Bed BACK and Beyond
Sharing positive stories of recovery after a herniated disc or other spinal cord injury. Join herniated disc champion CK as she has informative and encouraging conversations with other back injury survivors. From people who elected to have back surgery (microdiscectomy, laminectomy, fusion, etc) to those who used more conservative methods, plus all things in between, join our podcast, and let's talk about how life can move beyond the bed after injury. If you are dealing with the isolation and despair that often accompanies a serious back or neck injury, then you'll love being a part of these stories of hope and recovery.
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Bed BACK and Beyond
Hope After the Darkness: A Long-Term Herniated Disc Success Story
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When Susan first felt pain in the back of her leg in 2018, she had no idea a tiny disc herniation would nearly destroy her life. After losing 100 pounds, the 34-year-old healthcare worker expected to feel better, not worse. Instead, she found herself unable to sit, sleep through the night, or live without constant agony from sciatic nerve pain.
Susan takes us through her 14-month journey of seeking help while fighting a healthcare system that initially dismissed her as "too young" for surgery. The pain became so unbearable that she contemplated suicide, revealing the profound mental health impact that chronic back pain can inflict. Though cortisone injections provided temporary relief, they became less effective over time, reinforcing her need for a more permanent solution.
Following her microdiscectomy, Susan experienced what many surgical patients do - continued pain that made her question whether the procedure had worked. But after eight weeks, something remarkable happened - the pain disappeared. Now five years post-surgery, she remains essentially pain-free and has transformed her life completely. A woman who once avoided the outdoors due to anxiety now kayaks, hikes challenging terrain, and embraces physical activities she never imagined possible.
This episode offers something critical for those considering or recovering from disc surgery: proof that long-term success is possible. Susan's powerful testimony reminds us not to let surgical statistics intimidate us - the 80% success rate represents real people who found their way back to living fully. If you're struggling with herniated disc pain or recovery, this conversation will restore your hope that life can indeed return, possibly better than before.
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Have a positive story of recovery to tell? Head over to https://bedbackbeyond.com/share-your-story/ to apply.
Seeking Long-Term Success Stories
Speaker 1So I have a Reddit community called Microdesectomy. I'm also in the Facebook Microdesectomy community, so people will watch the podcast. But oftentimes I'm talking to people who just had it done, like eight months ago, and they keep asking me we need long-term success stories, so you would be considered an amazing long-term success story.
Speaker 2I am so glad and I never thought this day would come. And that's why I stay on the group, Because sometimes, like I'm on the group and I'm like, do I really need to be here anymore? I'm not suffering. But then I remember there's so many people out there that are suffering and if I can give them a tiny bit of hope that I didn't have back then, right, exactly, that's a good reason for me to stay on the group Before we get into today's episode, I do want to let you know that we briefly touch on eating disorders and we also talk about mental health and suicidal thinking.
Speaker 3Welcome to Bed Back and Beyond, sharing positive stories of recovery from serious back or neck injury. Your host is CK, a fellow champion who draws on her own experience with herniated disc surgery. Join her as she talks with others who have overcome the physical and emotional trauma of a painful injury and discover for yourself how you can find hope and encouragement in recovery.
Speaker 1Hi Susan. Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of Bed, back and Beyond. Before we dive into your injury, how about you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2Well, thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here. So a little bit about myself. I'm 40. I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. I work in healthcare.
Speaker 2I do mostly advanced care planning with COPD patients. I do some social worky stuff as well, even though I'm not actually a social worker. Some of my hobbies are, like I love to read. I'm obsessed with reading. I do it all the time. A lot of my hobbies are different post-surgery than pre-surgery, and what I like to do now is I like going kayaking and hiking and swimming and and doing all that kind of fun stuff just being outside in nature. That's my happy place.
Speaker 1I'm going to try not to derail the conversation about reading Like what are your favorite kind of books?
