Bed BACK and Beyond

Herniated Disc Surgery Recovery: Desk Job Pain to Pain-Free Work

• Christine King

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This herniated disc recovery story is for anyone with a sedentary desk job who’s terrified of back surgery.

After years of sitting for work, he developed a herniated disc that left him in constant pain. He was scared of surgery and unsure if it would help — but today he’s working pain-free and encouraging others not to let fear stop them from healing.

In this video, he shares:
• How a sedentary job contributed to his herniated disc
• Why surgery terrified him
• What recovery was really like
• Why he now encourages others to consider surgery
• What life and work feel like now, pain-free

If you’re dealing with back pain, sciatica, or fear around herniated disc surgery, this story may help you feel less alone and more informed.

#HerniatedDiscRecovery #BackSurgeryRecovery #DeskJobPain #Microdiscectomy

Support the show

Was this episode helpful to you? If you would like to support my work on the show, you can buy me a coffee at https://buymeacoffee.com/bedbackandbeyond
Have a positive story of recovery to tell?  Head over to  https://bedbackbeyond.com/share-your-story/ to apply.

Cold Open: Hearing “Surgery”

SPEAKER_03

What did you think when you heard surgery? Like, great, let's do it, or were you always Oh man, horrified.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely horrified. I had never had any surgery whatsoever before in my life. And I was just thinking my first surgery is going to be spine surgery.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

That was that was hard. That was a hard photo to follow.

Welcome, Shout‑Outs, And Guest Intro

SPEAKER_00

Welcome 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 perniated 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_03

Before we start today's episode, I would just like to give two shout-outs. First to Madeline, thank you so much for reaching out to me through the website Bed Back and Beyond. I'm so thankful the podcast has been helpful to you during your neck fusion journey. And also a thank you to WinPAL for donating $15 on Buy Me a Coffee. Both of you, I thank you so much. I love to hear your success stories, and thank you for being a help to support this podcast. Hi, and welcome to this episode of Bed Back and Beyond.

Rod’s Background And Gaming Icebreaker

SPEAKER_03

On today's episode, I am joined by Rod. He is a fellow Redditor who has been very active in sharing his positive story for us. So I wanted to invite him on the podcast. Rod, thank you so much for agreeing to do the show.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. Happy to be on here.

SPEAKER_03

Awesome. So before we dive into your injury, do you want to share a little bit about yourself?

SPEAKER_02

Pretty, pretty boring guy. Well, uh, I am 32-year-old dad of two girls living in uh the Madison, Wisconsin area. Originally from Venezuela, actually. My wife is Russian and uh both of her kids are very beautiful, which is awesome. So I I bet they are.

SPEAKER_03

Now your your Reddit username is not pretty boring.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I I got I think I may might have had uh close to 300 hours in Skyrim um just over the years, all the mods, all the updates. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I own it for three three different consoles. I bought the game over three different times.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. Are you still playing it at this point or no?

SPEAKER_02

At this point, um, no, it I fell off from it uh pretty hard once some of the other bigger hitting titles started coming out. Uh, I am I am also very much a video game enthusiast. Uh so yeah, no, there's been um and amazing titles that I've claimed hundreds of hours of my life uh past Skyrim, but that was definitely one of the greats. And my username is uh a relic from the time that I was really into it.

SPEAKER_03

My husband was wishing I could make my background one of the towns with the dragon coming flying through and attacking.

SPEAKER_01

White run, yeah. That'd be great. Yep.

SPEAKER_03

He's the player, not me.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, amazing. Yeah.

From Active Lifting To Sedentary Job

SPEAKER_03

So you herniated a disc. Before that happened, did you always have back issues or were you a pretty healthy guy before it happened?

SPEAKER_02

I was a pretty healthy guy. I was uh I was a big weightlifter. Granted, not always with the best form, which I think really did uh, you know, set me up for the injury later on in life. If you're squatting heavy or doing heavy deadlift, kids, make sure that you have good posture and uh you know you're not gonna be made of rubber and magic forever. So yeah, um definitely keep that in mind. But yeah, no, I was I was fairly active, really a big hiker. I'm a weightlifter. Didn't didn't didn't do too much competitive sports, but uh enjoyed staying fit.

SPEAKER_03

I used to deadlift. I think my my highest was 195, I think. Okay, but I haven't I haven't touched it in years. I don't think I'll ever go back to deadlifting.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah, yeah, I think that's the that love affair is over for me, but uh, but it it's all right, you know. There's a lot of different ways you can also like build your body back up and you know right. If the muscle has been there, to my understanding, you getting back to that point is uh easier than not than getting up there to begin with.

