OK, the pendulum is still swinging...
Had my pre-surgical exam today which actually went pretty well. The PA that I saw and I had a good discussion about the options, surgery pro and con, etc.
Here's the current state of my infirmities:
- The three smallest toes on my left foot are pretty much continuously numb.
- Any activity (riding the recumbent, walking, etc) generally results in my calf hurting or feeling "tight"
- I have fairly continuous pain in my lower back which ranges from mild to very uncomfortable. It's enough to keep me awake at night.
- Prolonged activity generally causes pain from my piriformis to my toes.
- My left leg just doesn't "work" correctly - when I walk I have a slight limp which gets progressively worse the further I walk. When I ride the recumbent my left calf gets progressively more painful and my toes/forefoot get increasingly numb.
- I'm not able to stand up on my toes with my left leg, at all. I can raise my heel perhaps .5".
Although the PA said it would get better, she was also fairly certain that I'd never lose the numbness in my toes without surgery nor would I regain full (normal) functionality of my calf muscle. She also said there was the possibility of nerve root degradation of the sciatic nerve if I didn't have the surgery.
On the downside, the surgery won't make me any less likely to herniate the disc again in the future. Core strengthening, gradual adaptation to stress (climbing, distance, etc) would lessen the likelihood of recurrence but not eliminate it. Also, when they snip away part of the disc (which wouldn't retract to its normal position anyway) that's impinging on the sciatic nerve there's that much less disc providing cushion. As I get older and the disc shrivels up naturally I could end up bone on bone and this could lead to a more involved surgery (fusion) but that could happen regardless of whether or not I have the surgery.
So, I'm having surgery. I'm hopeful that if I do I'll regain normal function in my leg and will be no worse off than I was before. I'm also hopeful that with additional core strengthening I can resume "normal" activity which for me means 1200K's on a diamond frame. The jury is well out on that.
In practical terms, here's what it all means:
- Surgery next Tuesday 8/25
- Three weeks of no activity beyond walking. Don't pick anything up that weighs more than 10 pounds. No yard work, no mowing, no anything really.
- After three weeks, I might be able to ride the recumbent on a trainer at low levels of intensity.
- Six weeks I can resume riding but shorter distances and easy level of effort.
- Gradually increasing until 8-12 weeks I'm riding near normal.
I'm hopeful that I can do a bit of riding outside before the weather turns to crap and do ever increasing distance/intensity on the trainer after that. We're not currently planning on going to Texas this winter and are instead staying in the godforsaken frozen wasteland this year so I'm going to be putting in some serious Zwift (or Rouvy) miles.
After that, I'm hoping that I can start riding the DF outside next spring, ramp up and do a series then do several grand randonnees. Current wish list is: Hokkaido, LEL, SBS, Cracker Swamp and Great Southern.
Stay tuned!
