Onward by all means

So I saw the nurse practitioner at my surgeon's office this morning.  Can I just say how much I like Amy?  She is wonderful.  Anyway, they took x-rays and my hardware looks awesome.  No problems whatsoever with it.  This was a huge relief to me, as I have read horror stories online about people with broken screws, etc. in their fusion hardware.  Truly the stuff of nightmares and I am relieved beyond words to know that mine is all good. 

As for the hip and leg pain, Amy thinks there are two separate issues at hand.  One is bursitis in my hip.  This has actually been going on a long time.  Months before the surgery, I was concerned about my hip pain, but decided that I could only deal with one thing at a time, and the back surgery came first.  I thought once my back was fixed, then if the hip was still an issue, I could see about doing something for it.  The crazy thing is, I did not for one minute imagine that my pre-existing hip issue was related to the current pain.  But Amy thinks it is definitely a component of what's going on.

So she gave me an injection right into the hip bursa (ouch) and said that should relieve some of the discomfort and allow me to lay on my right side again.  However, she warned that it may get worse for a day or two, just from the shot itself, before it starts calming down.  Okay.

She believes that the rest of my pain is nerve-related.  There is a possibility that scar tissue is forming and is aggravating the nerve, but that is not a certainty by any means.  She is calling in a prescription for Neurontin, to see if that will help with the pain.  If it's not better in a week or so, the next step is an injection directly to the nerve root. 

Amy said that, all things considered, I am doing really well.  She was proud of my walking and commented that she could tell I've lost weight since the surgery (yay!).  She said I have had more than my share of "glitches" and that it seems nothing comes easy for me (I thought that was just me), but that I had a great attitude and that will help me get through all of this. 

I feel much better after seeing her and getting a plan in place to deal with this hurdle.  I told Amy I truly considered this surgery to be a turning point for me, and I want more than anything to move forward from this point to a healthier, more active lifestyle. 

So..........onward by all means!