I went to the neurosurgeon last week to talk about addressing my pain. Granted, it is almost gone, even the numbness in my index finger is barely there. But, there is something like anything aging, it probably isn’t going to get any better. I figured that given this is not debilitating, the fix was going to be routine and somewhat easy. What I heard from the doctor left my mouth agape.

First of all, the recovery time for this surgery is three to six months. There is at least an overnight stay in the hospital and expect to be out of commission for at least two weeks. In that three to six month period, it is light duty only with lifting and moving restrictions. Uh… I am in the middle of moving.

The picture below illustrates some of what is to be done. They bolt a plate between the two vertebrate. Then they scoop out all of the padding between the vertebrate and slip a disc in between the two. It essentially immobilizes the problem disk from moving and pressing on the nerves. Hence, pain is gone.

I will be honest, I am not sure that my pain currently warrants that. There was a time around Thanksgiving where I would have said, ‘lets do it’. But, as it slowly and steadily gets better so does my urgency to do anything. You might even say that I am a little scared. Not to mention, the would finally end my run of never being in the hospital for any procedural reason, no surgeries and I would have to answer yes to having metal in the body. Not to say that this is the best reason, but I have dealt enough with my wife’s situation to know that it is a pain to fill out these questionnaires at the doctor.

Even if I say yes, the lead time on the surgery is about a month and a half. Honestly, this puts me smack dab in the moving period. I cannot afford to be an invalid, bed ridden and high on pills while this is going on. Even if we pay movers and the intent is to not lift a finger, it inevitably will not work out that way. Unless this is desperately needed, I don’t think the timing is good at all.

If I think about it deeper, this also puts the crush on any future summer plans this year. I know that I have talked a good game about hiking again but I have been so consumed with moving and packing, not to mention pain that my training has yet to get started. That doesn’t mean that I couldn’t do some overnighters or something this year. Definitely not if I elect to get the surgery.

They say that the cause is a herniated disk. This means that one of my spinal disks is moving out of place and pushing on the nerve. The cause might be the injury that I had in early June, incorrectly moving the table for my son’s graduation party. Or, that might have just been the trigger for genetic weakness to finally show. I know that my aunt had many back problems and surgeries early in her life. And my father has always had back problems. That is probably not keeping the odds on my side.

I accept that this is probably inevitable. So, I wrestle with timing. Sure, if now is not good timing, then when? I kind of think late fall would be the best. I will have the most accumulated time off and we should be settled by then. I won’t have to give up another summer for medical reasons as well. But, I guess that we will have to see how it goes. As long as I am feeling good now, I can afford to take a little time and schedule in my favor.

End Your Programming Routine: This is pretty silly, but sometimes I like to think about where I would be without modern medicine. Who knows, maybe I would have caught small pox or something. But, the fact that I have had no severe medical issues in my life pretty much suggest that I could be exactly where I am in the 1700s. Of course that is all circumstantial. I could have been shipped off to war or gotten my arm caught in the thresher or kicked by livestock. So that is probably just fantasy. It is a sign that age catches us all. I am realizing that now.