I saw the back surgeon my doctor recommended last Friday at the NYU Spine Center, located very close to Union Square in Manhattan.
The good news is that I do not need surgery. He actually told me that my MRI looked pretty good to him and that anyone suggesting I should have surgery was just trying to make money out of my bad back. In a way, I was glad to hear this as I was quite reluctant to face surgery, especially since one of my sisters had a similar operation and the outcome was apparently far from optimal.
The not so good news is that I will have to keep on moving ahead with my back as is. The surgeon doctor said there is 90% change that in my particular case regular physical therapy and exercise will solve my current back problems within the next 6 to 9 months (if not before). If I happen to
be in the 10% frame then I will have to look for additional help;
I have to acknowledge that therapy has already help quite a bit. I do feel stronger in regards to my back. But on the other hand, this is a bit like the weather: not only almost unpredictable but also totally non-linear (no wonder the poor forecasters miss so many predictions; it is just like trying to predict the stock market). So I have good days (like today with no pain even
when I sit to work on the computer) and bad days (like yesterday when the pain was having a ball and my back was really stiff once again).
But I do have to get back into action for both physical and mental reasons. So I have decided to start going back to the office on a paced base. In other words, I would like to start slowly my come back to normal life!
My plan is to go to the office three times a week for say 4-5 hours, do the rest via telecommuting and take it from there, depending on how I feel. I was planning to go in tomorrow but the forecast does not look good at all (snow up to 9 inches in Westchester at least; but then again
this could be totally wrong).
I am more than eager to get back to work; but on the other hand, I do not want to feel as I did when this back thingie started, out of the blue.