Speaker 2So I have just gotten okay. I went to university for 12 years and I forgot that you can read for fun, yes, so I had stopped reading for so long and I just got back into it again a few months ago, and I'm obsessed with fantasy and fantasy romance. Yep, do you? Have one book in particular that's your favorite Right now. I'm really into the A Court of Thorns and Roses series, so I'm halfway through it.
Speaker 1I got two books left. I haven't read any of those. I see them on TikTok all the time. That's where I got it. Yeah, yeah. Now my listeners are probably tired of hearing this, but my husband and I just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary and we went to Banff National Park. Yeah, and I know that's on the total opposite side of Nova Scotia. It is, but I hear it's beautiful, oh, it's gorgeous. But on my bucket list is St John Labrador, is that?
Speaker 2It's St John's in Newfoundland and Labrador. It's technically not in Labrador, it's in Newfoundland, but in the province called Newfoundland and Labrador. Okay, but I, we're going to Newfoundland in June. We will not see St John's because we're going like the ferry. We're taking the ferry and it goes on the other side of the province, but St John's, I hear, is gorgeous.
Speaker 1So you will love it. So let's, because what people tune in for is your back injury. Yes, that of our interests, right? So did you always have a back problem, or did you some one day just get hit with a back injury?
Speaker 2Oh, it happened so suddenly. It seemed so like I went through a weight loss journey back in 2018 and I lost like a hundred pounds and you would think after losing a hundred pounds, you would feel better. And I started feeling worse and I got this pain. In the back of my leg is where I noticed it on my like, on my upper leg, and I thought it felt in the beginning like a pulled muscle and they were telling me oh, it's your hamstring. It's like they were giving me all these kind of excuses of what it could be. And I went to a physiotherap it's your hamstring, it's like they were giving me all these kind of excuses of what it could be.
Speaker 2And I went to a physiotherapist for this hamstring whatever he called it and she said that's not what's wrong with you. And I said, well, that's what the doctor says. And he said, well, if that was wrong with you, this would hurt really bad. And she pushed into a part on my butt and it didn't hurt. And she said see, that's not what's wrong with you. And she said it's your back. And I was like that sounds insane, because it's my leg and I didn't know how it all worked at the time. So, um, I went in for my that was around September and um, they finally got me in for in for an MRI and they, um, they realized that that's what it was. So it built up like it. It felt like it hit me suddenly, but it built up like where I was thinking. It was just a muscle problem in the beginning.
Speaker 1Okay, what were you doing Something different for the weight loss? Just cardio the beginning, okay. What were you doing something different for the weight loss?
Speaker 2just cardio, or were you doing weight lifting? So when I lost all the weight. I actually had an eating disorder and I was so that could have actually triggered my back problem because I was purging a lot.
Speaker 1Yes, okay, wow, well, thank you for sharing that. Yeah, so then I've heard in Canada that the medical system sometimes makes you wait a long time. Were you able to get your MRI very quickly?
Speaker 2It took me a couple months to get the MRI and I believe I had it. I can't remember when I had the MRI, but I got in February of 2019 to see the surgeon and I would have had the MRI probably in November of that of 2018. By the time I got in to see the surgeon it was less than a year before I had my surgery. So some people I know they've been on the wait list here for years. That wasn't my experience. I was sore for a year, 14 months, something like that.
Speaker 1And when the surgeon saw the MRI, did he say, yep, surgery right away, or did you have to do physical therapy?
Speaker 2first. So here, like your general practitioner has to refer you to a surgeon, he wasn't referring me to anybody until, like, I had to do physio I had to do. Well, I guess I didn't have to do, but like we tried medications like very, very heavy narcotics. I was on for quite a while. I went through the pain clinic and that actually had a five-year wait list and because I knew them, they skipped me ahead. So like I did that kind of guiltily, but I was in so much pain that I was desperate.
Speaker 2So I did that and by the time I got to the neurosurgeon I had just told, like my doctor said you're too young, they're not going to do it, you're not a candidate. And I'm like I don't care what you say, let him tell me that or her tell me that. And I said just put my name through and then they can reject me. And so he said whatever. And he put me through. And immediately when he saw me he did a couple maneuvers in his office or whatever, and he said you're a perfect candidate. Immediately he accepted me and put me on the wait list for the surgery. And do you?