SPEAKER_03

So I think in the in the Reddit post you mentioned a new job may have also kind of led to your injury. Can you explain what that was?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so I was switching careers, I did a career switch at uh 26. I went from uh fairly active standing sales role to uh a software development job. So I was essentially sitting a lot sitting all the time.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we do see that a lot. People, especially people who've had surgery, they get worried about going back to their job where they have to sit a lot. Yeah, put so much stress on your spine.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, no kidding. Yeah, it's uh yeah, those but out of surgery, I had a I had a timer set for 30 minutes, and every 30 minutes I was up doing something. But yeah, it's uh it's it's

Onset Of Pain And Self‑Management Missteps

SPEAKER_02

very rough.

SPEAKER_03

So you you have a new job, you're sitting at it a lot, and just suddenly start feeling some aches and pains in your back.

SPEAKER_02

Yep, suddenly one day sitting down just hurt. It almost happened overnight. Um, and I was just coming, I thought it was just, oh, I'm um, because I had gained a lot, I had gained a ton of weight. I mean, I think I had gained like 50, 60 pounds, um, just uh being sedentary and just being at my desk all the time. And of course, I was still actually kind of weightlifting with bad form then as well. So I think it was just a perfect storm.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, the two combined.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but uh yeah, it's just one day uh it hurt to sit and then uh I started standing more and it started hurting to stand. And I just thought it was the fact that I just needed to stretch more or be more active, so I started aggressively stretching and I started uh trying to go out on runs, and it was just a downhill spiral from there.

SPEAKER_03

At that point, where was your pain localized?

SPEAKER_02

My pain was localized on the right side of my lower back, and it wasn't full on sciatica yet.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

It was pain when I like bent even just slightly forward. It felt like there was like a knife sticking into my back into my like lower right hand side. When I was sitting, it there was a like a twang of pain that radiated um you know down through my through my legs just a bit as well. I guess that was sciatica. Um, but yeah, it's just continued to get worse as I tried to, you know, get active and see through

PT, Chiropractic, And Sudden Sciatica

SPEAKER_02

it. Uh, of course, you know, before an MRI nowadays, doctors want you to go through a plethora of PT, which I think is just I mean completely moronic. If you have the symptoms, do the MRI if you can, you know, pay for it or have insurance, I guess. You know, even if you don't, I mean, people should have access to that, but that's a different subject. Uh, you went through the PT uh and then finally was able to get the MRI and uh actually, and I also did go through a bit of chiropractic treatments.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

Um, that's actually make things worse. Well, to be honest, I saw a chiropractor, he was a knowledgeable guy, seemed like it. Uh, she's never gave me a straight answer, you know, kept you coming back in the door, but he did adjust me really well one time, which helped the pain for about two weeks, but I kept on coming back. And it's when I saw his partner, who was like a a younger guy who was starting out. Okay, uh, he did a final adjustment on me, and I walked out of his office with a weakness in my right hand, in my right hand leg, and just full sciatica symptoms.

SPEAKER_06

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

And uh he he had the nerve to look at me and say, Oh, it gets worse before it gets better. And I was like, I'm never seeing you again. Oh my goodness. Not a fan of chiropractors at all at this point. Um, but again, different subject.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I almost went to see a chiropractor because my pain was when it was getting really bad, was just like a stabbing in my butt when I would stand up from sitting down. So I was driving home from work one day, like this is terrible. And I went to one chiropractor, they were closed, pulled into another one, they couldn't see me. And then there was a third that was on the other side of the highway, and I was like, just forget it. And uh got home. And then the next morning is when I had my big event. Oh, it turned out my my disc was stuck to my nerves. Oh, so I think, well, thank goodness I didn't get in to see the chiropractor because who knows what would have happened if if uh if I hadn't gotten an adjustment.

SPEAKER_01

Just like a total rupture, maybe? I don't know. Yeah, I don't know. Good Lord. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

So you leave the chiropractor, you're in worse pain. What was your next step from there?

MRI, Conflicting Advice, And Choosing Surgery

SPEAKER_02

My next step from there was talking to my doctor and telling him, hey, a chiropractor really screwed me up. And after that, he's like, All right, what forget PT. I am putting in a prior auth request for MRI right away. Okay. And that's what uh the after that, you know, was diagnosed with the uh with the with the disc that was, you know, touching a nerve. And yeah, the it was it was off to, you know, it was off to surgery from there.

SPEAKER_03

Really?

SPEAKER_02

Um well I I did uh work through through a PA um who was all about the conservative treatment, but given as though I was having weakness in my leg uh and really bad pain, they don't really want you to sit on weakness for too long because that's uh that's a that's a very serious symptom. But she uh she was she was very adamant on me trying conservative uh methods first to treat it. But uh the doctor she actually reported to who I went to go see, uh, had seconds of second opinions about that. I think there was a bit of uh animosity between there, but uh PA was telling me, hey, continue to continue with BT, see if it gets better within a year. Uh and the surgeon, but the the actual doctor was like, uh no, we we can cut you open and fix this right now.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So now I did happen to find a picture of your MRI from one of your posts. Do you mind if I share it?

