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Artificial Disc Replacement Surgery | Part 2 of 13

ADR Surgery

I thought my pain was over after my first surgery….

When I woke up, the pain was gone. No more leg pain – totally gone! The next morning I was finally able to stand long enough to put on my make up. I was later wheeled out of the hospital in a wheelchair – which meant I was sitting, something I couldn’t do just a day before. 10 days post op- I went out to dinner with my family and I sat down, with zero pain. I went into the bathroom and cried tears of joy!

However, I didn’t know this was only temporary relief. The intensity of my leg pain was the strongest pain I had ever felt in my life to date and it has (thankfully) never returned.

After recovering from my first surgery and getting back to my regular activities, I knew I was in a different type of pain (read more here),’ but I was denying it. I thought my pain was over, I thought I was fixed! I already had surgery, I shouldn’t be in pain!

I’m sure you’ve heard someone say, I’m in pain. It’s a sort of mindset that people understand. When you are ‘in pain’ the pain is literally all you can think about. And thats the thing about pain – it demands to be felt! It is also a warning or signal, pain tells us something is wrong. It is your body’s feedback, and way of communicating.

One of hardest things about being ‘in pain,’ is that no one truly knows. I looked normal to everyone! The few times I’d open up to people about my pain, I didn’t know if they truly understood or could understand. If I didn’t experience this everyday debilitating pain, I know I wouldn’t understand… so why would I expect someone with no experience to understand? I even second guessed myself!

When I finally consigned myself to the fact that I was suffering from chronic pain, I gave up CrossFit, I gave up running, and I bought a Peloton- stationary bike. I tried to work my way out of the pain, talk myself out of the pain, and through giving up my favorite activities I devoted myself to a new lifestyle in the hopes that the pain would subside. Pain won. No matter what I did, it was always there. Not only was it always there – it was changing me. I was frustrated, I was hopeless, and I was completely depressed.

Those close to me knew I was suffering, not only suffering, but mistakenly trying to make the best of a situation instead of look for solutions. When I realized my changed lifestyle wasn’tย  making me happy, I knew I had to find another way. But how?

I didn’t understand why this type of pain existed and I clearly didn’t want to try to figure out how to fix it, nor did I think a fix was in the realm of possibility.ย  This was a mistake I was inadvertently making. I was trying to accommodate my pain instead of fix it because I thought this was my new life.

Since I had already felt pain at a level 10, I figured a life with pain any lower than a 10 was manageable. Through meeting the professionals at the Texas Back Institute, I realized how truly flawed my thinking was, very very flawed.

Timeline:

September 2014 – leg pain began
November 2014 – Microdiscectomy surgery
February 2015 – started back to Running and Crossfit (see here)
November 2015 – 1 year surgaversary (see here)
November 2016 – Ran a half marathon to celebrate my recovery (see here)
February 2017 – Started pain management while living in Austin, TX (see here)
August 2018 – quit crossfit
September 2018 – started another round of physical therapy and learned about artificial discs
December 2018 – quit running
January 2019 – bought a Peloton (see here and here)
March 2019 – found the surgeons at Texas Back Institute Center for Disc Replacement
May 2019 – First consultation with Dr Blumenthal
July 2019 – Artificial Disc Replacement Surgery

Writing about my pain was not easy and probably not so exciting to read, but don’t you worry… there is hope and happiness ahead! Next I’ll be sharing how I found the miraculous solutions! Thank you for reading, following along, sharing your stories with me, and joining me on this continuous journey.

If you’d like to continue reading, I’ve linked each post here:

ย Previous Post: Part 1

Next Post: Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Post 11 | Part 12

*Surgeon – Dr. Scott Blumenthal of the Texas Back Institute – Center for Disc Replacement

Hospital – Texas Health Center for Diagnostics & Surgery

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