07-31-2009, 08:43 PM
Grateful11 wrote:
I really quite depressing at times. My wife has learned not to ask
anymore she says she can just look at me and tell how bad it is. I have
spells when it's really bad and sometimes when it's somewhat tolerable.
I've been battling my pain for nearly 4 years. It mainly ran down my
right side, now it mainly the left but it can both or either. I don't like taking
the high powered pain medicine because of the way it makes me feel, I
prefer to have some control of my surroundings. I'm not looking
forward to a through the back double fusion but I've had two opinions
and it looks like that's the way to go for me at this point. They say my
surgeon is one of the best in the country and I have confidence in him
there's many out there that i don't, I've been to quite few back doctors
over the years. I'm really not sure i would want to live another 10-15
years like this. The pain as you say, just sucks the quality of life right
out of you. I haven't had a good nights sleep in years, I'm usually part
of the night in the bed and part in a recliner.
spent a little over two years in a "zero gravity" recliner from the 'Relax Your Back' store in the mid 90's... after you recover from your surgery, hopefully you won't need to rely on the recliner as much.
we now have an electric bed, that I use in recliner mode when Mrs. Buzz is off doing her multi-day trip thing as a flight attendant; it's the only way I can sleep comfortably on my back w/o massive doses of pain meds. maybe you and Mrs. G11 could/should look into getting such a bed if you don't already have one... assuming your doctor recommends it, it's an itemized tax deduction under the medical section, so be sure to buy it in a year when your medical expenses are already high enough to take advantage of the deduction....