I should think about having the operation, but I am ok for now, and that I need, rather, be to careful and adjust my life style.
“You can change your back for your lifestyle, or your lifestyle for your back” were his words. I liked his conservative and practical approach.
So then after all this we went and thought and discussed my options. I wanted to avoid an operation, and as my dad said “if you were living here you would not have the operation, you would wait.”
My next problem though is how to get home. I have to work out the changing of the ticket, and money and times, as it is prime travel season now. I also have till next Thursday to make a final decision, if I start suffering again, or change my mind.