SPEAKER_02

No, not at all, please. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Now it looks so tiny.

SPEAKER_02

It yeah. And then when I posted that, I was going through the the subreddits just seeing just absolute blowouts, people whose whose discs were just all the way out. And I I'm just like, uh you know, I'm I'm I'm having pain from this, and I'm not having a quality of life from it. Uh, but you know, I cannot even imagine how the rest of you feel.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, my when I saw my MRI, it was it looked like just a little bit of a thumb sticking out, and I was thinking, that's it, like that's my herniated disc.

Facing The OR: Fear, Prep, And Mindset

SPEAKER_03

But mine was so painful, it dropped me to the floor. I couldn't even get up and walk around.

SPEAKER_02

Those nerves, if you just hit the right spot, you know, it's just it's yeah, uh, it's yeah, it's insane.

SPEAKER_03

So did your um when you got the MRI, did your doctor send you to a neurosurgeon or an orthopedic?

SPEAKER_02

Um, uh when I got the MRI, uh, I was sent to a uh what we have we have a we have a sport back and spine specific clinic here in in uh for in the UW system here in Madison. So uh I was sent there. So I was pretty much working with the back specialist right away, uh back in sports specialists. And then uh I was just essentially it's just referred uh from from PT to them. And I was I was talking to a surgeon specializing in in back surgery right away and back issues right away.

SPEAKER_03

And they didn't try to make you do a cortisone injection first?

SPEAKER_02

They mentioned that was a option, but uh weirdly enough, I had a friend actually going through the same thing at the same time.

SPEAKER_03

Same time.

SPEAKER_02

Him him was his was due to uh him just uh being a mountain biking, motorbiking crazy guy and hurting himself several times. Fun fact about him, he actually broke three ribs and got COVID in the same week.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_02

Wasn't a great recovery for him. He was just yeah. So um, so he was doing the cortisol shots and he explained what how what they were and how they worked, and I was like, I want nothing to do with that. I would, I would, I would rather just get the problem fixed instead of like suffering, and maybe that helps, maybe it doesn't, you know.

SPEAKER_03

I got sent, I was in Delaware at the time of my injury, so I I went to the emergency room, like I said, it it was like an event the morning of and fell to the floor, went to the the ER, they just gave me an opioid shot, didn't even do do the MRI. Sent me to um a back pain specialist, so that was like a two-week wait before I can even get into there. Yeah, he makes me do all these

Anesthesia, Humor, And Rolling Into Surgery

SPEAKER_03

tests, like I'm in pain. He's making me stand on my toes and all this stuff. So then he says, You need to see my partner another two-week wait. He tells me, We want to avoid surgery, we're gonna do the cortisone injection. So I had to wait a week for the cortisone.

SPEAKER_02

And meantime, I'm like Well, you want to gabapentin or anything of the sort? Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_03

The um spine, the ER did give me three days of a steroid pill, and then the back pain specialist said that's not enough. Let's do uh a dose pack of steroids. So that did help a bit.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

I was able to use a walker to get to the other doctors, but it felt like such a long, drawn-out process.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah, that's horrible. And and for you, you said that the event was just like you just woke up and it was and painful or anything.

SPEAKER_03

So I was having that glute pain and getting out of the pain of out of bed in the morning was getting harder and harder. And then the morning of I rolled over to get out of bed and was hit with such extreme pain. I was like writhing in agony, and my husband tried to help me out of bed. It took it was two hours for me to get from my bedroom to my living room, which was on the same floor.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, good lord.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, never experienced pain like that.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

But uh, yeah, I kind of wish I had never gotten the cortisone injection. It was a waste of time and money.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's it's all the conservative treatment the insurance wants you to go through, I think. As far as I understand it, before they actually shut out the money for the big surgery,

Waking Up: Pain Relief And Discharge

SPEAKER_02

but yeah, I wasn't playing that game.

SPEAKER_03

So what did you think when you heard surgery?

SPEAKER_02

Like, great, let's do it, or were you always Oh man, horrified, absolutely horrified. I had never had any surgery whatsoever before in my life. And I was just thinking my first surgery is going to be spine surgery. Yeah, that was that was hard. That was a hard pill to swallow. Luckily, uh, my wife is from a medical family. Oh, and um, everyone in in her family is they're they're they're they're all very smart people that look at life really rationally. And uh, they were all saying that um, yeah, you you need surgery. Surgery's that it'll fix it, it'll be the way to go. Um, don't suffer. Don't, don't, don't, you mean you're having weakness and numbness, don't sit on that, right?

SPEAKER_06

Right.

SPEAKER_02

So um, that's just kind of, you know, uh start going on Reddit, starting uh on the community, and just uh yeah, it took it took uh it took a uh you know a a couple weeks to you know come to terms with the fact that you know I needed this, it was gonna happen. So just get through it.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. And at that time your wife was pregnant, right? So you were expecting your fur. Was that your first child?

