My Back is Broken!

I wish I had a cool comic to show you guys, my loyal readers (all 5 of you) but I'm not in a drawin' mood tonight so I owe you one! Here's what's going on in my life right now. *fadeout*

*fadein* I've been having hardcore back pain that is now extended to my leg and butt area. I've had back spasms for the past two years on an off and one day the spasm turned into leg pain and I was like WTF? I hate going to the doctor, so I put off going to the doctor until I feel like I am about to die. Well, usually my back pain goes away after a few days but this time it never went away. So I've been in pain 24/7 for the past 7 months almost. I wouldnt have done anything about it if I wasn't in school. Sitting at a desk for 7 hours straight KILLS me. Im practically to the point of tears by the end of the day.

I finally went to the doctor about two weeks ago. I got some x-rays and then an MRI and I finally know what it causing me so much pain! I have a herniated disk. Basically, the disk (that nice cushion of whatsits) is all explodey and trying to escape, according to Joanne. Since that stuff is all messed up, bone is rubbing against bone and what not and a nerve is getting pinched in there somewhere. So not only do I have tingling/numbness/constant pain in my leg due to the nerve issue, I also have pain on the left side of my butts (that the side the disk is all messed up on) and yeah. It SUCKS. The doctor said I needed to either have cortisone injection which would allow my back to relax and heal, but he says that since it's been this long and it hasn't healed on it's own that it's best just to have surgery. So, I decided to have SPINAL SURGERY.

Pretty much I will be out of commission for an entire month. I will need to be in bed for at least two weeks. I wont be able to sit for more than 15-20 min at a time for the first month. Although I will be able to stand plenty after the first 2-3 weeks, not  being able to sit could become an issue if Im at school, so I decided to wait to have the surgery until the summer when I will be able to concentrate on my health and not have to worry about school. I'm KIND OF freaking out, because surgery is a big deal, and even though the doctor says there's a 90% success rate with this type of surgery I still wonder WHAT IF I'm that 10% where something goes horribly wrong, or maybe the surgery wont work and I'll be in pain forever. Not only that, I only have 1 week of sick pay, zero vacation time until late June, so I will be out of work for three weeks basically. I might be able to go on disability but who knows! Alls I know is that I'm going to save every penny from now until the surgery so I wont be caught by surprise by anything NAH MEAN?

The lame thing about the herniated disk is that it's the last one in my spine, so basically my butt bone! I bet sitting is gonna be super painful. Thankfully I have my laptop for entertainment while I'm bedridden, but one thing that's gonna suck is not being able to shower for like two weeks. GROSS. But on the bright side, I will be off work for an entire month! :D In the mean time I will be getting cortisone injection in my spinal area so that I don't feel horrible pain every waking moment. The cortisone treatment will begin next week, and surgery will be in late May. On a side note, it feels like the pain is continuing to spread cuz I feel a new tingling sensation on both legs when I walk and my right arm/fingers feel the same way. I wonder if I'm having a heart attack or something? D: I guess we'll find out in the morning!