I need our Medical Mafia's advice

[BeauV]

Just got off the phone with my son the Marine.

First, OM, they only cut open L4 for the operation and they put the bone piece back in. The Lt. Commander Doc said at his age it'll fuse up fast. Pretty much what you said.

Second, they didn't feel they needed to fuse the vertebrae, so he should have much more "motion" than expected, almost "normal". I take this as VERY good news.

Third, they said that if he hadn't had the tumor, then when the disk popped out it wouldn't have hurt and he would have only had a couple of weeks of back pain and then been back at work. It was because the popped disk didn't have anywhere to go (because of the tumor) that he had pain etc... so the popped disk really did save my Marine from some bad stuff down he line. (I know I'm looking on the bright side.) If he hadn't popped the disk he would have eventually had nerve damage from the tumor which would not have been repairable.

Finally, I told my Marine that he was one lucky Jar-Head to have popped a disk, discovered a tumor that would could have caused trouble down the road, and managed to get Uncle Sam to pay for it all. "Well done." He just laughed weakly, given all the pain meds he's on now.

He sounded like he'll be headed up to lay around at out place in a few weeks, and his lovely girlfriend is doing a great job of taking care of him.

I'm a much more relaxed Dad now...

Thank you all for your good wishes and a special THANKS to OM for his help and council.

Cheers, I'm going to have a large glass of Tequila.

Beau

[Tucky]

Great news.

[JoeP]

That's really great to hear Beau.

[Orestes Munn]

That's really great about the 1-level laminectomy and no fusion, Beau. Sounds like he's going to be as good as new.

[Lin]

Thanks for the update, Beau. Great to hear some positive news about it all.

[cap10ed]

Excellent news Beau. That is a whewwwww moment that had a great and surprising resolution. I would say in your life the glass has always been more than half full.

[SloopJonB]

Beau, it's been a couple of months now - how's your kid doing? Back doing 50 mile full pack hikes yet?

[BeauV]

Beau, it's been a couple of months now - how's your kid doing? Back doing 50 mile full pack hikes yet?

Sorry for not updating y'all. Thanks for asking. Here's how John the Marine is doing...

The operation went really well and he was off the pain meds well ahead of schedule.

He got cleared to start Physical Therapy about three weeks ago, and has worked his way back to doing 30-45 minute runs. 4 min. running and 1 min. walking.

Last week he started getting a little sciatic nerve pain, and the Doc told him to knock off the running and lifting so that the swelling would go down. That didn't sit well with John, as he's on a mission to be back to 100% by Jan 3 when he will be leading a new group. But, he followed orders and took his pills. The pain has dropped off a lot and he said yesterday that he'd start into running on Monday.

He still feels like one leg is weaker, but the Doc said that's because they "Stirred the nerves around a bit and it'll take time for them to recover." Doc say: "You'll be 100% in about 6 months, or you won't. But there's nothing we can do about it." Seems reasonable.

All the kids will be here near the end of month for our Vrolyk Family Thanksmass. The VFT is our way of avoiding all the brain damage of getting four kids and their spouses and kids together by arguing with all the other in-laws who want to have all the kids at their places.