u/Tennis_Buddy1960

“It’s impossible to fear diversity, and to enter the future at the same time.”

- Gene Roddenberry

I saw my surgeon last week for the 4 month checkup after my spine surgery. Everything is progressing as expected. I mentioned to him that my DI will expire in October. He said I can expect recovery to last up to a year (or more), and he's willing to sign off on continued DI for up to a year. My question is, how likely is it that SDI will require me to see an IME at some point? Is a year-long recovery normal or excessive for SDI? How strict are they when evaluating recovery progress and ability to work? Any thoughts or experiences that can shed some light on what I should expect would be appreciated. Thanks!

I had my surgery on April 6 and am recovering since. I see improvement week by week. I'm off the walker and using a cane now to support my left leg, which has calf pain and stiffness. It's worse in the morning, gets better as the day goes on, and gets worse again at day's end. My question is this... why do I walk better (without a limp and diminished pain) when I'm wearing shoes, as opposed to walking shoeless? Does anyone know the reason? Any podiatrists or orthopedists in here? Just wondering. Thanks!

I just ended my first round of Disability and need to continue it since I'm still recovering from spine surgery. My doctor's office doesn't have online access to EDD systems. So I need to get the paper form he needs to fill out to continue my DI benefits. How do I get it? Will EDD mail it to me, or will it be in my account on the EDD site for me to download? I looked today and it's not in my account yet. I got my last payment today by Direct Deposit. Thanks!

Does anyone here know how the EDD system handles incoming calls? Specifically, does their call system send incoming calls made from the L.A. area (for example) to the downtown L.A. office, or does it send them to Sacramento? I was at the L.A. office in May to drop off a second copy of the Physician's Certification, and the 2 waiting rooms were overflowing into the hallway. I'm wondering if that's why they don't answer when I call, yet some people on this sub-reddit claim they get right through. That leads me to believe that those callers reach a local office that serves their area that is not as busy as others such as L.A. Does anyone have any actual insight into this?

I got it in December of 2024, so it is out of warranty. The digital clock display is slowly disappearing. The little digital bars that make up the time are going away one by one. At this point, I have no clock on it, which isn't really an issue for making coffee manually. However, I can't set the timer on it without the display can I? Has this happened to anyone else? Does anyone know of a fix? Is it a known issue for these machines? Thanks.

Just wanted to provide an update after my recent Post-op check up. The surgeon says everything looks good on the x-rays they took last week. Everything is in place and holding in my spine. He has every reason to think that bone regrowth will begin in the next few weeks. I'm cleared to start my PT. At this point I'm still walking with a walker because I'm still unsteady, even though I can walk cautiously without it for short distances. And my left leg tires easily and begins to hurt due to muscle or nerve pain, causing me to limp. Hopefully the PT will help with that.

At night I do get nerve pain in the toes of my left foot, as well as nerve pain in the back of my right thigh below the glute. I take Pregabalin and Oxycodon to manage it around 11 pm or midnight so I can sleep, but for some reason I don't sleep until 3 or 4 am.

The area below my belly button where they cut me open is still tender, as well as surrounding area (include to the left of and above my junk for some reason!). If I forget and stretch to reach for something, I feel it in my abdomen too for a little while.

Anyway, that's where I am in my recovery arc. Doctor says to keep doing what I'm doing, start the PT, and listen to my body. Recovery is a months-long process he says. I'm hoping to go on vacation in mid-August without the walker! We'll see.

Best to all on the path to recovery!

I am recovering from the surgery well. My first post-op exam went well. I only take Oxycodon and Pregabalin (for the nerve pain) at night to sleep at this point. I take Tylenol as well to manage the lingering incision pain.

My concern is that at 5 weeks in I'm still not walking normally. I still have to use the walker because my left leg is weak and occasionally has nerve pain. So I'm hobbling around. I was told that full recovery would be 6 months or more, so I'm trying not to freak out. I will start PT at week 6. What are your experiences?