6:19 PM
last saturday (early morning), we finally went back to the ER (the ambulance FINALLY authorized a transport). tony ended up being admitted b/c of numbness in his right leg. later in the day, a neurosurgeon came to talk to us about how, "listen, i know this is a sudden decision to make, but i think back surgery is the most logical step from where we are now" and we had to make a decision about having it while he was admitted, or getting discharged and seeking one through his regular doctor at summa
we talked about it and, given that he'd already been going through the 'conservative' steps for his back issues/herniated disc, surgery was something very real and expected in his future anyhow. this sciatica coming on like a mack truck just hastened things a bit
he had surgery (microdiscectomy) on tuesday and stayed for one and a half more days b/c people at the hospital could not get their communication in order about if he was leaving with a walker (he couldn't confidently walk on his own) or if we were just getting a script and we kept getting jerked around and gaslit about it. his surgeon and quite a few of the nurses were great, but a lot of the techs and some of the other nurses and regular doctors were....not so much
his surgeon was really happy with the surgery and has high hopes for his recovering. tony also said when PT came around to visit him afterwards they were impressed he was keeping his legs moving and were really happy with his situation upon getting up and moving around. not quite like some folks we've read about who 'walked right out of the hospital', but his nerve has been compressed for nearly all of his life and has only ratcheted up in the last 10~ years or so, so it'll take longer for things to heal/go back to 'normal' (and the nerve may never fully be 'normal' again, but it'll be better than it was before saturday!)
but he's home now and the pain is being managed pretty decently. it's really night and day from when he was in pain before the surgery to now. it's still quite a few weeks of recovery, but he can get up and move a bit and will have to slowly work on regaining his strength/muscle mass in his legs since he was basically bedridden for the last 3-4 weeks
i have been running non-stop since saturday (well, truly, before then), back and forth to the hospital, rearranging half of the house, sleeping at the hospital in his room for two nights, running errands today, etc., etc. it's been exhausting, but at least from here, hopefully each day is a step of improvement
i've been off work since tuesday, as well. i'm waiting for the surgeon's office to file my FMLA paperwork (or get back to me about it). i feel bad b/c i hate to inconvenience my coworkers (and this week has been ROUGH for everyone at work, too, everyone's going through it), but i need to be home for right now. hopefully by end of sunday tony will be a bit more situated in being able to do what he needs to do on his own and i can go back to work