Surgery Time!

[Erika]

So as some you know, I have a bad disc. Herniated, to be precise. After waiting three months to see the surgeon, I get to be fixed on Monday morning.

It should be a pretty simple procedure, and I should be feeling good pretty soon. But I don't know how long I have to stay at the hospital (cross your fingers for only a couple of hours) and I really don't know how long I'm going to be feeling dopey or sore. So I think it's a pretty safe bet that the comic will be late.

I'm a little nervous about the recovery (since I have to be super careful about lifting things and not bending or twisting) but overall it's going to be a big releif to get this whole mess over with. The bill is going to be more painful than the surgery, but that's how things go when you're uninsured.

[paranoidspy]

All the best with your recovery!

[Erika]

I'm glad I did it, I'm glad it's done, but by god, I hurt. Don't mess up your spine, kids.

[Erika]

Yeah, sorry about the lack of comic this week. I just can't do it. It hurts too much to focus on anything, and I can't even sit in a position that lets me use my tablet right. I really hope the bad part of the recovery is over soon.

[paranoidspy]

:/ I'd share some of my ricemilk icecream if I could. It kind of tastes like undercooked, cheap vanilla cupcakes. It's not exactly a bad tast--Oh, who am I kidding? It's horrible and disgustingly sweet, and the only reason I'm trying to fob it off on you is so I don't feel guilty about wasting food. But I can't do that to a hurting person.

[formerly]

Oooh, I've got a buddy with one of those. Man, those things can be painful. What kind of surgery did they do? They want to fuse my buddy, but he's trying to stall it as much as he can.

[Erika]

Nope, no fusing for me. What I had was a disc that herniated, and the bulging out/broken off piece was squishing my nerve root, which gave me pretty severe pain. and of course, since I don't have health insurance, I tried to treat it myself for longer than I would have if I'd had healthcare. But the surgeon went in and trimmed off the bit that was sticking out, cleared up the debris, and sewed me up. It's called a discectomy. I'm still stiff and don't have full motion, and I do still have a fair bit of pain. But as everything heals and the inflammation goes away, I SHOULD be completely fixed.