SPEAKER_02

That was your second.

SPEAKER_03

So did that have a factor in the decision to get surgery?

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely. There was no way I was gonna be taking care of a newborn, just like completely incapacitated.

Early Recovery: Nerve Oddities And Scares

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Um, my wife was let's see, I I had I had surgery June of that year, and then my little girl was born in January. So um, like read the next year. So I I was like, hey, I have like six, seven months probably just to get better. Yeah, that's around the time frame where I'll probably, you know, be fine. So yeah, it was it was also about, you know, do this now before the kid comes.

SPEAKER_03

So what was the year, by the way, that you had surgery?

SPEAKER_02

2024.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. So how long did you have to wait to get the surgery?

SPEAKER_02

That was the uh crazy part that took a lot of mental fortitude. Um, they fit me in like two weeks after my initial consult.

SPEAKER_05

Wow.

SPEAKER_02

Uh yeah, they were just uh the UW system here does a I mean, I've always had a fantastic experience with them, especially like they prioritize things really well.

SPEAKER_06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And they had a good opening at a really good time, and they were like, Do you want to do it? And I just get them, I gritted my teeth, and I'm like, Yeah, let's do it. Like, I'm I'm like a week and a half off my consult when I told the surgeon that I wanted to do it. Yeah, and I'm like, Oh, it's gonna be like a month, it's gonna be two months. It's like no right, less less than three weeks, and you're in there.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so most specialists, especially in in the Philadelphia area, it's like three months to get in and see them.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I chose my surgeon based on who could see me soonest.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yep, yeah, yep, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Not probably not a great way to choose a doctor, but I was in so much pain.

SPEAKER_02

Sometimes that's a call you gotta make, you know. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it just sucks that uh that it was so I mean, I mean, I guess it gives you more time to like feel the pain and really want the surgery, right? But it's uh yeah, waiting that long, even just for your appointments, just seems like absolute torture. I mean, you're just you're not even living at that point, you're just kind of waiting for time to go by in misery.

SPEAKER_03

So, how did you feel the morning of? Could you sleep the night before?

SPEAKER_02

No, no, not a wink. Uh, you know, because

Support Systems, Gear, And Bathroom Realities

SPEAKER_02

they they gave you this special shampoo that you're supposed to wash yourself with, and then in the morning they say take another shower and wash yourself again. And from the point where I was doing that, I kind of felt like I was heading for a science experiment, you know. And uh, you know, and you have to fast the day before. I um I love to eat, I eat all the time, and the fact that I had to fast just made it seem like that much more of like a like a science project that I was gonna go through, right? Um, you know, and we woke up the morning of my my wife drove me, and as I'm sitting in the car, no sleep, all adrenaline, all of a sudden my pain goes away. So we're driving to surgery, and I'm just like, maybe I don't need this. What's going on? Right, yeah. And then um, you know, uh that's of course, you know, we were going there, but it was super early in the morning. I think we woke up at like 3 a.m. It got there at like 4 30. The walk from the car to the hospital was just like the longest, most ominous thing. Like it was crazy. And then we get in there and they slap a QR code wristband on me. They tell my wife, hey, this is the screen you're looking at that'll let you know when he's in recovery. And I'm just like, I'm just a piece of meat now. They're gonna like I'm I'm scared. Uh, this is gonna hurt. This hospital's eerily clean. I can like there's there's like there's like a slight ringing in my ear from just like like this is real life, you know. So I was just super worried, nerves, just like I was really trying to keep it together. Um relied on humor quite a bit too. I think uh on on the way there, I I played the the song that uh that cut my life

Work Return, Standing Desk, And Treadmill

SPEAKER_02

into pieces. Yeah, you know, that's all I was I was trying to get so yeah, I was just trying to, you know, like you know, uh find the humor in it in a way.

SPEAKER_03

Um but yeah, um I got there and uh very very nervous, but um luckily you have to go through being rolled into the OR or did you go to sleep before they even rolled you in?

SPEAKER_02

So that's the thing. So we got to the room where the nurse is gonna take my vitals. I and I hate needles with a passion, right? So they uh my biggest worry at that point was oh my god, this IV is gonna suck. I've never had an IV in. Uh, what's it gonna be like, right? So, but luckily the nurse that I got was just such a professional. Like, I felt nothing when she put my IV in. And she's like, Wow, your your veins are like highways. And I was like, All right, that's good, I think, right? So then she got that set up, and I'm just still a bucket of nerves in this room as I'm getting ready and putting on the gown. And um like I don't do drugs, but when they gave me like this like little bit that they gave me this collection of pills

