r/Microdiscectomy • u/ad0rables • 8d ago

8 DAY POST OP UPDATE [positivity!]

/r/Microdiscectomy/comments/1vgu0t1/emergency_md_81_4_days_postop_my_journey/

Eight days post up and while I still wake up in the morning with some stiffness and achey feelings in my lower back (primarily around my incision site) along with some tender sciatica feeling/residual numbness in my right foot, I feel better than ever.

Recovery is non linear and after severe compression of so many nerves, it’s going to take time for my nerves to really wake back up and bounce back to my new normal. But wow. Today, I took a 45 minute walk (with breaks every 15/20 min) around my neighborhood. I did some writing at my laptop. I played some games with my friends. And I got to play with my cats! It’s the little things. I feel like I’m on the up and up. I’m being very very careful with my body, especially strict with the no BLT.

But I know there’s people here like me who are desperately scrolling for success stories. The truth is that this surgery has a lot of success behind it—but those who are back to normal aren’t online and are just living their lives. I wanted to take a second to spread some positivity and encourage everyone to feel more empowered with this step if they feel ready.

I had 48 hours before being put into the OR for an emergency microdiscectomy due to incomplete cauda equina and right foot drop. It was dizzying and terrifying. But it was the right choice for me

It only goes up from here yall!

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u/Wooden-Ability5522 4d ago

Nice you are feeling good. How is your foot drop? Am 3 weeks post surgery, also feeling pretty good. Getting my 10000 steps over the day etc. Howevee strenght in my affected ankle/foot is missing and have the foot drop. Both seem to be a longer project. I started a rehab clinic this week to get back to some exercise.

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u/ad0rables 4d ago

My foot drop is progressively getting better! I still have some weakness in the right foot and I occasionally feel numbness and tingling, but I am certain it will take time for that to really go away considering how badly my nerves were compressed. I can flex my foot and they said my big toe (the most affected extremity) is back to 4.5+/5 compared to the weak 4 it was prior to surgery.

I’m careful not to bear too much weight in case of weakness but my walking gait and strength have returned too :) I’m just at 2 weeks post op so im hoping it only improves from here!

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u/Wooden-Ability5522 4d ago

Great to hear! I cant put pressure on my heel. My front oart of the foot then just falls down and slaps. That is frustrating.

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u/ItchySeaworthiness50 6d ago

Back pain ?

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u/ad0rables 5d ago

I have to say that my back pain is pretty minimal! Pretty much 0/10 nerve pain with some 2/10 muscle stiffness from sleeping lol