So…the picture accompanying this post is from today…Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2018. For the first time since my September 6 emergency room visit and herniated disc diagnosis the following day, I gutted out the pain and numbness in my left leg (the back pain is minimal at this point) to get an easy 3.5-mile run in.
Why? Because today I saw the orthopedist again and this time he had the images from my recent MRI exam. Based on what he’s seeing, he thinks I may need a surgical procedure to fully address the pain/numbness in my leg. Sleeping is still an issue and it is still taking me hours to get going in the morning. As evidenced by my run today, there are times when I hardly feel anything. But it doesn’t last and by dinner time, I’m barely able to stand for more than a few minutes at a time. His thinking is that this isn’t getting better as fast as it should be.
I’m seeing a surgeon tomorrow to discuss my options. Surgery is one. The other is to continue physical therapy and get an injection into my spine to hopefully relieve the pressure on the nerve that is causing the pain in my leg.
This is problematic in so many ways. In addition to the Crest Best 10 Miler on October 7 and the Philadelphia Marathon on November 18, my family is going on a Disney cruise in early November. Now, I don’t know the details of any potential surgery, but a quick Google search shows varying degrees of recovery time for back surgeries. One said recovery time for resuming normal activity is 3 to 4 months (!!!) with a full recovery for sports, etc., being about a year (yikes)! However, another said that a procedure specifically addressing leg pain is minimally invasive and has a recovery time of 1 to 3 weeks (I’ll sign for that right now!).
So…this may be crazy, but I want to see if the surgeon will sign off on the following plan. Assuming he says I need the procedure and assuming it’s the minimally invasive one with a 1-to-3-week recovery time (and, yes, I plan on getting a second opinion), I want to see if this is an option:
- Try the injection immediately and continue physical therapy and hope it’s enough to get me through the 10-mile race on October 7;
- Schedule the surgery for just after October 7 anyway and, if the injection/therapy approach isn’t resolving my issues, get it done.
Again, assuming this is the procedure with a1-to-3-week recovery time, this would have me just about recovered in time for the cruise in early November and still give me some time for a extremely accelerated/condensed training cycle for the Philadelphia Marathon a couple of weeks later (I understand there’s a walking/running track on the cruise ship).
All I know is that this really stinks.
Brian Kelley 