Hi Gordon, Thanks for the great feedback! What you had is pretty much what I'm going to have, but down near L5. The shooting pain is a pain in the butt... Well, quite literally, :-) along with the whole left leg. Half my foot is already numb so that wouldn't be any change for me. I've been doing Physical therapy for the last 3 weeks in preparation for the surgery. They are telling me that strengthening all those muscles before I go in, will lead to a quicker recovery. I tuned a 1980 Kimball 42" console yesterday that hadn't been tuned in 12 years. It was off 80 cents. During the pitch raise, one of the bichord bass strings broke (A2). Getting down below the keybed and back up to the top to fix it was like someone stabbing an ice pick in my leg the whole time I was working. So I'm glad to hear that the pain relief can be instantaneous. I'm NOT looking forward to the surgery, but I AM looking forward to the relief! Thanks again for your reassuring words. Regards, Rob McCall McCall Piano Service, LLC Murrieta, CA rob at mccallpiano.com www.mccallpiano.com 951-698-1875 On Jan 10, 2010, at 07:44 , pnotnr at aol.com wrote: > 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 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20100110/8bbb5f75/attachment.htm>
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