The surgeon my local doctor recommended is Canadian & studied medicine in Canada & Germany. The first thing I asked him is does he do spinal fusion and he emphatically said no. My brother had neck vertebrae fusion and is having more problems due to the fusion. Several friends of mine have had spinal fusion and have had problems years later due to the fusion. So I wanted someone operating on me that doesn't do fusion.
They do it in the US, but it's far less common. I asked about it, but I wasn't a candidate because of previous surgery. My original neurosurgeon put 2 in my friend's neck. I tried to avoid the 2nd fusion, but 2.5 years of injections and stimulators and opiates and PT and even Ketamine infusions and I couldn't take it anymore.
Yeah, fusions have to be your last choice and if your primary symptom is back pain, all the literature these days says do NOT do it. In my case, back pain was never really a problem. Well, not at the affected levels. My L2/3 level has a lot of problems as well, and it does actually hurt. It also likes to subluxate (partial dislocation that goes right back into place) and that hurts like mad, but it's very short-lived, so it's tolerable
I had a Nerve Conduction test, which as I understand is part of an electromyelogram. Or maybe two names for the same thing, I dunno. Anyway, the neurologist stuck needles in my leg and sent progressive shocks thru them. No sedation, no nuthin. Unpleasant, but man, I've stood far worse. Maybe I'm more tolerant to pain than I thought....nah, I'm a baby about pain.
It varies with the individual. Spinal fusion was absolutely miserable for a week, painful for a couple months, took 6 months for recovery. But it greatly reduced my back pain for some years, though it's gotten somewhat worse of late. Still, I count it as a win and would probably do it again if I had the kind of pain previous to the surgery.
Oh yeah, sorry, an electromyelogram is an EMG, those aren't usually bad as long as you don't mind being poked with needles. A myelogram in the other sense is an XRay and CT scan but they usually sedate you because they inject dye into ur spinal cord and that is sometimes painless and sometimes excruciating. Coincidentally, I've had 2 of each, tho one EMG was for my hand/arm and one was for my lower legI had a Nerve Conduction test, which as I understand is part of an electromyelogram. Or maybe two names for the same thing, I dunno. Anyway, the neurologist stuck needles in my leg and sent progressive shocks thru them. No sedation, no nuthin. Unpleasant, but man, I've stood far worse. Maybe I'm more tolerant to pain than I thought....nah, I'm a baby about pain.
It varies with the individual. Spinal fusion was absolutely miserable for a week, painful for a couple months, took 6 months for recovery. But it greatly reduced my back pain for some years, though it's gotten somewhat worse of late. Still, I count it as a win and would probably do it again if I had the kind of pain previous to the surgery.
Surgeon told me that cervical surgery was more iffy; about half got relief, other half either the same or worse. Which is why I got my primary care MD to recommend me to Pain Management. It's been a pain (no pun intended) in some ways but I am, mostly, managing my pain.
Do you have to see pain management every month? That gets old after a couple years, but necessary if you have enough pain that you can't drop the painkillers w/o feeling miserableI had a Nerve Conduction test, which as I understand is part of an electromyelogram. Or maybe two names for the same thing, I dunno. Anyway, the neurologist stuck needles in my leg and sent progressive shocks thru them. No sedation, no nuthin. Unpleasant, but man, I've stood far worse. Maybe I'm more tolerant to pain than I thought....nah, I'm a baby about pain.
It varies with the individual. Spinal fusion was absolutely miserable for a week, painful for a couple months, took 6 months for recovery. But it greatly reduced my back pain for some years, though it's gotten somewhat worse of late. Still, I count it as a win and would probably do it again if I had the kind of pain previous to the surgery.
Surgeon told me that cervical surgery was more iffy; about half got relief, other half either the same or worse. Which is why I got my primary care MD to recommend me to Pain Management. It's been a pain (no pun intended) in some ways but I am, mostly, managing my pain.
Cleveland clinic has some Dr's who do replacement disks. My wife got 1 a few years ago. She had been doing "treatments" (physical therapy, injections, electrostem, etc) for a few years. She was finally told to move on to surgery. She could tell that there was improvement before we left hospital. Was in pain, but the pain was different. Unfortunately she had a hard time coming out of the anesthesia. So the out patient surgery was an extra 6+ hrs in recovery room.
On the downside, my 24th surgery is coming up, but on the upside, I've never had an issue w/general anesthesia (I did have one spinal block which went very badly, but that's it).
OK, pictures of the motorcycle, please
what's on it? what type of m/c?
Montesa Cota
I had 4 Montesa bikes back in the mid 70's
Montesa Cota
one of my favorites out of 18 m/c's was a Yamaha MX400B, super good handling, power, reliability. a TY250 would be awesome.
I should probably sell my bike (Honda Shadow VT-1100). I haven't been able to ride it since late 2018 with the knee replacement and then the back issues. I didn't prep it properly b4 the knee replacement as I wasn't expecting to get infected etc, so it's got bad gas in it, which is not the first time. I can replace the filters and spark plugs and drain the gas, but I am too inexperienced and broken to jet the carburetor. Ugh.
(then i worked on some rocket stuff)
if you haven't been on it in that long it's probably time to get rid of it but I would just do the filters, plugs, drain the gas, and then put some new gas in it with a bottle of fuel conditioner/ carb cleaner which there's several to choose from and fire it back up.
Injection every three months. Follow-up every month. At least the follow-ups are here in town, five minutes away. For treatments I drove an hour there, and wife drives me an hour back because sedation.
And an ultrasonic cleaner if you can beg/borrow/steal one.
Yeah, my regular appointments are 10-15 min drive but the procedures are all 30 min away. The Trans-Foraminal Epidural Steroid Injections I can do w/o sedation, but I had some Caudal ESIs and man those hurt. They come up from under your sacrum. Ow. They did work a lil better for me tho. Eventually my insurance said "enough already, try something else". Never a great sign lol
Ah, here we go, an EMG is an electromyogramI had a Nerve Conduction test, which as I understand is part of an electromyelogram. Or maybe two names for the same thing, I dunno. Anyway, the neurologist stuck needles in my leg and sent progressive shocks thru them. No sedation, no nuthin. Unpleasant, but man, I've stood far worse. Maybe I'm more tolerant to pain than I thought....nah, I'm a baby about pain.
It varies with the individual. Spinal fusion was absolutely miserable for a week, painful for a couple months, took 6 months for recovery. But it greatly reduced my back pain for some years, though it's gotten somewhat worse of late. Still, I count it as a win and would probably do it again if I had the kind of pain previous to the surgery.
Surgeon told me that cervical surgery was more iffy; about half got relief, other half either the same or worse. Which is why I got my primary care MD to recommend me to Pain Management. It's been a pain (no pun intended) in some ways but I am, mostly, managing my pain.
I know a guy who might have one. He's the biggest gear head that I currently know and he's got a pretty nice home shop
What do u sell on Etsy?
