The Next Chapter--More Surgery?

Nearly 5 months since my decision to decrease opiate pain medications, I am now feeling every single herniation, osteophyte, impinged nerve, spinal cord compression, etc., in my spine.  All 12 levels of my Thoracic spine are herniated, with multiple bulky disc/osteophyte complexes, ligament calcification/hypertrophy, nerve impingement, costo/vertebral issues, spinal stenosis, and more.  The Thoracic Spine is the root of 95% of my pain.

Stenosis of the Spine | Illustration of Spinal Stenosis | Spine Doctor in Vail, Colorado (Photo credit: neckandback)

I am proud of myself for sticking with my plan, decreasing medications, to a now 75% reduction.  I have also been doing this on my own.  My physicians are aware, of course, but no 'support' to speak of, except for the consistent encouragement from those who care about me. (Including online support)  I am happy I did it, the process (and it certainly is a process) is not fun to experience.  Not something many would enjoy. **If you are also decreasing your medications for chronic pain, or considering it, I have only positive feelings about that decision.  It is a personal, yet an important medical step, in that what will follow, must be planned or at the least, discussed with your treating physicians.  Keep on the road you have started out on.  It is brave and courageous  for many in pain have been told that without the meds, living will be a challenge.  (Living in the sense of any quality of life.)  I beg to differ.  Quality of life is subjective, just like pain.

Treating the cause is more important to me now than ever going back to straight medication management.  There is more out there for you than a life taking pills and not really feeling that good anyway!  Personal knowledge of others in chronic pain are many, the stories are so varied, some have either sunk into the 'poor me' category, or/and have gone the pill route big time, with non-compliance in taking too many, to selling them on the side.  Hang in there if your choice is to decrease or stop altogether.  I received wonderful emails from others in pain who are also either decreasing (and feeling better) or have stopped medication.  Another reason why writing here has great benefit in support from others that are experiencing the same thing.  Thank you to all who shared your story with me and gave me such encouragement!  So that chapter is now over, and I move on to the next.

What is next to be written?  What is to come and what process am I to go through next?

The level of damage in my spine is such that my options are to FIX the anatomy, or to COVER the pain from that damage.  I have been doing the latter.  It obviously was not the long-term answer for me.

For now that I have decreased to this point in my meds, the pain has returned, with a vengeance.  This pain and the sensation is totally different than anything I've felt before.  This is a 'Mechanical' pain.

What is happening, is now that I have lowered meds to a bare minimum, I feel vertebrae moving, I hear them 'popping' which I believe is a slipping, I am able to really sense what the cause of many things are.  My instability feeling-common in spinal stenosis, FBSS and other issues, has gotten worse. (My neck is also popping/grinding).

I fell in January onto my spine, onto concrete, I am sure I broke ribs, and cracked vertebrae, or further injured my spine.  My pain doc immediately ordered an Xray to rule out fracture of either.  Two weeks later I hurt my knee (which I recently was informed has multiple injuries--totally different than originally told to me) so the direct fall on my back went to the back burner.  I must remember this is very serious, and I need to start paying more attention to the root of my pain.  What I did to it when I hit the concrete must be addressed.

For the past 9 years, I have felt as if I need a rod down my Thoracic spine, to feel stable again.  I began searching online for Thoracic surgery, and I found not only a surgery exactly like mine in 2001 (Costotransversectomy with fusion is not a common surgery) but also discovered Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery.  At the University of San Diego, a team of dedicated spine surgeons strive to improve the disadvantages of open spinal surgery, taking full advantage of all the new equipment that helps the surgeons view the patient from many angles, still ending with simple band-aids over the entry points, even though there may be screws, rods, and other hardware inside.

The cutting of the muscles necessary to obtain the proper views in spine surgery, so as to isolate nerves, spinal cord, etc., results in a long recovery, post-op pain, and continuing pain.  The muscles that 'run along'  the spine, commonly called the Paraspinal muscles, are actually a group of muscles that do not run in a parallel line at all.  I am speaking of the superficial muscles of the back.

In the method being used now, small incisions are made to insert the camera, and others to insert the instruments needed.  I would need multiple levels worked on, and in the non-invasive method, this may be something I could recover from without the extreme post-op pain and long recovery and rehabilitation, simply due to muscles being cut.

It says a lot for me to even be talking about another surgery.  And this is not 'just' one or two things being fixed.  The choices I have had for many years have been few, regarding the available methods to treat my pain.  I have said since the Costo in '01 that I would not have another surgery, and I concentrated on proper and thorough pain management. Eleven years later, I am ready to try something else.

Thanks for the support and telling me your own stories.


Gentle Hugs....

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This song inspires me by the energy it holds, it puts me in a great mood, and I have adored Freddy & Queen since they were played over here in the US.  Kind of an ironic tie I have to them, 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was playing on the radio the night of the rollover accident.  Because I was blindfolded, my hearing was heightened, and that song is forever engraved in my mind as the soundtrack to that slow-motion night.



*Only Freddie can play the piano just by standing near it.  ;)
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And this one....an acoustic 12 string played beautifully by Brian May and a tenor such as Freddie?  Amazing.