Have you considered seeing a physiarist? They work to control/manage the pain before resorting to surgery. They're not like physiotherapists, they are doctors. I highly recommend seeing one. I tell everybody this, as I've had great success. Mine works in tandem with my neurosurgeon and a whole team (muskulo-skeletal radiologist, physiotherapist, some other guy whose function escapes me, and a chiropractor.)
First, I don't know if I've had a discectomy (rather, I don't know if they took the disk out,) but I've had my spine fused. I seem to recall them saying they injected the area around my vertebra with something like cement, and then built a cage around the broken bones in my back for stability.
Surgery: I can't tell you how yours will be, but mine was relatively slick. I was in the hospital for about six days, and left with a 10-inch horizontal scar on my stomach from my belly button to my side, which apparently doesn't happen that often--it was the angle at which I broke my back that necessitated them going through my front to fix it (or something.) And I had to wear a clam-shell body cast for 3-4 months.
But that was me: you really aughta' talk to doctors.
Recovery: Brutal. The pain wasn't so bad, but I had to lay at no more than a 45 degree angle for three months. I don't know about you, but doing nothing for three months gets depressing.
A friend of mine had something done to her spine and she was walking around a week later. So who knows? (They also went through her back.)
Post-recovery: This is where I've experienced the most difficulty. I have some numb spots on my legs, and chronic pain from my back all the way down to my toes. Also, I have cold, tingling, and burning sensations in my legs which are only partially controlled by medications.
Physio has been hard to do. When you get motivated to really get at it, the back hurts to the point where you can't do it. I don't think I'm being a whiner here: it hurts like hell to work on your core muscles when you have a sore back.
Beginning last year, I've been getting injections in my back they call a facet block. I go once a week for six weeks and they inject different layers of my spine with something. Then repeat a few months later. I had
tremendous success with this in April, and as such I pushed hard with my physiotherapy because the pain was temporarily gone. (And of course, my eyes got ####ed because of this or some other reason.)
Here are some of shots of my back from an MRI
before it was fused, you can see what a bulging disk looks like.
(click for bigger ones)
My understanding is this (I'm no doctor, but I've listened to a few):
Those square greyish things are parts of your vertebra; between those, the dark coloured things, are the disks. The white strip to the right of the square things is your spinal canal, and the black lines within that white strip are your spinal nerves/cord. When your disk bulges against the spinal canal, it pushes on the nerves.
Further to the right, those coiled things, are muscles, and then my hairy back. (someone correct me if I'm wrong--again, this is just my understanding.)
Has anyone ever had a discectomy
