Last Monday, August 29, I went in for back surgery to find & remove the piece of disk that had separated from the rest of disk in between L5 & S1. The piece had 'glommed' onto the nerve & was causing unbelievable pain. (I didn't know it was 'glommed' prior to surgery, just that a piece had broken off & was wandering around the spinal area getting into trouble.) I feel GRRRRRrrreaaaaaaat! The neurosurgeon had said that most people wake up after surgery & have no pain, and I figured I'd feel 'better'... but not in my wildest imagination did I think I'd feel this GOOD! My only bad day, was the morning after surgery. I had been hooked up to a morphine pump that delivered meds when I pushed a button. It was set so that I could receive meds every 6 minutes. While awake after surgery, I pretty much watched the clock & zapped myself every 10 minutes. Around 11:00 p.m. on surgery day, I fell asleep. When I woke at 3:00, after a blood pressure/temperature/pulse check, I was in horrible pain. While I was snoozing, no one had been pushing the morphine button! ACK! The pain was awful! I pushed & pushed that button to get back 'on track' and it wasn't working. By around 9:30 a.m. I was feeling better, and by 11:30 I was back to the comfort level I enjoyed prior to falling asleep. The neurosurgeon came to visit around 8 a.m., and I was such a wreck he kept me another day rather than send me home (as anticipated). Once at home, it was only a couple of days until I slept the whole night, without even waking at medication time! On Friday, I had full pain-free movement back! I could twist at the waist, bend at the side & walk like a NORMAL person instead of a missing link! WOW!! If you're on the fence & suffering from sciatic pain due to ruptured disks pressing on nerves: Go for the surgery! :-D [Your mileage may vary!] It feels great to feel great!! Thanks to everyone who thought good thoughts for surgery day & for a good outcome, they worked! :-) Diane ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2005. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL PERSONS ARE ON NOTICE THAT THE FORWARDING, REPRODUCTION OR USE IN ANY MANNER OF ANY MATERIAL WHICH APPEARS ON SHOWGSD-L WITHOUT THE EXPRESS PERMISSION OF ALL PARTIES TO THE POST AND THE LIST MANAGEMENT IS EXPRESSLY FORBIDDEN, AND IS A VIOLATION OF LAW. VIOLATORS OF THIS PROHIBITION WILL BE PROSECUTED. For assistance, please contact the List Management at admin@xxxxxxxxxxxx VISIT OUR WEBSITE - http://www.showgsd.org ============================================================================