Back To Fitness Without Ego Lifting

SPEAKER_02

to take before surgery, like uh some tyranno, ibuprofen, just some preemptive anti inflammatories, anti nausea, too, anti nausea. Yep, yep. And uh, but one of them was uh I come to find out later, just like the fattest Sanax I've ever had in my life. So like as I'm sitting there and you know, I took I took the pills and we're waiting for something, right? And then all of a sudden, like, you know, I start chilling out. You know, I I'm I'm going through my phone, I'm laughing at my buddy's Discord channel, all the memes there, and I look at my wife and I'm like, I think I'm high. And she's like, Oh yeah, they probably gave you something. And like as I'm sitting there, you know, like just this warmness came over me, and all of a sudden I'm looking around, like, you know what? I'm I'm I'm getting ready to kiss my pain goodbye. This is gonna be all right, you know. That's great, and then yeah, and then you know, like then the nurses came in and they're like, Hey, are you ready? And I'm like, Yeah, I think I'm good. And like they hook my IV up to something else. Then I felt really good. Yeah, and as they're rolling me out to the OR, I'm like making jokes, and uh, you know, they'd roll me into the OR. I remember them rolling me in there, and I'm looking at all the equipment, and I'm like, Wow, this is really cool. And like,

Movement Over Sedentary Days

SPEAKER_02

I'm like, what does that do? What does that do? And then they put the they put the mask on me, and then it felt like I was dreaming for like a good 45 seconds already. It didn't feel like real life, and then I was out.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. See, when my uh my anesthesiologist came, I was still in like the pre-op room. He was a young, handsome doctor. So I just remember getting embarrassed because I knew when they do the surgery, we're butt make it with our butts up in the air. I'm thinking he's gonna be in the surgery room with me. But then I went to sleep right there in the pre-op room, so I didn't even see the OR or or any of the equipment. And then I woke up back in the the pre-op room.

SPEAKER_02

They knocked you out early. They're like, Oh my god, our blood pressure's spiking. No, no, no, no. Off button now.

SPEAKER_03

Did you uh handle the anesthesia well?

SPEAKER_02

I did, I did. Um, the anesthesia,

Using AI As A Recovery Copilot

SPEAKER_02

yeah, there was no issues with that. My anesthesiologist, um, he reminded me. I talked to him before I went in there. He reminded me of um, what's his name? Bill Stein, I think, the guy that did the the clear eye commercials back in the day. You know, he was just very matter-of-the-fact, like very serious, you know. And I'm like, hey, this is this is the guy that I that I want. And funny enough, he's looking through the the roster of people who are gonna be with him, and then he's going through, he's like, let me just check who will be with me here in the surgery. And he's looking through, he's like, he's like, Annie Anderson, I don't know what that is. And I'm just like, what? And then he thought for a while, I was like, Oh, she got married, and then like, you know, I'm like, oh my god, dude. Like, I hope everyone had their coffee. It is like 5 a.m. right now, like, but but yeah, no, he was all business. He was like just so like monotone and zoned in. I just I felt like this is this is the guy I want, this is the dude who's not gonna mess it up.

SPEAKER_06

That's great.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, but the the and yeah, I I'd reacted really well to all that, thankfully. No, no, nothing crazy or scary happened throughout the surgery. Um, and yeah, it's just uh

Message To The Scared: Why Surgery Can Be Safe

SPEAKER_02

was very happy how they handled it.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, turns out I'm a crier. This was my first surgery too. And when I woke up from the surgery, I just started bawling my eyes out.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And then I can't swallow pills. I'm an adult who can't swallow pills, so I couldn't take the anti-nausea pill that they tried to give me.

SPEAKER_02

Oh no, well, they have liquid stuff, right? They have like the liquid.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I don't know. They just had me deal with it. So woke up, cried, and then started throwing up immediately.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, yeah. Man.

SPEAKER_03

Now was yours an in and out, or did you have to stay the night at the hospital?

SPEAKER_02

In and out, American healthcare system, outpatient, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02

But I I had everything set up at home, you know. I had a like I had I had my entire bed set up. I got a giant monitor arm that we hooked up behind the TV, so behind the the headboard, so I get out my computer right here, and like I had my I had a had a pretty good setup, you know.

SPEAKER_03

Like I like your incisional pain.

SPEAKER_02

Incisional pain um was a kinder pain than than um than the nerve pain.

SPEAKER_06

Right.

SPEAKER_02

Uh, I the incision pain, I remember that's the first thing I remember feeling when I woke up in recovery, then they gave me a nice little pill and I knocked out again. Um but uh the incisional pain was was very extremely manageable,

Closing And Listener Invitation

SPEAKER_02

even more so with the meds they give you. How much pain I would be in was like a big thing that I was worried about uh after surgery. But it's uh it's if you stick to your if you if you stick to your meds, you will be it's it's so manageable. And I don't even consider myself someone that has a high pain tolerance at all. Uh but for me it was it was uh you know, it was just I don't know, I got into this mindset, it's like this is what you're feeling, you know, deal with it now, and the meds help. And it was it was it was better. All the pain of recovery that I felt was 100% better than all of the stuff I had been feeling up to that point. And I it was almost welcomed. I was like, this is a great trade-off.