Speaker 1happen to know the millimeter measurement of your herniation?
Speaker 2Oh, what did they remove? Oh, four. Maybe it wasn't a, I don't think it was a big one, but it was small but, mighty. It did a job on me.
Speaker 1Yeah, I always say. I see people post their MRIs online and some of them these huge bulbous things pushing into the spine and mine looked like a little thumbprint.
Speaker 2Yes, Mine was small when they, when I asked that after the surgery, when I woke up I was like how much did you take out? And they're like not much, but it was enough to do. And I will say I do have a lot of sensory issues and stuff like that and I have a very low pain tolerance. So maybe my situation wouldn't have hurt as much for some people but I'm not some people on me and it hurt for me.
Speaker 1So Right right, You'll have to judge based on you. It's really hard to compare yourself to other people. Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2Especially on the forums. Now, you said it started in your leg, was I had the drop foot and everything like that, so it was affecting everything in that leg by the time they did this surgery?
Fighting for Surgery Referral
Speaker 1Okay, no, like urinary retention or anything like that, though Like the red flags, no. So you said you saw a neurosurgeon, right, yes, yeah, was that based on what the doctor referred you to, or did you have the option between neuro versus ortho?
Speaker 2I didn't really have an option. I don't recall I mean it's been a while I don't recall having an option, but I think he just put me through to a neurosurgeon. But once I started talking to people on the forums I was I'm sure they both could have done a good job. But I really was happy to have a neurosurgeon who's familiar with all those nerves and stuff in there and yeah, so how old would you have been during the injury?
Speaker 2So 2018, I would have been 34. And by the time I had the surgery, I was 35.
Speaker 1It's nice to hear them say you're too young, isn't it?
Speaker 2I know.
Speaker 1I know I love it. Young, isn't it? I know I know I love it. I think I was 40 or 41 in 2019. There was a young man in my church who had gotten surgery the year before and he was 20 something. So I kept saying, look, the 20 year olds get it too. It's not just because I'm 40.
Speaker 2And I see on the forums all the time like people saying their 17 year old is going in for surgery and I'm like why did they think I was too young? Like yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1I let's see. I went to the emergency room and they didn't even do an MRI. In the emergency room they said, you know, they just. And they didn't give me narcotics, they just gave me prednisone like a steroid, so like a three day high dose, and then they said go see a back pain specialist. And that took me two weeks to get into him and he did all the stand up on your toes really fast that lay on your back, let me lift your leg. And of course I'm like, and he's the one who ordered an MRI, so it still was like another two weeks before I could get the MRI. And then we went. Did you try a cortisone injection at all?
Speaker 2It was. I think it was a cortisone injection. So basically what it ended up being was he would give me an injection almost right by my tailbone because it was a lower it was L5S1 and it was really low where he went in, and he did it about every six weeks until I had my surgery and I know you're only supposed to get it like how many times a year? Yeah, three times, I think I got it five or six, but if he hadn't done it for me, I would not have survived for my surgery because I was like, literally at that time I was suicidal because of the pain I couldn't take it yeah.
Speaker 1Was it x-ray guided or was it just the localized?
Speaker 2cortisone it was, I believe he used an ultrasound machine.
Speaker 1I had one of those and it worked for a couple of days. You know, they numb you first, so that's always feels great. And then it wore off. And then, like two weeks later, I tripped going up to the steps. I didn't fall, but I kicked my bad leg out and it just brought my pain right back to like normal. That's awful, yeah.
Speaker 2So then I was like I'm getting surgery, yeah, yeah. And and really I knew this was kind of tidying me over until I could get the surgery because as soon as they agreed to give me the surgery, I'm like yeah, I'm doing it, because the shots would like the first one lasted maybe like eight weeks, then the next one lasted seven weeks, then six weeks, so it wasn't as effective as I went on, right, and I know like if I was still having to get them now, that probably wouldn't be working.
