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I have been a teacher for 22 years. I teach music and technology, working with Special Education students, grades K-12. For the last 6 years, my students have been emotionally disturbed kids, rather than what I had taught in prior years (mentally challenged, physically challenged, etc). In January, one of my students became physically abusive toward me. In an attempt to contain him, another teacher and I were using our therapeutic crisis intervention method to contain him, so that he would no longer be a danger to himself or to others. During that intervention, I injured my back. I knew I was hurt, but thought it was just a muscle pull or the like. By later that night, I knew it was much more than just a muscle. On my first visit to my primary care physician, he diagnosed it as an acute sacroiliac strain and prescribed steroids and pain pills. A week and a half later, things were worse. My pain down the right leg was gone, but I had even more severe pain down the left leg and into my foot. I was again given more pain medication and told to try some exercises, which I did. A week went by and things were worse. I had extreme sciatic pain now, as well as muscle spasms in my foot and thigh. Hoping it would go away, I continued to try the exercises and apply ice and heat. The pain stopped, but not in a way that I knew was good. I became numb down parts of the left side of my body, including half the genital area, thigh and most of my foot and toes. The doctor ordered an MRI. During the MRI, which was to be without contrast, I was told that they would have to do contrast since it appeared that the disc had fragmented. I laughed and said, well at least I know I am not imagining this. I was referred to a wonderful neurosurgeon, who went over my films and proceeded to talk to me about a tumor. Well I was dumbfounded. A tumor, you say a tumor? He proceeded to explain the types of tumors and surgical procedures used. He wanted to know if there was any reason why we needed to wait to do the surgery until after spring break. I had no reason to wait, so surgery was scheduled for March 17th. It was on March 9th that I had my first visit with him. By the following day, I suspected that I was not really feeling the urge to urinate. I waited a bit (a day) to make sure it was not something in my imagination before I called his office to let him know of this new development. I got home from work after I had called his office and received a call from the hospital telling me I needed to report to the hospital the following day. I said there is a mistake, I am not scheduled until the 17th. She said no, you are to come tomorrow, but maybe I should double check with the doctor. She called back and confirmed that I would be having surgery on the 12th. The doc called a couple of hours later and discussed all of that with me. I had a laminectomy/discectomy L5/S1 the following day. Turns out I did not have a tumor, but it was a piece of cartilage. The herniation was rather large, as the doc put it. After surgery, my urge to urinate came back rather quickly. The numbness etc, took a while longer to return. I was back to work on April 6th, but not back in the classroom. I had been selected to travel throughout our school system, to work with our Special Education teachers, helping them to use their computers more effectively in the classroom. This position continued for the rest of the school year. Things with my back were not progressing as I thought they should, but the doctor said all was going well. I continued to have pain and also began experiencing weakness in my legs when I walked up stairs and inclines. By July, I was still having trouble, then one of our dogs clipped me from behind and I fell down. It was not that big of a deal, but it was enough to start the sciatica again. Another MRI revealed another herniated disc. I had a 2nd discectomy. This herniation was even larger than the 1st. The doc kept saying, "It was big, really, really big" <G>. I laughed and said when I do stuff, I do it in a big way. The 2nd surgery was on August 3rd. I returned to work, traveling again, on August 31st. I was not allowed back in the classroom until October 28th, due to the type of students I work with. The 2nd surgery went well, but things still were not right. The doc had me start Physical Therapy, which I did for a month. PT did not help much, other than to help me strengthen muscles. The pain was worse now, but more in my back, than anywhere else. I still had sciatica, but that was minimal. After PT, I tried magnetic therapy, which did not help either. I was getting so discouraged and so very tired of hurting all the time. I no longer could walk up the road from my mailbox, nor could I go hiking, bike riding or any of the other outdoor activities that I had previously enjoyed. I live in the Smoky Mountains, and enjoy the outdoors immensely, but no longer could enjoy it in the way I wanted to. The doc said neurologically I was fine, but was concerned that I was still having trouble, so he ordered another MRI. The new MRI revealed that there was little or no disc space between L5/S1 and there appeared to be some other damage going on with the bones themselves. The possibility of fusion was briefly discussed at that time. He wanted me to keep a log of my pain levels for the next 2 weeks, continue the exercises I was able to do, and see him in 2 more weeks. I saw him on December 15th and it was decided at that time that things were deteriorating too quickly and that fusion needed to be done before I did more damage to other areas, which would require a more extensive surgery. I will have an anterior fusion at L5/S1 with BAK taking bone graft from my iliac crest. This will be done on December 29th. I will get to welcome the New Year in from the hospital. This may be a good thing, since at least the hospital has generators for backup, just in case Y2K strikes the power company (just joking). I am looking forward to starting the New Year with a more optimistic outlook. I know it has not been a long time to have been dealing with this pain, but hopefully the new year will bring a more pain free life. By the way, my school system does not have workman's compensation for certified personnel, which I am, but they do pay all of my out of pocket expenses and return my days that I have to take off. There has not been any trouble in dealing with them paying, it just takes them longer to pay, than it would if I were paying. I have had to call the providers and let them know that they should be receiving payment from them, and I have gotten a few past due notices, but all in all, the providers have been very understanding. Lynn has been kind enough to offer anyone interested to e-mail her.. Return to 'Other People's Stories'
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The Surgery:The Week Before * The Day Before * The Day Of * In The Hospital * Going Home * Let's Talk Pain * Home Again! Other Areas:Created and Maintained by Leslie Davidson.
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