4-month follow-up with Dr. Nelson

I met with Nelson again for an approx. 4-month post-surgery follow-up. My back was feeling really bad for a few days at this point, probably due to overly-aggressive physical therapy for the last two weeks, going into the office for a few hours on Wed., going to Comic Con on Fri., and swimming with Justin and Trajan during which I surely over-exerted myself playing with Trajan, throwing him into the deep end, etc.

He took an x-ray of my lumbar spine and you could see the hardware. He said everything looked OK, and that the fusion seemed to be occurring as expected. He said my pain and discomfort was the result of overdoing my physical activities. He wants me to discontinue the PT and just walk.

My left side (facet area? towards hip) was really hurting, so I asked him if there could be arthritis or a facet problem or bone growth impinging on a nerve, and he said no. He said the fusion was probably far enough along that I could get on some anti-inflammatories which should give some pain relief. So, he is prescribing me some naproxen. He also offered a cortisone injection in the painful area which I accepted. So, he had me lie down and gave me the shot right then and there. He said the cortisone (steroid) should jump-start the healing in that area and hopefully get me over the hump to feeling better. He wants me to hold off on the anti-inflammatories to see if the injection brings some pain relief. Hopefully so!!!