Speaker 1So that was something I knew about cortisone injections was that you can only get so many in your lifetime before they become less effective for you. And I was thinking well, I'm 40. I don't want to. You know, use up my reserve now before I even hit like 65 or 70. Who?
Speaker 2knows what else I'll need it for yeah, I didn't know that actually Like like that. Yeah, I didn't know that actually Like that.
Speaker 1Yeah, I didn't know it had like a lifetime limit.
Speaker 2That's interesting. Hopefully I didn't go through mine yet.
Speaker 1So did you have any reservations about surgery, or were you like, just get me under the knife?
Speaker 2They tried like with the whole. They gave me the statistics. You know 5% come out worse, 15%, nothing's wrong, yes, and that kind of thing. They tried to talk. I was terrified to go into surgery, by the way. I was terrified but I was so desperate that I would have done anything. I was in the hospital in. I was living in another province at the time, like I had moved there. I only lived there for 14 months. I was in the hospital there and I literally begged them to drive me to the hospital in Nova Scotia where I was living and that's where my referral was to not miss my surgery. And they ended up discharging me like a day before my surgery. So I was able to go, but like I was absolutely desperate to get it, Were you able to work at all or were you strictly homebound during all this?
Speaker 2So that's interesting. So when it first started and I was living in Nova Scotia, I had a job. I was working at a non-for-profit youth homeless organization. I ended up having to like I had to get rid of my car because I couldn't get in my car anymore and they had a van that they lent me my work. They had this like huge van that they lent me.
Speaker 2Well, until I could get my SUV, I ended up every single day because I I couldn't sit for long, I couldn't lay down for long. In fact I had to wake myself up every half an hour throughout the night or else I couldn't get up in the morning. Um, so I hadn't. The only thing that I could do was stand. So I ended up going down to this cafe at the bottom of the street. I would take my work computer and work from there and I would stand there for eight hours a day at their tall table that they had, and I would just stay there every single day. Then I got another job in the neighboring province of New Brunswick and I went there and I was working in healthcare, in the hospital, and at that time I had my injection. So I was doing okay. But then I got sick with something else, Like I had some mental health issues and I ended up in the hospital. So that was an interesting turnaround.
Speaker 2So I wasn't working at that point but, it wasn't because of my back, so you mentioned that you were suicidal.
Suicidal from Unbearable Pain
Speaker 1before waiting for the surgery, did you reach out for any kind of health, mental health help, or how did you help yourself with that?
Speaker 2I I cannot say enough about how horrible the mental health system is in this province. It is something that they need to work on, and it's been like I've had mental health issues and I've been struggling since I was three and they haven't done anything for me. So when I when I went with this, um, the worst part was one night I went to the hospital with a bag of pills and I had every intention of using them. Wow, and they told me that they would deal with my body out in the parking lot when I was done. Um, they had no idea how to help me. They they had no idea. They sent me away every single time. So I am still alive today, not because of the mental health system here. It's awful.
Speaker 1Yeah, did you have family support around you?
Speaker 2I had my my dad was sick at the time. My family is supportive as much as they can be, but where my dad was sick, my mom, um was kind of focused on that. Actually, the the person that saved my life that night was um. My pastor came and he um took me back to his house where, with him and his wife and um, I stayed with them for like a week or two I can't even remember how long until I was able to be safe enough to leave.
Speaker 1I'm glad that was a safe spot for you.
Speaker 2Yeah, me too. I wouldn't be alive, I don't I? I a hundred percent believe I wouldn't be alive if he hadn't been there that night.
Speaker 1Yeah, I don't think people realize people who haven't herniated a disc have no idea how debilitating the pain is.
Speaker 2No, nobody understands, nobody gets it, unless they've lived with it.
Speaker 1Yeah, and when your back is infected you can't do it. It affects your entire life. It does definitely leads can lead to a very dark time. I'm so thankful that you had that support.
