Hello Rob, I'm not sure if I had exactly the same procedure that you are about to have. I had back surgery about 10 years ago (in my early forties) to fix a protruding disc at L4 (or maybe L3?). I had terrible shooting pain down my left leg (which my doctor said was better then having it at the site of the injury.) They snipped off the protruding part of the disc (I guess about 50%) Is that what they are going to do on you? Immediately after the surgery the pain was gone. I took the pain meds for about a week because they told me to, but I didn't think they were really needed. I did have two months of occupational therapy, and did what I was told, but I felt fine right after a couple days. One of the things they made me do was carry a plastic milk crate up and down a flight of stairs with about 20 to 30 lbs in it. The therapist had more trouble carrying the weight then I did! And I was back moving pianos after a few months. The therapist did have some good suggestions for posture when picking things up off the floor,etc. Strengthening your back muscles, especially twisting type strengthening when you get an okay from your doctor will greatly help you avoid a repeat injury. Moving a tuning lever torques your back more then piano moving (especially on Baldwins!) I do have a spot on the bottom of my left foot that feels numb all the time. It feels like I have an Ace bandage wrapped around it. But I gladly accept that in place of the horrible 'cattle prod like' pain I had prior to the surgery. I am a medium distance runner (4 to 7 miles) and the numbness in my foot is noticeable, but never prevents me from running. Sometimes my back feels raw, but I never have the zinger lightning bolts anymore. And I wonder if the rawness is mostly psychological since I'm aware I don't have that whole disc anymore. My surgery was minimally invasive. I have a 1-1/2" scar on my back. They used staples to close the incision and removing them was......interesting. I understand from a friend who recently had this surgery, that now they use super glue to close the incision. I didn't even have to spend a night in the hospital. Good luck with the surgery. If it goes like mine did, you're about to get your life back. Regards, Gordon Large, RPT Hallowell, ME -----Original Message----- From: Rob McCall <rob at mccallpiano.com> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sun, Jan 10, 2010 2:01 am Subject: [pianotech] Laminotomy and getting back to work Greetings friends, I am about to have surgery on my spine this next Saturday (1/16) down at Scripps in La Jolla. They are using micro-discectomy and a laminotomy (hemi-laminectomy) at L5 (Lumbar) with a disc decompression. No fusion, but cleaning up a pretty large herniation that's been bugging me for months. I'm starting to get lots of new clients and projects lining up, but my doctor says I'm going to be down for at least 1-2 months, maybe 3, and I have to watch my movement, twisting, bending, lifting, etc. Has anyone had anything similar to this before? If so, how long before you could return to normal work? limited work? shop work? The sciatic pain has been killing me, but the neurosurgeon says that should be gone after surgery. I'm looking forward to that! Any help or input would be appreciated. Regards, Rob McCall McCall Piano Service, LLC Murrieta, CA rob at mccallpiano.com www.mccallpiano.com 951-698-1875 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100110/f214b053/attachment.htm>
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