SPEAKER_03

Did you have a nerve pain still or did you wake up with the nerve pain gone?

SPEAKER_02

Woke up with the nerve pain completely gone. Um, I actually stood up right away. Uh and I I I was walking myself to get dressed and like, no, no, we'll help you. And then like they put me in like a in like a in like a wheelchair and you know, drove me back, they pushed me back to my car. But um, no, I was essentially I was I was standing up unassisted, um, uh pretty much from the get-go. Um, I don't know if because I still had like a lot of leg muscle that was, you know, helping me out, but um I the nerve, but I did have uh different nerve pain to begin with, because everything in there is just decompressing and they should they were just in there touching stuff, right?

SPEAKER_06

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02

So it was uh it was painful to walk, uh, you know, and I I did have nerve pain walking, uh, you know, as as like right after surgery, but it decreased increasingly uh through like that decrease increasingly, that's a fun word for you to say it, but uh it got better every time I went to sleep. So every single time that I caught a nap, every single time that I went to sleep, I woke up feeling way better. And again, the meds help incredibly.

SPEAKER_03

So that's amazing.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was I was it was uh it was all just so just more manageable than I would have ever thought it would have been.

SPEAKER_03

So now how did you find recovery? Were were there aspects of it that you weren't expecting, or was yours just smooth from the get-go?

SPEAKER_02

It wasn't super smooth from the get-go, um, because as I was getting better, I started feeling symptoms on my other side.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, it's so common.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm just like, what the hell is this? Right? And you know, some tingling in my in my good leg, in my good foot, you know, and I was uh just I was concerned about that. Um, but uh, you know, I just kind of went through it, talked to my doctor, reached out to the to the Reddit community, and the the medical advice I got from my doctor was just that, hey, your nerve has been compressed, nerves take a while to heal, weird things happen, you will feel weird things, just keep on going with it, and you know, it'll it'll it'll even out essentially. And that turned out to be true for in my case. So I was I was very uh happy about that. But the mind game of reherniation was something I wasn't expecting.

SPEAKER_05

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02

Because you just feel so fragile, you feel like you're you're you're you know, you uh for a while you feel like you were a bit of a of a broken individual in a way that's trying to get better. Um, and it's just uh you know, I I I had a reherniation, I had like a reherniation scare about six weeks out. Uh I I did a quick jerky movement and all of a sudden like I felt some like pain there, uh, like as I was standing and even sitting. Right. And I'm like, oh my God, is it back? Right. But you know, I reached out to my doctor, and the advice he gave uh was that hey man, if you reherniated, like you would like know for sure for sure there wouldn't be a question of like, oh, did I reherniate? I'm feeling some type of symptoms come back, but like I would have full-on pre-op symptoms. I would have like I would be in in pre in pre-op pain, if not worse. So uh I just kept that in mind, and he's like, it's just you know, uh, you know, just uh stay active and just give it give it some weeks and gritted my tree my teeth through that. And yeah, I had to do that for I think I had about four reherniation scares that was just flare-ups uh within within the first year. So that mind game is something that I don't think anyone really sees coming.

SPEAKER_03

Right, right. I got after my surgery, I got two more MRIs within the six month uh six month period because I was convinced I had reherniated. My pain had come back so so intense.

SPEAKER_02

Oh no. And it turned out to be okay.

SPEAKER_03

Fine, just fine.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, just nerves, yeah, crazy. Oh man, yeah. I um I you know, and I actually I uh up when up when I had my first reherniation scare, I did push for a second MRI. My doctor's like, hey, I mean, it's fine if you want to get one. There's a lot of fluid there, so I don't know how good of a picture we'll get.

SPEAKER_06

Right.

SPEAKER_02

But I was like, all right, you know, um, but uh, you know, I was gonna do it, but you know, I I did end up feeling gradually better as the days went on. Uh, you know, but I got to to the to this day, I I do sleep with like a pillow in between my legs just to make sure the spine stays neutral when I'm side sleeping. But um, yeah, no, I just gave it time, gave it motion, and then it's just it ended up resolving itself time after time again.

SPEAKER_03

So what was the most helpful thing you had for recovery, do you think? Besides the grabber. Everyone mentions the grabber.

SPEAKER_02

The grabber is amazing. Oh my god. Most helpful thing for recovery that I had was just uh help. Um, you know, my my uh wife and mother took care of my of my child while I was there. Uh I I was working at a place where they were extremely uh you know lenient and understanding that I needed time off. Although, I mean, I'm a remote software developer, I could still kind of log in if I wanted to, but they told me, hey, you do not even touch your work computer. You just do what you do and get better. Um, but yeah, uh that and uh yeah, I guess in recovery, just having people to help, you know, having people to come help and cook and just hanging out. And uh, you know, and and having someone, uh a buddy of mine actually took the time to to visit me fairly often and say, Hey, let's go on a walk.

