u/Laurie712

I went for my first laminectomy/discectomy post-op appt 20 days after my surgery, and my doctor got really shitty. I think he was having a bad day but it’s been bothering me ever since.

I had already completely stopped taking narcotics around day 16. I was popping Advil like it was my job because the inflammation was the worst part (always waiting at least 4 hours between doses), and it started really messing up my stomach. I had previously taken Meloxicam (a different NSAID that’s easier on your gut, but still not great), and asked if it would be possible to get a prescription for that to help with the inflammation since I had to cut back on Advil.

You guys, you would have thought I asked this man for a bucket of oxy. He got SO snippy and weird saying no way would he prescribe that. “Go to your gastro or something, I’m not giving you that. Why would I do that?” Like… god damn it was a question.

THEN I see in my visit summary: “She asked me to refill her NSAID but I will not do that. She needs to get in better physical shape and not take pain meds for back pain.”

The fuck? Yes, I am aware I am heavier. In fact I lost 30 pounds before surgery. But it had been literally LESS THAN THREE WEEKS after this man cut me open and removed bone from my spine. I shouldn’t take OTC medicine to help with all the swelling? My god damn incision isn’t even completely healed yet!Oh and he got really judgey when I said I don’t have a gym membership. My dude, I‘ve been hardly able to stand for over a year. What exactly are you expecting me to do there?

It’s been three days since then and the whole thing is bothering me so much. I can’t stop thinking about it. He was honestly the nicest guy ever before this, I truly don’t understand what the hell happened. Did I say something offensive when I was on the anesthesia drugs? 😖

So this may not be the most ethical thing in the world, but whenever I have a medical bill, I tend to let it go to collections and then settle for less. I had an issue back in November/December, and I had bills from a hospital (multiple visits and procedures), an urgent care facility visit, as well as LabCorp for bloodwork. The creditors started calling a couple months ago about the urgent care and LabCorp bills, so I paid those off, but nobody has called about the (much higher) hospital bill.

I went into my account with the hospital today and it says I owe $0, so I have to assume they sold the debt. I’m worried that maybe the collections agency doesn’t have my contact information, but the I know the hospital has everything from email to phone to social security number, so I’d have to assume they would share that info, right?

What gives? And what should I do?

**UPDATE: Welp. While it was a beautiful thought to believe it could have been magically wiped from the face of the earth, turns out it was still with the hospital in “pre-collections”. I was able to get a 20% discount for paying in full though, so it worked out in the end!

Ya’ll. This is just wild. I had my laminectomy/discectomy on 7/8, and today I went grocery shopping with my boyfriend. I walked through the ENTIRE store. I haven’t been able to do that in over a year. Inevitably, even on my good days, after a few aisles I’d be unable to continue and have to go sit in the car. (Or one time I literally had him keep watch while I sat in an obscure aisle to “reset” my back so I can walk more.)

Of course my lower back was aching and I couldn’t bend down to reach anything on the lower shelves, but simply walking through the store feels like a miracle. This is such a huge win, I can’t even believe it, and I wanted to share with people who can understand why ❤️

Ever since my had my L5-S1 hemilaminectomy/discectomy I feel like I’m peeing so much. Like every 3-4 hours I have to go. What gives? Did anyone else experience this? Was it temporary? Before surgery I could hold my bladder for much longer.

I also noticed that at the end of the day, my urine is almost completely clear. But there was a urinalysis run the other day in the ER (long, unrelated story) and they didn’t flag anything other than “oh wow that looks like water!”

An up-front caveat - just had my surgery a few hours ago and my doctor said what I’m about to ask about is normal. If you had a negative experience with something like this PLEASE do not comment about it here - I want to hear good, positive, hopeful things only. Also I’m very drugged up so I’m sorry for typos lol

I had an L5-S1 discectomy this morning, and woke up with my left foot completely numb. I don’t know if the pain is original gone, because I only have pain when standing for 5+ minutes. All I know if my foot is numb and my leg is super weak/kinda numb.

Somebody please tell me this happened to them and everything healed totally fine. How long did it last? Did anything in particular help?

Again, doc says it’s normal and I will seriously spiral if any of these comments scare me….

I’m 34 years old, and have been unable to stand for more than 15 minutes for the past year and a half.

After a million non-invasive treatments, I finally met with an extremely well-renowned spinal surgeon (the same one that did my Dad’s lumbar fusion, so I trust him) and I just so happened to get in with him a month before his retirement. Given that… it’s very expedited.

First appt was two weeks ago, and today we scheduled surgery for July 8.

I’m so scared. Not of anything in particular I guess, just all the things. The fear of anesthesia. The fear of complications. Of recovery being excruciating. Of this maybe not even working and getting my hopes up. Most of all probably the anesthesia though.

Can anybody offer some insight to ease my anxieties? I’d love to sleep tonight. I just want to know it’s going to be okay.