Operated on at 8 a.m. this morning.  Home by 1:30 today.  Now it's just wait and see if all went well.  I'm not in any pain other than the surgery site so that's a positive thing.  I'm not into taking pain pills for a couple of reasons.  1.  I want to know that pain is leaving naturally.  2.  Pills suck.   I am experiencing some numbness in my right foot but that could be my diabetes as anesthesia tends to elevate blood sugar and elevated blood sugar adds to my peripheral neuropathy.   I can't drive for 5 days.  Follow up on March 24.   Official release from the doctor mid April or so.  However, March 24th will be the day I hope to be given the O.K. to ride.  But in the mean time I'll be putting my grandkids to work.  That way I won't have spring chores to do before I can get out of Dodge.   LOL

Peace

hope things go well thinking about surgery for L3 L4 let
me know how things go

I hope you don't mind, Jimmy. BUT, I'm PRAYING FOR YOU. A TOTAL HEALING. God's mighty hand, reachin' down, and touchin' all your hurt places. MIND, BODY, and SOUL. I know, you'd never ASK, so I'm doin' it anyways. So...
STFU!!! (That would be FREAK, regpoles)....lol

I LOVE YOU, and so does GOD.
You'll be back in the saddle, soon enuf. K?

Ride Free
Tweek

Get better soon Spring is almost here time to ride

Glad everything went well and that you seem to be in good spirits. Sending positive thoughts for a fast and complete recovery.

I agree with you on the pain med. After the accident last year I got off them as soon as possible. I always felt unless the pain was continuous and unbearable I would rather just deal with it. Plus the pain that only comes when you do certain things is your body saying DON'T DO THAT YET!!!

Take care my friend!

Wishing speedy recovery and as Lucky said, don't rush yourself!

Hey Jimmy! Take it easy, heal buddy! Time will pass...........you will mend and be back in the wind before you know it!

I'm doing fine.  My surgery was a 1-1/2" incision in the small of my back.  The muscle was cut away from the spine just enough to move the muscle out of the way in order to get to a bulging disc and bone spurs.  The wound area is hardly painful at all. The pain actually comes from where the muscle tissue was repositioned.  Sitting up straight is the way to do things.  No bending at the waist. No sitting any longer than 30 minutes at a time; walk.    I have some numbness in my right foot but as I said, it may be due to elevated blood sugar caused by the anesthesia.   It seems to have dissipated a bit this morning and my blood sugar level is getting back to normal.

What type of surgery are you looking at?......bulging disc, fusion, spurs?  What kind of pain are you experiencing? I can't tell you what you may experience with fusion personally.  But here's the thing.  It won't get better if you do nothing and it may just get worse the older you get.

Also, there are a lot of hacks doing back surgery.  Make sure you check around.  Talk to a couple of different doctors who don't do back surgery but who they recommend.  I live in Lima, Ohio.  My doctor told me he wouldn't recommend anyone in Lima, though there are a few surgeons here, and that's why I travelled to Columbus to the Ortho-Neuro clinic.

Laser surgery is NOT the way to go with laminectomy type surgery involving nerves.  Those Laser Spine Institutes market well but most insurance companies won't cover them. Cost? 20K-25K out of your pocket.  The results of laser surgery, according to my surgeon, are not any better than going in with the knife.  He can do laser surgery because he didn't want to be one of those "old  School" guys who closes their eyes to progress.  He stated to that there is a greater chance of screwing laser surgery up because of the heat and gases produced and because a laser doesn't go around corners.  It actually takes longer.  One slip can mean terrible results.  He feels he has a lot more control over the whole process if he does the cutting.

So please, when you decide you're going to get'er done, shop around and let us know.  Damn good thing about forums is all the personal info you can get from those who had the experiences.
Good luck.

Peace

Glad to see you are doing well & hope the recovery goes good.I agree with you about getting a second or third opinion from others more qualified to know where to go for the work.Its helped me in the past.
stay positive & take it one day at a time !!!

Good to hear you're doing ok and hope for a speedy complete recovery. Keep the grand kids working in the mean time.

 hope your recovery is fast, surgery sucks!!

Wishing you a speedy recovery

Hope everything turns out great for you and you can get back to riding...! Sure wish they had this new surgery tech. when they did mine.... Hell, I'm split up both sides, fused 3 levels with two steel plates and four steel screws.... cold weather sucks now! If you have to do any type of medication..natural is the way to go.

Trippin

Hey there Brother, God's Speed on your recovery. Don't try anything until completely healed, then ride like the wind.
Be safe
Dragon

The surgeon kept telling me the numbness was caused by inflammation around the nerve sack don't remember how long it took to go away but finally did.Hope all goes well for you,ya know all this snow is going to melt one of these days. Good Rides

That's damn good to hear Hunter.  I have my first post-surgery follow-up on Monday.  Hope he tells me the same thing.  Thanks again.  It takes the edge of knowing.

Peace

Be sure to take it slow bro. I had L3 through L5 fused after an accident (in a semi truck, not my bike) and I tried to get out there too soon and paid for it! You'll know when you are ready of course, just offering some advice from someone who has been there.

Follow up appointment was today. Wound still draining but looks good so now it's antibiotics just in case. Foot still numb so it's double the neurotin med. I hate meds but if it helps with the numbness. Well, you know. Still not released by the doctor and it will be a couple of more weeks. Still too freakin' cold to ride since we do have another storm coming our way. I'll be patient. I just want to heal.

Peace

Glade to hear things look better. I hope your foot numbness gets better soon so you can take that new bike for a ride.

Happy Birthday hope your doing well today