u/macrame_wounds

So, its a little bit complicated but I'll try to explain the whole thing condensed; I returned to work after having surgery for a non-work, long-term injury/issue regarding my spine. Less than one week in, I was following my bosses orders when I re-herniated my spine.

I saw my previous surgeon for this issue due to the massive amount of pain I was and am still currently in. He said I would need a revision surgery to correct the issue and I agreed. He has filed the prior auth with insurance, we have a surgery date set, etc., all typical things.

I found out very recently that my employer filed worker's comp based on the injury. How does this affect my current plans? I really can't delay this surgery and I'm afraid about being out of work longer than needed due to the amount of FMLA weeks I’ve already used this year for the first surgery. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

Edit: One more thing that complicates everything (I think?) is that I've been on short term disability with Sedgwick since the first surgery, up until i returnes to work. My boss suggested that I should file to return to it since they weren't letting me return to work and I did so before i knew about this.

As put in the title, I'm somewhat worried that I've re-herniated my back. The first few weeks after surgery were amazing, zero sciatic pain and my quality of life had already improved.

Over the last week or so, I've felt it return off and on. Not nearly as bad as it was pre-surgery, more of a dull ache or a 3 out of 10 on the pain scale, but it's still irritating enough for me to be concerned. I’ve also had my back pop once or twice, including today, but with zero pain following it. The one today actually felt nice, which seems odd.

Would anyone have any advice or just experiences with this that would be helpful to know? Maybe reassurances, if possible?

Hello y'all! I am trying to figure out some insurance stuff that has me slightly confused and worried due to the costs involved. Usually I understand these things but I'm just not sure about this one.

I recently had a spinal surgery (laminectomy, discectomy, partial facetectomy, and partial foraminotomy) and my insurance, Aetna, is finally processing some of it. This includes neural monitioring services provided by Value Monitoring that were a requirement for the surgery in case something went wrong while they were messing around with my spine. Anyway, on Aetna' website, it lists them as Out of Network with a denial. Value tried to charge Aetna over 30k for services but Aetna claims that I don't owe anything. I know my state (Texas) apparently has pretty strict No Surprise Billing laws but I'm not sure how effective they will be for this.

Basically, am I fucked? I can't pay 30k. Thank you.

For some reason, him, his ranch, and his grudge against a well-known local wildlife rehabber keeps ending up in my feeds on another site and honestly.... the guy gives me a weird, creeped out feeling. He's also apparently not completely following local laws on rehabbing animals but keeps acting like he's some savior of them.

Hi y'all! My backstory: I'm 36F, and I've been suffering from multiple herniated disks, sciatica, and spinal stenosis for years now, partially due to working physical jobs and the rest is genetic (Mom had an absolutely horrible back as well).

Anyway, after years of more "conservative treatment", such as PT, injections, ablations, overall pain management, etc., I've finally gotten approval from my ortho for a minimally invasive laminectomy and discectomy for my L5, which is almost completely herniated towards my sciatic nerve. The surgery will be on a Thursday, and he claims I should be back to work by Monday (Tuesday at the latest) with slight light duty for 4-6 weeks. I feel like that is way too short a recovery time, especially since I still work a physical job with no real light duty in place for my position.

Should I ask for a second opinion? Make it clear to him that I'll need more time off from work for this. Or is the surgery going to really have that minimal of an impact on my overall life and activities?