SPEAKER_03

That's great.

SPEAKER_02

I I had that support with me, just talking to him as I walked around the neighborhood and you know got better and better. So it's just the people, the people and the help was better. The grabber also shouts out to the grabber, yeah. Uh that quickly became my uh my then two-year-old's favorite toy. Um so that we had to actually get two, uh, because you know, and ended up getting broken. But um, but yeah, uh that was good. Also, the the raised toilet seat was was pretty all right. I used that once or twice, but then uh oh bidets, yeah, bidet. That is a non-negotiable of the surgery. Absolutely bidet bidet and laxatives absolutely essential.

SPEAKER_03

Yes, well, it's it's funny how nerve-wracking it is to go to the bathroom the first time after surgery.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my god, yeah, it was it's insane. Um but uh, you know, like you you you you get through it, you do all right. Um I I was a bit freaked out about the the incision because once I was could finally take a shower, I'm like, oh my god, there's gonna be water running over this incision. And like I just did not understand or could you know, like conceptualize how how tissue would heal, but it was just very for me, it was just like a sensory thing, you know. It's like oh my god, like I hope like you know, nothing bad happens down there, but right, but yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Now I have talked to a few moms that have suffered with mom guilt during their recovery. Did you have dad guilt when you can't pick up the kids?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I'm horrible. No, I mean like just because I knew that my horrible, yeah. My my my daughter had my mom and my wife 24-7 at every whim. And you know, when she felt like seeing dad, she would like barrel in the room and jump on the bed and be like, look at this painting, and I'd be like, All right, cool. But like, no, um, I I I didn't have too much of the of of a of a parent guilt of not being able to be there with her. I saw her all the time. I was at home all the time, but yeah, I could see how someone definitely, someone with with a more maternal uh side of you, uh point of view would definitely feel that way. I feel as though I'm like my if my wife was in that situation, she would probably be feeling that very much so.

SPEAKER_03

But yeah, I had spouse guilt because I felt so guilty about how much my husband had to do just to take care of me, and uh because he had a very he has a very busy job and I wasn't cooking like I usually do. So yeah, we can be hard on ourselves sometimes.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. And I'm I mean, I'm I'm the cook in my house. Um, and my my my wife does have uh, you know, she's got the crazier job. Um, but you know, she was she was making it work, and you know, my mom was there to help full time, which was amazing, like absolutely just priceless. But uh, no, I mean, my luckily, you know, my wife took everything on uh, you know, very well. And I like I mentioned she's from a medical family. And her mom was was a doctor back in the country she was born in, so she was uh very, very much continue to tell my wife, yo, your husband is recovering from major surgery, like you need to like you know, be on it. And like she also understood that, so I feel as though it was a lot of like understanding there, and it was just it was just it was just a good setup from the people perspective. So I was very lucky for that.

SPEAKER_03

That's nice. Now, how long did you wait till you went back to work?

SPEAKER_02

My work gave me a solid four months off. Oh, nice, which is pretty great, yeah. So yeah, but honestly, I was I was I mean, I I work with people I work with, I consider buddies. So I was just on the work slack on my phone, uh, you know, still talking to them, letting me know how everything's going. I reviewed code as well on the side, you know, it's just you know, because people needed my opinion and uh just working was just so effortless to do because I was already like at home, like all I needed was a laptop, like my my uh my commute is going to my basement, right? Yeah, so yeah, I I I I had that much time off, but I I think I I was back in being active at work before before the that time was up.

SPEAKER_03

Did you make any changes to how you worked after you got back?

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah, oh my god, yeah. So my my wife was uh she had the very the the good foresight to um buy me a standing desk and a desk treadmill. So I have a small little portable treadmill I put uh under my desk to help me get some steps in and walk throughout the day. Uh but as far as uh just my work setup, um yeah, she's pretty much a standing desk and the treadmill. And that was the only change, really. Uh didn't really need to change too much, thankfully.

SPEAKER_03

Back to hiking or any kind of weightlifting?

