Constant and unending pain of varying severity can plague someone for years. Such a state can hinder the mental state of anyone. Exposure to such conditions could understandably push someone to take more significant risks to distract them from the onslaught of sensations. In my case, I focused on work, yoga, stretching exercises, and even acupuncture to give myself periods of pain-free life that would allow me a moment of piece.
There's something distasteful with a quote hinting that you can distract yourself from the pain. True, you can distract yourself from dealing with it. The caveat, at least for me, is that the distraction is only temporary. The pain can and always does return. Sometimes it's worse than before.
Diagnosis
The year was 2023, and now that the COVID pandemic was over in most places in California, I could be seen by a surgeon. The diagnosis was pretty straightforward:
- L5-S1 grade I isthmic spondylolisthesis
- Severe degenerative disc disease
Isthmic Spondylolisthesis
In the above image, you can see a side view of my spine. The surgeon appears to have labeled each vertebra by a number from #2 through #5. My L5 vertebrae are where the primary problem exists. Some grinding has occurred along that area, which is why the whitish discoloration you can see in the image. My disc in this area is crushed and barely keeps the vertebrae apart. Fortunately, my surgeon told me surgery could reduce or eliminate the pain. It seems that this is a commonly performed procedure.
Lumbar Interbody Fusion
On March 7, 2023, I was hospitalized and prepped for surgery. Everything during the check-out process was excellent and typical. Once the surgery team rolled me into the operating room, they gave me something to make me sleep. Then they put a tube down my throat for the general anesthetic to kick in.
The staff positioned my sleeping body, stomach down and arms up. Once they finished setting my body, the surgeon got to work. He made two incisions on either side of my back, right outside my L5S1 area. He made an additional horizontal slice just outside of the left incision.
The hospital maintained a Medtronic Stealth system that is useful for spinal navigation. The system allows the surgeon to see and guide the surgical implants for this procedure. In the image above, you'll see the surgical instruments positioning an implant inside my L5.
Once the doctor positioned the implant, he then expanded the implant wide enough to expand the space inside the vertebrae. The surgeon next fastened the implant with bone graft and concrete to keep it in position. From there, the doctor bolted my L5 in place and filled the remaining spaces with a bone graft.
If all is well, my L5S1 fusion should be successful in about three months. Total fusion is likely to complete within 1-year.
Recovery
I woke up in the recovery room after about 4 hours of surgery. They gave me fentanyl for pain relief while in the recovery room. Once things cleared up, they moved me into a hospital room where I would rest and be able to see visitors. The doctor kept me in the hospital overnight, but just for observations. The doctor wanted to see if any of the following complications would present themselves immediately after the surgery (referenced from my operation report):
- bleeding, infection, failure to heal,
- possible need for future surgery,
- failure to relieve preoperative symptoms,
- injury to the nerve roots, which could cause weakness, paralysis, loss of sensation, loss of bowel or bladder control, sexual dysfunction, or intractable pain,
cerebrospinal fluid leak, possible need for a return to OR for revision of hardware, deep venous thrombosis (DVT), pulmonary embolism, as well as - risks inherent with anesthesia, including heart attack, stroke, and death
The doctor kept me on opioids over the next 24 hours. However, once they took me out of recovery, it wasn't long before they had me walking again. I would guess I was walking again after about 2 hours following surgery. I needed assistance to stand and walk. I could only walk a couple of steps at first. I was way too weak for a marathon.
Over the next 24 hours, I walked between my rests, and they discharged me in the morning. I continued to do my assigned exercises, and over time, the pain lessened to levels less than what I had suffered for years. I haven't had any complications besides muscle weakness since the end of the surgery.
What technologies will the future present to us? Will incisions, mechanical implants, and recovery be a thing of the past after I'm gone?
The Psyber X Multiverse
Psyber X continues to grow. The Psyber X community recently completed another one of their tournaments. @bonifars was the tournament champion with a remarkable 1230 kills. That was almost double the second-place contestant scored.
Psyber X also recently completed the creation of a text RPG now available through the use of the DBLN token on their Discord.
Join the @psyberx community today! Invest in their development or hop on to their Discord to learn more about the initiative today!
In Closing
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Each day is better for me. I'm maintaining my body weight at a level I didn't have since high school. My body gets stronger every day as I push myself to improve. I couldn't do a single push or leg life a month ago. Now I'm doing 40/day.
I look forward to what the future holds regarding my mental and physical fitness. Take care, everyone. Thanks again for reading my story. Until the next article!
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