Speaker 2Yeah, me too, me too, and and I had some really lovely friends around that time and when I look back I'm like I'll still say to them sometimes like I'm so thankful that you stuck with me, because it was a dark time and I was bringing people into a very dark place. Yeah, and the fact that they stuck by me through that um six volumes.
Speaker 1I didn't recognize myself, I think for a year after after the surgery. It took a year to recover emotionally from it.
Speaker 2Absolutely, absolutely and to be. I was terrified of my own body after the surgery Right, when it did take. It took me eight weeks to lose the pain after the surgery. Like I didn't think the surgery worked. The surgery Right, and it did take. It took me eight weeks to lose the pain after the surgery, like I didn't think the surgery worked at first, right and um. So once the pain subsided, I was terrified of myself. I was terrified of doing anything, thinking I was going to re-trigger it. Now I'll do anything, almost but um, but I don't always have that fear, but I'll still like, if, if I feel a twinge in the back, I still like is this happening again? Yeah, so it's like it does take a long time to recover from it.
Surgery and Recovery Challenges
Speaker 1Yes, your surgery? Was it in and out same day or did you have to stay a couple of nights?
Speaker 2Yeah, it was it? It in and out same day, or did you have to stay a couple nights? Yeah, it was. It was in and out that day. Like I went in in the morning and I didn't wake up, like I don't think they were worried, but I didn't wake up as quick as they thought, so I went in for the surgery at like nine o'clock and I left that night at around seven. I lived three hours away from the hospital, so I stayed with a friend overnight and the next morning I was on my way back. Somebody drove you home. You didn't drive yourself, right? No, I didn't drive myself. Somebody drove my car and yeah, yeah, Did you?
Speaker 1did you just recline back on the drive home, or did you? I reclined?
Speaker 2back heavily and I, yeah, I was heavily, heavily medicated on the way home.
Speaker 1I was sleeping and yeah, so my surgery was supposed to be in and out same day, uh, you know, and I think they had told my husband 45 minutes to an hour. And then, uh, when they went in, they found that my disc was actually glued to the spinal cord with scar tissue, um, so it took much longer and they didn't get it all. So I still have like a chunk of the herniated disc on my on my nerves just kind of sitting there still. Yes, but my husband, you know, was sitting in the patient family waiting room watching other people come and go and you know the doctors come. Oh, you went, fine, you can leave.
Speaker 1And then my doctor finally came out. I forget, I think it might have been three hours, if I remember, and my husband is a pastor, so he kind of he has experience with waiting people, with people at the hospital. So my doctor came up to him and says, can we go into the conference room? And my husband said his vision went into tunnel vision because he's like I knew what that meant. I feel so bad for him when I think about it, but I just I took a long time to wake up from anesthesia, so they were like she's not waking up, she's fine, and I always feel guilty for my, my poor husband. So did you end up staying overnight? I had to stay for three nights three nights.
Speaker 1Yeah, because there is a tear in the door so I was leaking the spinal fluid. So they did a blood patch, and so I had to lay on my back flat for three nights. I wasn't allowed to get up and then, on a, so it was Wednesday and then on Saturday they had to like slowly raise my bed every hour until I could finally sit up straight. Oh my gosh, what a process it was. Yeah, and I had to put a catheter in. I don't know if I mentioned that before. That was not fun.
Speaker 2No, I had many a patient. I was a chaplain when I worked in the hospital and. I've been next to many beds with catheters and they are not fun as far as I can tell.
Speaker 1So you got home okay, without a problem. That's great. So were you home alone or did you have somebody staying with you during your recovery?
Speaker 2No, I was by myself. Um and um, yeah, like nobody. When I moved to New Brunswick, nobody lived there. Um, all of my friends and my family were back in Nova Scotia. So once they got me home, um, they ended up leaving and people checked in on me, but um, like by phone. But um, yeah, I was, I was by myself, just me and my four at the time kitties, and yeah, so I mean even that like I was taking care of them.
