Definitely not the surgery I was thinking I'd be getting...

Hi OH family!!! Wow. I was just thinking about how my surgery would have been 1 week from today. I am so sad that its been cancelled, but I know its for the best right now. After spending 5 days in the hospital and now having 2 steroid injections to help manage the pain of the herniated disc in my back, I am finally feeling a little relief. I still have numbness in my foot and down the outside of my leg, which is scary. I can only sit or stand for 15 mins at a time before I get the deep nerve pain, but that's still improvement. I am scheduled to have a consultation with a neurosurgeon/back specialist next week and its looking more and more like surgery is in my future, especially since the nerve pain is still so excruciating if I don't have pain meds in me. I am definitely going to seek other alternatives, surgery is my last resort. It's funny, I will voluntarily have most of my stomach removed but back surgery scares me! :/ It's just not the surgery I had in mind, ya know?

Anyway, I want to thank everyone for their sincere outpouring of concern and well wishes. I appreciate everyone being so genuinely compassionate. I hope I can give that support back someday. Currently I am just focused on getting better. I would be lying if I said I haven't had a lot of doubts about getting sleeved. A part of me said, "maybe this happened for a reason" ...maybe I wasn't really ready. I was joking with a friend today and said maybe my tummy sensed danger and went into self preservation mode and turned into a ninja and threw me down the stairs..."Aw hell no. This b**** is goin down" lol. Ahh, the things your mind comes up with on vicadin!! Well, I have decided to just take one surgery at a time. I will keep you all updated. Good news out of this...I HAVE LOST 13 LBS!!! Turns out hospital food and a diet consisting of crackers and peanut butter is better than the food I am usually shoving in my face on a normal basis...haha

Hope everyone has a fantastic week! Be careful on those stairs...they're treacherous! :P

Wow I am sorry to hear about your back. My mom had the same problem she had the sugery in July and is doing great :) Prior to surgery she tried alot of things such as 3 epidurals which did nother for her, physica therapy 3 days a wk, countless pain meds which just minimized the pain. She did find relief in pilates. a dr sugested it. She thought it was kinda a joke althoguh after a month she noticed relief. so maybe you can try that or ask your dr if that woud be a good option for you :) my mom oved it although she ended up having to go though surgery due to a slip and fall in the rain which caused another disc injury and also 3 cracked vert, good luck in whatever you choose.

Sorry to hear!  I will say that if you're in that much pain, you'll probably benefit from spine surgery!  And, after that...time to move on to VSG.  The great thing is ANY weight loss will help your spine.  I had insurance issues which originally delayed my VSG...but then, exactly like you, I had do undergo neurosurgery for degenerative spine issues and herniation. I'll be honest, I didn't enjoy it at all...but, it has made a huge difference and my nerve pains were gone when I woke up in recovery.

Best of luck to you!!

I understand how you feel I had back surgery in 03 and I was scared to death (never had surgery before) But it was well worth it and my back is so much better. I would do it over again if I had to. so keep the chin up and things will work out for you. Good luck

So sorry to hear about all of this, but hang in and this will get better. Things do happen for a reason and there must be some madness to all of this. I know this group will offer the support through any procedure that you have and this back issue is just a delay for what is to come.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is my surgery day and I am calm about it. I had all the pre-admit tests done yesterday and all the consent forms are signed. I have to check in tomorrow at 6 am, OR at 8.  The journey is just around the corner and I am 3 days complete with the clear liquids. The first day was hard, now it seems to be OK,.....All in all I am ready to go.

Best of luck to us all