New Here, just wanted to introduce myself..

[ErinENj]

Hi everyone!

I just found out about this board, so I figured I would stop by and check it out. It definately looks like you all have a lot of awesome information and I look forward to sharing any that I have in my knowledge.

Here's a little info about me:

I'm 25 years old, and have been in this "experience" for 5 years as of Thanksgiving. My back problems are at L4/L5 and L5/S1. I originally herniated those two levels, but noone has been able to tell me exactly why. The only thing that they think may have been connected to it is a fall I had nearly a year before this all started in which I broke my tailbone, and they think that by picking up my 8-week old chocolate lab puppy (so adorable! I couldn't put him down!!) was just the thing that pushed those two discs over the edge. By the end of a week-long increase in pain, I ended up in the hospital for pain control and testing. I've had two surgeries, both of which have amazingly bombed (both laminectomy/discectomies and both by the same surgeon who told me after they failed that it was all in my head). I had an IDET at those two levels which actually worked for nearly 6 months, but just as I was really starting to work off of my meds, it all came back with a vengence. Now, I'm just in a holding pattern. My surgeon and I are waiting, not so patiently, for the multiple-level ADR to be approved. He can't even give me a hint when that might happen, so I am just kinda sitting here waiting, because I have very little choice in the matter. Fusion is completely out of the question. Numerous doctors told me that it was the only hope for my future, but I had this feeling that I would end up in a worse situation within 5 years. I went to one of the best surgeons in the area (from recommendations...he did some work on a friend of the family and she loved him and he was the best one I had seen, with the best bed-side manner I'd found, so I figured I'd give him a shot. Plus, he was from what was then the second best hospital in the nation for orthopedic surgery, Hospital for Special Surgery in NYC) and he immediately told me that any doctor who would actually perform a fusion on me was just going to make my life worse, not better. And I agreed. So all I can do is wait.

I've been in the process of finishing my bachelor's degree in Communications with specialization in Journalism and public relations for about 7 years. I took about a year and a half off for surgeries, but in total, it's been 7 years. It's what drives me to get out of bed every day. It's like oxygen for me anymore. It causes me a lot of extra pain, without a doubt. I drive an hour down to school and an hour back four days a week on one of the most stressful roads in the area. I have one day of classes where I am in three, one hour and 15 minutes classes in a row. It's rough. But it is what gets me through the day. I had a major setback last March, which sent me directly into a massive bout of depression. Over the period of a week, my back just kept getting worse and worse. The last day of that week, I couldn't stand up, which is the first time that has ever happened. I've had it hurt to stand up before, but I've never been incapable of it before, ever, and it was terrifying. I spent an entire day in bed, just trying to figure out what I could do to make the most intense pain I have ever experienced in my life stop. None of my doctors were around and I couldn't find one who would just see me that one time. So I went to my primary, thinking that it was just a muscle spasm and that muscle relaxers would help. After another week, and I wasn't any better, I knew it was something else. And I was terrified, to put it mildly, but I wasn't going to the ER, since there wasn't any point. There's nothing they could do. Until I was sitting at the dinner table with my parents one night and I went to get up and I couldn't because it hurt too much. Way too much. I ended up with my father lifting me from behind and my mom pulling from the front, trying to get me up, and it still didn't work. That night I ended up in the ER. Long story short (kinda) they drugged me up and got an MRI done (after I told him that's what I needed). The doctor came back in with this look on his face and I knew it was bad news. He basically said to me that I had to quit school, and go to bed and stay there if I wanted to have any sort of lessened pain. I told him to take a flying leap and to let me out of the ER. I had herniated what disc matter I had left after my two surgeries so there was no support for my spine in that area and there was nothing to cushion my movement.

BUT, I'm back in school. My doc helped me with some increased meds (which need to be increased again, because my pain levels are bordering unbearable and just keep getting worse) but my determination is the best pain killer I could find. There is absolutely nothing, and I MEAN NOTHING, that will keep me from school now. I am right there, the light is visable at the end of the tunnel and getting closer by the day. I will be graduating on May 16, 2007. I don't care what it takes, and my parents are right here behind me supporting me and willing to do whatever it takes for me to get it done (and not just because my school is $22,000 a year and that's without room and board thanks to living at home and not because once I graduate, I may get a job and have some money instead of having to beg off of my parents). My entire life is consumed by it, and it's great. Before this happened to me, I couldn't get my GPA over a 2.0. Now, I'm a member of Lambda Phi Eta, the national communications honor society, plus a national scholar's honor society, and have gotten an award for excellence in journalism from my school's communications department and was the only non-graduating student to receive that award. My current in-major GPA is a 3.81 and I have been a straight A student for the past few years. I refuse to give up, no matter what. I love it too much and I have promised myself for years that I CAN do it, and will do it. And I don't break my promises.

Because of school, I may not get to post too much during the semester, but I do read and when I can sneak in a post around the papers, reading, speeches, and projects, I will. I look forward to meeting you all and hearing your stories too.

Oh, and if you can't already tell, I'm a journalist, so I tend to write a lot. So I don't get offended when people skim my posts, so don't feel you need to read it all, since I know it's long! There's a reason I look forward to having an editor!!

[chasswen]

ErinENj
welcome to the forum. being so close to NYC you may want to look up a surgeon Dr. Bitan hes a awesome surgeon and has done off label surgerys using the charite 2{aka} 2 levels
and is pobbiley the best charite surgeon here in the usa.
i'm sure mark can point you to some others here in the states.
myself if any way possible would get myself and my films off to a Dr. R. Bertagnoli in Germany imo hes the best spine surgeon in the world.
and with adr you could get back to school in 6 weeks or less.
i surely hope your pain levels drop for you. remember take it easy god has only given you one back so it needs to last you a life time.
best wishes
chuck