Speaker 1So it was like, and I'm sure you did you have the no bending, lifting and twisting restrictions, did I?
Speaker 2follow it as much as I could, but I still had to dig out the cat litter and stuff, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1So what kind of things did you do to make living a little easier while you were in those restrictions?
Speaker 2After the surgery yeah, I had, like so, one of my really good friends who stuck with me during that. She is an occupational therapist, so she got me equipped with, like, one of those claws that reaches down and, um, an extra long pooper scooper for the litter box, so it was all set to go for that kind of stuff. Um, I was really good at not like, um of like not lifting things and and and like, just like not carrying too much. Um, I learned how to like I still got close to the floor but I squatted, squatted, so I wouldn't, yeah, so I I mean I still do that. I'm not ever bending like a normal person again. So, um, I got, I got through it pretty good and, um, like I, I recovered well and quickly from the surgery itself.
Speaker 1You said it took you about eight weeks to be pain-free.
Speaker 2It took me about eight weeks to be pain-free, and so there was a period there where I was again like losing my mind because I and and I went back at one point to the pain doctor that I was seeing and he refused to give me the injection because I had the surgery and I lost my mind, like lost it. I ended up leaving and like, oh, I don't even want to think about that day. That was a bad one, like I felt hopeless and helpless because I thought that I needed that injection. He wouldn't give it to me, okay, and I didn't realize that I was at the end of this waiting game where the pain was going to disappear. I thought the surgery didn't work, yeah, so um, um, but from the surgery itself, even like before the pain went away, like I was healing really well, like with the incision and stuff that all healed really well.
Speaker 1So many people go into the surgery not realizing that, like the two week mark and then the four to six week mark, is going to be a pain flare, and I'm sure the large majority of us think our surgery failed.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, and I see so many people on the forums that will say stuff like you know, I just had my surgery, like two days ago, and I'm in pain. I'm like, yes, yes, you are and you probably will be for another two months, but don't let that take away your hope, because I haven't had pain now since, well, like January of 29,. Well, like January of 29, 20, 20, 20 January 2020.
Speaker 1Did you do physical therapy?
Speaker 2after surgery. I didn't, and I know people are recommended to do it, but I've always been really lazy with physio, like I've needed physio, like a bunch of times. I did go to physio prior to surgery, yeah, and I didn't go after, and I don't really have a good excuse for that.
Speaker 1I'm one of those people that as soon as I hit my goal with something, I stopped doing it. Yeah, I did physical therapy for the prescribed amount of weeks post-surgery and then felt better, so I stopped doing the physical therapy. Hi Tiberius, oh, he physical therapy. Hi Tiberius, oh, he's cute. He's one of my two beagles that pulled me backwards and made me get back surgery. Oh, but he's beautiful.
Life After Surgery: New Activities
Speaker 1Thank you. So I did the physical therapy like I was supposed to, and then I stopped doing it and then, maybe a year later after the surgery, I noticed my hip muscles would start killing me when I would go on walks, when I would walk the dog. Uh, so I put myself back into physical therapy and it turns out that I had just, in my mind, gone back to guarding and not moving my body like I was supposed to be. And then your muscles get weak. Yeah, so I was real thankful for physical therapy.
Speaker 2but I'm lazy. That's really interesting and I definitely I like I definitely don't recommend that people take the route that that I took, like without doing physiotherapy. Like I really do think it benefits so many people. Like yeah, it's funny in a not so funny way, but I became so much more active after that. I feel like I was able to strengthen my body and just doing like so much more. I've done more activity in the past five years than I've done in the 35 that preceded it, like what.
Speaker 2Um, so, like I was, I had a period because, like I mentioned, I had some mental health issues. I had a period of like 10 years where I didn't leave the house and, um, that went from like age 18 to 28. And so I basically did nothing during that time but sit at home on the internet. Even before that, when I was a kid, like I was scared of my own shadow there. I didn't do anything. But since then I've started the kayaking. I only just started doing that a couple of years ago and I love it. I've started doing these hikes that I would. I was scared of bugs so much that I would not go out in the woods and somehow I'm not like, I still get like sometimes, but I'm not that scared of them anymore. So I'll go out and hike and like there was one hill that I scaled down and had to pull myself up with a rope and I was like I couldn't have done that. There's no way I would have done that, like six years ago.
