Hello out there! I'm starting this blog to document my progress a month until surgery, and afterwards. I'll give a brief background to what got me here.
I had consecutive September car accidents in 2003, 2004 and 2005. The first one was the worst. I didn't start getting back pain until 2007 when I was working retail. I was lifting a vase for a display and got some really bad back pain. I had to quit my job, and went to see an orthopedic surgeon. He gave me a huge steroid shot, and that was about it. After that, I stopped going to him. I gave birth to my son in March of 2009, and the pain came back about 5-6 months after that. Went back to see the same doctor, but him and his staff were just awful. They kept me waiting with a small child for 3 hours without any explanation or information. When I finally got to see him, he told me if I was just there for pain medication, I could forget it. I told him off and left. Then I found Dr. Loguidice and his practice. My first visit was St. Patrick's Day in 2011. Since then I have had 10 MRIs, 2 round of PT, 2 ESIs, a discectomy, and 9 days ago a discectomy. We found on the discogram that I have severe DDD in L4-5 & L5-S1. After finding out insurance won't pay for a 2 level ADR, we decided on an ADR/ALIF. My surgery date is 1/2/13.
So, this blog will follow my pain, struggles and progress from here on out. My hope is that someone comes across it and it can help them too. t took 5 years of pain to get to where I am now, and it's not over yet.
- Jaclyn
