Ruptured Disc and a Trip to the ER

     
Just a quick update to explain why we have not made comments lately on your post!!

We arrived at Rainbow Plantation Escapee Park on Friday, July 6.  We secured our spot and settled in for a 3 day stay.  Sunday Mike complained of a sore back and started taking Tylenol thinking all would clear up soon.  Monday morning, our travel day, I got busy readying things inside the Oliver while Mike began getting things unhooked outside.  He came inside about the time I had finished and I assumed he was ready for the final check and load myself and our fur babies and get rolling.
Instead he wanted to lie down on the floor! 
             

 I could tell he was hurting and asked him if felt like even traveling.  He wasn’t sure so he laid there on the floor for a few minutes.  We both finally decided traveling wasn’t going to happen on this day.  So I began to put things back together to stay another night.  I looked at Mike and I knew....he was not just hurting but in excruciating pain!!!  I asked him if he needed to go to the ER and he said “yes!”

So off we head to Thomas Hospital in Fairhope, Alabama.  We arrived at the ER but Mike was unable to walk so I got a wheel chair and that’s when the kind folks at this hospital went into action.  They got him checked in while I got the truck parked.  We immediately, without any waiting, went into an exam room and was taken care of by the nurse and doctor assigned to him.  
   

They began administering a ton of meds which included morphine, oxycodone , ibuprofen, and who knows what else.  Nothing
was relieving the pain.  They ordered a CT scan and those results showed ruptured disc.  They admitted him for the night.
             

Early the next morning they ordered an MRI and this along with the CT scan showed the location and severity.  He had ruptured L4 and L5 disc.  They continued to administer pain medications.  We met with the hospital doctor and the orthopedic surgeon as well as his PA.  Sometime during the early afternoon a physical therapist came and worked with him.  He had him use a walker because at this time Mike still could not walk steady due to the pain.
He was finally discharged around 5:00.
         

After a day of Morphine and Oxycodone I was ready for anything...lol

When we had our follow up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon we learned, by actually looking  at the MRI, the damage.  There is quite a large rupture!!  His recommendation is for Mike to have a lumbar epidural.  That will be scheduled sometime in about 2 weeks.  Then after the epidural we will have a follow up visit with the doctor to see how effective the treatment was.

So we will be at Rainbow Plantation for approximately a month.  We aren’t sure after this what our time looks like.

The good news is he is feeling better everyday, but still has numbness in his right leg!!  Thanks to the prednisone and muscle relaxers, he no longer takes the pain medication.  I am now the designated driver!!          

Asher wanted a bed, so we let him borrow Nick's until we get on big enough for him.

We will (we have permission) drive the truck only, no Oliver, to Lagrange Wednesday of next week to complete the doctor’s visits we had scheduled.  Remember that crown....yep it’s still waiting for me!!  I also have my biannual oncology visit!  We will get this done on Thursday and return to Rainbow Plantation on Friday!!  Whew!!  That will be a quick trip but necessary!!

So this is why it’s been kinda silent at Through the Lens these past few days!  We plan to get back to blogging and catching up with all of you very soon!!!