SPEAKER_02

Um yeah, so ever since yeah, so now it took me about I took it really easy for about a year. Did nothing except for walking, some swimming, but uh it about a year in then I was I was back to to weightlifting. Um, I don't do any axial loading much anymore. Uh that's so you know, no, no, no real squats, no overhead, you know, barbell stuff. But um, you know, I follow some really good uh fitness uh scientists on YouTube. Shout out Dr. Mike Isratel. I have a fantastic parasocial relationship with him. Yes, but uh, you know, I'm I'm finding different ways to achieve the same goals that I was working towards. And uh, you know, and at one point I had you know got in some of the best shape I've been in the past like four or five years. So uh I'm cooling it off now with the two kids, you know. So but uh I'm hoping to get back to it. I'm just staying baseline active now. But but yeah, um it's it's uh it's there there's there is life at the gym after the surgery. There is not there is probably not gonna be ego lifting for you, but uh it's actually encouraged that you know with this surgery, you're sort of signing a contract to keep your core strong for the rest of your life. You're signing a contract to be active and walk most days, otherwise you you will risk a flare-up. Um, and as maybe they'll probably get you know better as your fitness level increases, but uh yeah, it's it's a contract you sort of sign with yourself and it's very, very important. And you will live longer because of it, you will be healthier because of it. It's overall a net positive.

SPEAKER_03

It's crazy how how moving is just so important. I just had Christmas week off from work, and I spent most of the time on my couch just relaxing. I don't relax too much. So by the end of the week, I was waking up in the most severe pain in my back, and I was like, what is going on? Why am I having so much pain? And then I took my parents to a local tourist thing and we walked a lot that night. I woke up pain free the next day. I was like, it's the moving, you gotta keep moving.

SPEAKER_02

You know what's helped me stay sort of accountable? Chat GPT. Oh um, I I threw all of my surgery notes on there. I and it it it took out all the medical jargon and translated it to something I could understand. Uh, whenever I have a flare-up, I let it know the um the the the the symptoms that I'm feeling. And it always it talks to me like like a doctor, I prompt it to, and it always you know reminds me to be like, hey, you're feeling this 100% because you have not been walking for the past like two weeks or three weeks. Like you have not been stretching, probably. Is that true? And I'm like, yeah, it is. So you know, I have my my uh my AI assistant to keep me keep me honest and to help me calm down when I'm re you know fearing a reherniation. Yeah. Um, so that's actually weirdly enough been a fantastic tool.

SPEAKER_03

So I've only used it a couple times, and I maybe I need to reprompt it because I feel like all it does is hype me up.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, it it'll it'll do that. Yeah, and in a lot of these chat bots, uh a lot of these a lot of these you know uh large language models, they you you you should you need to prompt them in how you want them to think beforehand because they're just very good at putting one word in front of the other, right?

SPEAKER_06

Right.

SPEAKER_02

So if you give it context, it's it's better at that. So if you say, Hey, um uh you know, uh play the play the role of of a doctor or a spine surgery specialist and uh analyze the situation for me, it will be better at giving you more accurate fill-in-the-blank information.

SPEAKER_03

So that's actually the first time anyone's ever recommended chat as a recovery tool.

SPEAKER_02

Oh my god, recovery tool, note takers, uh um chef assistants. Uh it's I'm I mean, I'm I'm a tech guy, so yeah, naturally I'm finding a million ways to use this. My wife's in tech, so we're uh we're we you know, we we're a very AI heavy family. Which is a fun thing you can say now in 2025, 2026.

SPEAKER_03

So I will be posting this interview on Reddit and on YouTube. What would you have to say to someone who's watching this considering surgery but scared out of their mind?

SPEAKER_02

I would tell them that they have a right to be scared, they have a right to be concerned, but if you're suffering any sort of prolonged weakness, if you can't put your socks on in the morning, if your life is just not there anymore, if you're like if you're living to to to to an extent where you're a shell of yourself because of the pain, the with the medical advancements that we are seeing now are amazing. Modern medicine is amazing. But the they will take care of you, whether it's giving you drugs to not care that you're about to go get operated on, or whether it's making your recovery absolutely trivial with the use of you know painkillers, or and like the everything is mapped out, and it is a it is a very safe bet to get surgery. Um and I would say just just buckle down and do it, find a good doctor, and you know, it's it's uh it's okay to be scared, be scared if you if you need to, but when you go through with it, you will see it won't be nearly as bad as you think. Yeah, not a lot of great stories make it online, also, so don't don't don't focus on the bad things there. And uh yeah, you know, I I I told my wife that, you know, I'm a bit of a sci-fi guy. I told her that you know, I don't live in a time where there's commercial space travel. I don't live in a time where I can go to a mega city with a sky bridge to the stratosphere, right? But I live in a time where there's general anesthesia, man, and that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it was like time travel, just fell asleep, woke up better. It was this thing, it was amazing. Um, but yeah, I would say don't be discouraged from the surgical option. Uh, there's a fantastic quality of life ahead of you. And if you're already feeling pain, there's there's really nowhere to go but up.

SPEAKER_03

Rod, I really appreciate you taking the time out and sharing your story on the podcast. I'm sure you're gonna be a great encouragement for other people who watch the video. If you are someone who has recovered well from a herniated disc or some sort of back surgery, and you'd like to share your journey, head to bedbackbeyond.com and click share your story. I would love to include your voice on the show. Once again, Rod, thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02

Awesome. Well, thanks for having me on. Stay welcome.