J Gibbon - Spinal Stenosis, Laminectomy

I first damaged my back in 1985 while working ina nursing home. My doctortold me I had a slipped disc, he gave me pain killers and muscle relaxants. He told me to have some bedrest. The pain was across the base of my back and down my leg into my foot causing pins and needlesin my hin and foot. After three weeks bed rest it settled down enough for me to be able to move about and get out of bed.

I felt guilty because my mother had looked after me and done everything for me at the same time as looking after my father who also suffers from a bad back. He has had several discs removed, this resulted in the bottom of his spine collapsing and fusing together. This has left him with constant pain in his back but no feeling at all in his right leg. Because of this I took things very steady as I was afraid of ending up the same position as my father. On my wedding day in 1987 I was in severe pain had to take very strong pain killers. I can't remember much about the day because of the pain and the tablets. I spent the first six weeks married life in bed with a slipped disc. Eventually I was taken into hospital and put into traction. This wasn't as bad as I expected, but I think that is because I had seen my father in traction so many times. I was told by the doctors that the muscles of my spine were weak as a result of the bed rest and that they didn't hold my spine very stable.

As a result of this, my sex life was drasticaly reduced. I always got pain across my back and into my leg when we had sex. On occasions I would be unable to move my back or leg for a few days afterwards due to the severe pain. I was unable to do housework, run, or do any kind of exercise. My husband had to do everything for me including helping me in and out of bed and bathing me. During my pregnancies I spent from three and half months onwards on bed rest due to back pain. When I went into lab, I was unable to have an epidural as I would not been able to take the level of pain in my back. I have been given pain killers of differing strength ranging from co-proxamol to temgesic. It got to the stage where all I could do was cough or sneeze unexpectedly and my back would flair up again. It felt like andelastic band snapping in my back and then someone twisting a knife and pulling the blade down into my thigh.

The last time my back went wrong as I moved in my sleep causing a slipped disc. I spent 10 days resting in bed and taking temgesic for the pain. After 4 or 5 days I lost all feeling in my right leg and I had slight numbness in my left leg. My G.P. contacted Mr. Krishna and explained the situation to him. He admitted me to hospital and decided to send me for an MRI scan at Darlington. I was very apprehensive about this. The worst part about the scan was going into the scanner head first. It felt very claustrophobic. There is a gentle buzzing noise and a vibration. It was not as bad as I had expected, and the staff were very nice. The scan showed a slipped disc so Mr. Krishna suggested surgery. I was extremely nervous about this because as I have mentioned previously my father has had several operations and is expected to end up in a wheel chair in the next few years. I didn't want to end up like him, but I couldn't put up with the pain any longer so, I decided to go for surgery having talked it over with my family.

The nursing staff and doctors were brilliant. They explained everything that would happen and they kept me involved every step of the way. On the day of the operation I was very nervous and apprehensive about the outcome. I had been told it would stop the leg pain but not necessarily the back pain. The nursing staff were very understanding and when I got upset they talked to me and were of great comfort to me. They gave me a pre-med to help make me relaxed before going to the theatre as I was very uptight about the whole thing.

After the operation I woke up back on the ward with severe pins and needles in my right leg. After a couple of hours the pins and needles disappeared. After a few hours I needed the toilet. The nurse brought me a commode. When they swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stood me up it was a great feeling, as the pain in my leg had gone and I only had a slight niggle in my back. It was such a relief that I cried.

The following day Mr. Krishna came to see me and said the operation had been a success and I was able to go home. The physiotherapists came to see me, gave me some exercises to do and told me what I could and couldn't do. I was given an appointment to see Mr. Krishna in two weeks. When I went back for my checkup everything was fine. I still had slight back pain and occasional cramp in my right calf muscle, but it was nothing compared to the pain I had before the operation. I was told to come back in six weeks.

Unfortunately I ended up back at out-patients 10 days later with back pain, and it went down into my thigh. I was told I was doing too much too soon and given a soft lumbar corset to wear and some anti-inflammatory tablets to take. After 5 days things settled down. It's several weeks since the operation and although I still get the occasional back pain, if I take things easy it settles down after a couple of days.

I am glad I had the operation and hope this report helps in someway.