Grateful for God's Timing

On Tuesday I had a consultation with a specialist to discuss surgery because of the magnitude of my herniated disc, the numbness in my leg, and beginning of muscle weakness which could indicate the muscles aren't receiving the signals from my spine because of the pressure on the nerve. The surgery is called a lumbar laminectomy and/or discectomy. The neurosurgeon would cut out the 1.3cm disc bulge and remove some bone to leave a wide area for the sciatic nerve to move freely. I might go home the same day. The risks are minimal - less than 1% risk of damage to my heart or lungs and about a 3% risk of infection. There is also a risk of ongoing complications that would require follow-up surgery. After surgery I would have about 4 to 6 weeks of physiotherapy and no travel. By the end of 6 weeks I'd likely be back at 100%. Since I saw a neurosurgeon, that is, of course, the option he suggests.

It's not, however, a clear-cut solution at all. Were I in debilitating pain, dragging my leg behind me, or otherwise unable to function it would be clear that surgery would be an immediate solution. Since, however, I am virtually pain-free, able to walk without even a limp, and otherwise comfortable (although still favoring a numb leg), there is no clear choice. What the surgeon told me it boils down to is what I'd like to do. If I feel like I'm at 90%, surgery may or may not get me up to 100% and there would still be a great deal of physiotherapy afterwards. There are no studies that demonstrate any long-term impact, positive or negative, to having or not having the surgery compared to conservative solutions like physiotherapy. There are no studies that demonstrate any greater or lesser likelihood of recurrence one way or the other. The possibility of scar tissue forming and encasing the nerve to cause long-term problems is present with surgery or physiotherapy. And I'm still in the "acute phase" of the injury which usually measures 3-6 weeks. So the surgeon couldn't definitively direct me to one solution or the other as superior for long-term success. What we ultimately decided was to give me a fair shot at physiotherapy which to date I really haven't had. As of Tuesday I've had a total of 4 physiotherapy appointments with 3 different physiotherapists on two continents. To really give it a fair shot I need to stay put and work with one physical therapist or at least the same office for at least 3 weeks. By the end of those three weeks we should be able to see if I'm responding to the physiotherapy, if I'm regressing, or if I'm stable. At that point I'll be in a better condition to determine if I'll move forward with surgery.

So for right now our family has committed to staying put right here at my parent's home until the last week of October. That gives me a chance to do my exercises and stretches under the consistent guidance of a physiotherapist while avoiding aggravating the injury by driving or flying. We had front-loaded our home-service schedule considerably and it's frustrating that we'll have to cancel so many engagements. But as many, many of our supporters and congregations have already written to say, my health - particularly my long-term health - comes first. And as one of our co-workers in Kenya keeps reminding me, "We need you in Kenya. You need to get better." In a couple weeks we'll be able to see a way forward for meeting at least some of our commitments during this home-service.

Until we get to that point, my work is to stay put, take my anti-inflamatories, take walks (preferably with my family), do my McKenzie (push-up) extensions, lay on the floor in positional traction, strengthen my core muscles with a pelvic tilt, do my hip oblique stretch, do my nerve glide (which just sounds cool), and ice, ice, ice. It's not difficult physiotherapy. Frankly, it almost feels like a forced vacation. Maybe that's what God had in mind.

-Shauen