Took my bride in to the ortho factory today to have a look at her X-rays and MRI. I know WAY to much from seeing my dead man's spine so many times that I actually blurted out that she had a herniated disk at L3-L4 before the doctor could even open up his mouth. Been there done that. Anyway, that certainly is a problematic issue, but he then showed the X-ray and I noticed that she had zero disk space at L4-L5....just bone on bone. So, we will start conservatively with epidural spinal injections and water PT. If there is no real improvement in two months, she will see him again to talk about a diskectomy. Hope she can avoid that, although having been thru it so many times, the relief is almost instantaneous and recovery is pretty rapid. The bigger problem is that missing disk at L4-L5......nothing can fix that other than possible spinal fusion and caging. Hopefully that day never comes, cause it is a very very long rehab, very painful, and not always successful. So, that is where we are at. I recognize we are both getting old and infirmed, but one of has to always be upright to take care of the other......
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