Speaker 1That's great. I'm a camper, I love hiking and camping. My husband and I will canoe when we get the chance. We don't get to do it as much as we'd like, but that's one of the things I say on my video. Like you'll get back to doing your stuff, you'll get back to camping. I swear.
Speaker 2Yes, life comes back, and that's the good thing about surgery. And and that's why, when people say like, oh, I'm so scared of surgery, I'm like it was the best decision I ever ever made. And it's not for everybody, but if you've got no other way to get rid of the pain, it might be for you, and my life is a million times better since I've done it.
Speaker 1Life comes back. Yeah, do you still get sciatic flares?
Speaker 2I don't, nope, nope, never. I had one about two months ago where I started feeling this thing in the back of my leg and I thought maybe it was maybe like I was sitting too much with my books. Like you know, I was reading too much and it went away. So I don't know what it was, but it went away. I don't think it was sciatica and I haven't had any flare up since that, two week after this or eight weeks after the surgery.
Five Years Pain-Free: A Success Story
Speaker 1That's great. So I have a Reddit community community called micro disectomy. I'm also in the facebook micro disectomy uh community so people are will watch the podcast. But oftentimes I'm talking to people who just had it done, like eight months ago, and they keep asking me we need long-term success stories, so you would be considered an amazing long-term success story.
Speaker 2I am so glad and I never thought this day would come. And that's why I stay on the group, because sometimes, like, I'm on the group and I'm like, do I really need to be here anymore? I'm not suffering. But then I remember there's so many people out there that are suffering and if I can give them a tiny bit of hope that I didn't have back then, right, exactly, that's a good reason for me to stay on the group.
Speaker 1I get so many personal messages. I do the right Reddit and I do tick tocks, which is difficult. I don't do any tick tock dances but I'll do videos on there. Yeah, Tons of personal messages people saying did I, did I ruin my surgery? Is this normal? Like, yeah, you're, you'll get pelvic pain, all kinds of weird stuff. Yeah, so is there anything that you would love to impart to someone who may be about to get surgery or, um, thinking about surgery, that you think they should, uh, should know, Like I'm just a like, do it like, go through it because it saved my life.
Speaker 2Like, I'm just a like, do it like, go through it because it saved my life. And if you're in that much pain, don't let the statistics scare you off, because a 20% chance is a lot smaller than the 80% chance that it is going to work Right, and people are scared of that 20%, the five and the 15, you know 5% that you're going to be worse than 15, that it's going to do nothing. Well, like, don't let those statistics scare you off, because it is so, so worth it. Um, I wouldn't have a life right now if it wasn't for surgery.
Speaker 1Right, and have you found any mental health resources since the surgery that you think would be helpful?
Speaker 2Well, it's interesting. Um, this isn't really a solution for anybody else, but um, I got my mental health help when I moved to New Brunswick and, um, it's funny that the people in New Brunswick say that their mental health system sucks, but um, when I compare it to what I was given my whole life here, it was so much better. So I'm still seen by doctors in New Brunswick. For that reason they haven't let me go and yeah, so there's not really much I can say. I've just been very blessed during that time period that I spent in New Brunswick.
Speaker 1That's great, susan. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to share your story with us. I know it's going to be very beneficial for a lot of people to listen and see. Yes, there are long-term success stories.
Speaker 2Well, thank you so much for having me here. I'm very honored that you asked me to come and, um, if my story can help anybody out there, it's a blessing to me. It really is, definitely.
Speaker 1And if you are a listener and you have a positive story of recovery that you would like to share, head to my website, bedbackbeyondcom and click share your story. I'd love to include your voice on the show, susan, once again, thank you so much, thank you.