I can relate, Dennis: I have a partially-prolapsed L-5 disc that I have to be really careful with.
It's been a recurring injury for me ever since I first damaged it when I was a teenager, but got excruciatingly painful about 5 or 6 years ago when I was helping a buddy move his refrigerator. I could barely get into my car for about 6 months 'til it finally got better with lots of ice, bed rest and PT.
Be really careful when you select a surgeon. I have a friend who works in the medical field who had to have back surgery. He'd heard alot of horror stories (there are good and bad surgeons, just like mechanics) so he used his "inside connections" to scope out who was best. Wound up getting worked on by the same guy who had done several of the SF 49ers, and was back on his feet and as close as possible to "100%"
in a very short time. Pricey? Maybe...but this is certainly not something you want to cut costs on.
When you get back on your feet, my advice is to do anything you can to keep your abs and upper back muscles in top shape. For me, that really seems to reduce the strain on my back of that any lifting I do creates. I have a pneumatic-tired hand truck that I use to move stuff like transmissions and rear ends around...stuff I used to muscle. A litttle hard on the pride at first, but better than getting laid up again.
To those of you who've never have back trouble: take care of your back (lift with your legs, keeping your spine vertical, get help lifting heavy objects, etc.)! Us guys tend to be really stupid about playing macho games with this: "watch me pick THIS up, baby...no prpblem". Your back isn't designed to do that, and will give you truouble sooner or later if you don't use common sense (ask the older guys on this forum if you doubt it). Back injuries are EXTREMELY painful and tend to really dog you for long periods of time. Trust me: you want to avoid this.
Best of luck Dennis, hang in there.
--sixpuppy
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