So, here we are a week out.  A week out from what you ask?  A week out from my second back surgery.  Yeah, I finally gave in and had it done last week, December the 10th.  I didn’t want this surgery at all.  I waited for over 4 months to let it try and heal by itself but it just wasn’t.  If anything, I think it was going backwards.

A week or so before Thanksgiving was the turning point for this.  We went out to dinner at a local mexican joint and I was uncomfortable the whole time, as usual.  Leaning sideways; trying to disregard the pain, I downed my enchiladas.  We got home and after a little bit I could barely walk it hurt so bad.  This lasted for a few days.  A day or two after that I called to schedule the surgery.

This was the 2nd surgery for the same issue – herniated disc between L5/S1.  It was the same procedure but this time the Doc used some brand new fancy-schmance device that is better at grabbing hold of the disc and putting a stitch in it so it heals better.  Apparently, I was the first person Doc has used this on…its that new.

After the surgery I found out that the herniation was worse than we initially thought.  No wonder it hurt like a bitch!  Doc said he took out much more disc than he anticipated based on what he saw from the MRI two weeks after the first surgery.  I’m not sure if that’s good or bad – good, that he got everything out or, bad, that I’m that much more short of disc material.  Either way, it needed to be done and I think I’m finally on the track to full recovery.

After the first surgery, it took all of five days for the disc to re-herniate itself.  So on Tuesday (5 days out as well), when I started to have some pain in my hip again I got nervous and called the Doc.  We decided that a round of oral steroids (anti-inflammatory) may be helpful.  I’m feeling good but a bit of pain is still lingering if I stand around for a while.  I’m sure this is normal as the nerve has been compressed for so long, but I really don’t want to go through all this crap again!  I’m up and moving around – walking, squatting, bending a bit – but avoiding sitting, picking most everything up, etc, and just taking it easy.  In other words, I’m bored outta my mind!

Overall I’m feeling pretty good though.  Just gotta see how these next couple of weeks go then I’m hoping to be back at it…pain free!

On another front, Team Zoot is building their team for 2010 and have asked me to join the team again for ’10, despite my back injuries.  Talk about standing behind their athletes!  The hopes are that I’ll get back at it soon and be back racing later in the year.  This has given me an incredible amount of motivation to get back training.  Its gonna be hard to hold back for a few more weeks with the fire that’s lit under my ass!  Them are some good people over there at Zoot.  I am incredibly happy to be joining the team again! They have definitely won over my loyalty and I am looking forward to another year with them!