Relief, two years later

After several appointments with an orthopedic surgeon and getting no relief, I sought out for a second opinion. Thankfully a dear friend of mine had gone through the same horrible back pain I had been enduring for over two years. She told me that I needed to see Dr Randall Dryer with the Texas Spine Institute. Their office was able to get me in pretty quickly. Once in office, Dr Dryer order an immediate xray. Diagnosis was a lot more than Spondelytheisis. I had a huge fracture at L5 and a bulging disk at L5/S1!!! The previous doctor had completely overlooked the fracture. Not to mention I was walking around with a grade 1 slip of L5. Causing the excruciating pain and numbness and loss of feeling down my right leg. He sent me home with a pain rx and asked for me to have a CT scan done to make sure there wasn't anything else going on in there before he recommended a treatment plan. Three weeks of waiting to get in for a ct scan. Then results were sent to his office immediately. His diagnosis was confirmed. His recommendation, an ALIF. Anterior(through the front) Lumbar(low back) Interbody(titanium cage) Fusion(fuse both vertebrae together with the above mentioned cage and three screws). Once a date was set, November 27th, 2012, I had to start setting up all the pre-op appointments. I have three surgeons I needed to meet with. First up, vascular surgeon, Dr Politz. I required a vascular surgeon since my doctor was going in through my stomach and it was the safest to have a vascular surgeon on hand. He made the incision, moved everything out of the way and closed me up. Next up was a pre-op appt with my surgeon. Going over the exact procedure that was to be done. Then a pre-op appt with the hospital to get all forms squared away prior to surgery day.

Tuesday morning, November 27th, I arrived at the surgical center at 5:30am. My surgery was scheduled for 7am. Got signed in. Gown on, those tight tights, socks, surgical cap. Then it was off to pre-op prep. They got my iv started, last minute blood. And then it was time! All I remember was being wheeled into the or, it being absolutely freezing. My surgeon came and leaned over me asking if I was ready to be pain free? I remember saying "hell Yessssss...." And I was out. After recovery and I was coherent, my doctor told me I barely got out the last "s" of yes. Haha. Procedure went smoothly, minimal bleeding and only took and hour from incision to close up.

No more than two hours and I was up walking around with a walker the first time. Then each time I walked further and further without a walker or cane. The nurses kept saying how well I was doing and they could tell I was determined to speed up recovery. They couldn't have been more right.

I stayed in the surgical center over night and was released by 11am the next day. Let me add, that even though I missed my babies, I wasn't ready to leave because the nursing staff was so compassionate and loving.

I am now three weeks post op and have zero pain. I'm a little sore if I sit for too long but I am truly amazed by my own progress.

Below are a few images. Before xray. After. And some pics while I was at the surgical center.

Coping

A lot has happened in a year.

March 2011: Hayden turned 3
June2011: Diagnosed with Spondylolisthesis.
August 2011: Relocated to Burnet
September 2011: Got pregnant (found out on my 29th birthday)

Well it doesn't seem like much but the diagnosis of Spondylolisthesis in  my back, moving and then getting pregnant seems like we just won gold on the Olympics.

My diagnosis was tough to accept. Especially after my orthopedic surgeon, who happens to be a very conservative doctor, told me to goto physical therapy(pt) and I should be fine. At the time he said I wasn't to the point of needing surgery. All I could think of was "great, I have to wait for it to get worse before it gets better, yeah fantastic!" *sarcasim* Of course our insurance doesn't cover pt, not even a dime. So no pt for me.

Fast forward through nine months.

May 2012: Keiran is born. Labored for four hours. Pushed for less than ten minutes. Although delivery was quick, I had the epidural but endured some excruciating pain with my back in its current state. Also didn't help Keiran was sunny-side-up.
June 1, 2012: Keiran is released from Scott &White after a week in ICU due to seizures from low calcium. (Transient hypo-parathyroidism)

June 2012: Pain in lower back worsening

July 2012: Can no longer stand the pain, relying on meds to control it.

August 2012: Appt made with orthopedic surgeon for follow-up to find out the next step. Could possibly be surgery. Will know more the 22nd.
To say the least its been a rough year, physically for me. Hoping for relief ASAP! I'm sick of living in pain.

Then next month I celebrate the big 3-0! Yikes, that's depressing in itself. I suppose its true when "they" say you hit 30 and everything starts breaking or falling apart. :)

X's and O's!!

Keiran's birth story

Note, if you don't approve of me sharing my story then don't read it.

May 21, 2012 I had my 39wk appt with my doctor to check my progress if any. Of course no. A few weeks prior my doctor had stretched my membranes to help dilate me. Each week I would gain more progress. My 39wk appt I was sitting at 4cm, 100% effaced and +1 station. So he went ahead and stretched me a little bit more, getting me to 5cm. Let me just say these weekly stretching sessions were extremely painful. So my doctor told me to come back in the morning to his office and he would get me admitted. I could have been admitted same day but the labor and delivery was packed. I guess a lot of women drank the same water at the same time last August. LOL I went in, he checked me and sent me straight on over to labor and delivery. I didn't get hooked up to everything til almost noon. Got my epidural shortly after I polished off one bag of fluid. The first epidural only numbed my left side. You better believe I was raising hell and wanted to be completely numb. I knew Keiran was a big boy and wanted no part of that pain. So after an hour of feeling contractions on my right side, anesthesiologist came in to redo my epidural. Thank god the second one took. Only after he topped off the spinal block before placing the second, my body didn't know how to react and I fainted in the nurses arms. That was scary waking up from and being told not to move. Pitocin was started promptly at 1pm. Once pitocin was started, my sweet Dr came in to my aid and broke my water and this started moving FAST!!!! Nurse came and checked me around 2:30 and I was sitting at 7cm. Keiran kept having decels in his heart rate so they had me keep flopping from right to left side and vice versa. Then my Dr sat me straight up on the bed with my feet in the stirrups to bring Keiran down even further unassisted and let gravity do all the work. That's when I freaked. I started feeling the most intense pain ever. What the hell. What happened to my epidural???? I grabbed the button that was attached to the epidural and hit that this rhythmically for a good ten minutes. Nothing was happening. I was feeling extreme pain. Not muscular. Not in my vaginal region. But in my spine and it felt like someone was taking a sledgehammer to my tailbone and spine. Turns out, Keiran wanted to make his entrance a good one... Instead of being face down, he was face up, causing me all that pain as he was coming down the birth canal. Around 3:45 they checked me again, I was at 8cm. I remember being at 8cm for what seemed like forever. At 4pm I panicked and pressed the nurse call button, I felt like I had just had a bowel movement in the bed. My Dr came in with the nurse to check me, I was complete, I finally made it safely to ten!!! My Dr threw on his gear, nurses got ready and it was my turn to goto work. After what felt like the two most wimpiest pushes, in less than ten minutes Keiran was born. My Dr assisted me in pulling him out after he unwrapped his cord from his neck, not once but twice. He was layed on my chest and all I remember was an overwhelming since of calm, peace and a lot of relief he was safely in my arms. I couldn't stop crying. He was finally here. Wow!!! I'm a mom of two now. God really answered my prayer with the miracle of this handsome baby boy that I just helped deliver onto my chest. Did I mention I labored and birthed alone? Well I wasn't "alone" as I was surrounded by amazing nurses and my fabulous doctor. But daddy had to be with Hayden at my grandparents since we didn't have any other option. It was an amazing experience I didn't think I would be able to do without my husband but surprisingly I was relaxed and calm thru 95% of it all. God is so good!!!!

Here are a few pictures one of my nurses took in the minutes after Keiran's birth using my phone: