MRI Results (or lack thereof) - 81 days post-op

Well the results are in from my MRI and I got ‘donuts’!

Before I start I must say my MRI referral was from my GP and therefore I was out of pocket around $300 for the scan. Bloody expensive but my thinking was I’ve come this far……

Anyway, they were looking into ‘lumbar pain radiating to the buttocks and left posterior thigh, discogenic or facet. Is this amenable to CT guided intervention?’

Discogenic. Sounds like the sort of pissed dancing I might have trotted out in the wee hours of a sticky-floored nightclub circa 1994.

The conclusions of the findings were ‘minor disc changes only with a small discogenic bar extending L4/5 postero-right laterally without causing nerve root displacement or compression. This does not appear to correspond to the left-sided nature of the patient’s symptoms and is of unlikely clinical concern.’

Bugger. The old night-time aches and pains of the lower back and pelvis/hips are well and truly back and I was hoping it was something they could treat in my lower back. Unfortunately this does not appear to be the case.

I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that these aches will be with me for the foreseeable so the sooner I get my head around that and accept it the better.

As it is, the weekend just gone was a monstrous 3-day golf trip to Yarrawonga where, in between lengthy sessions at the bar, I played, and walked, two rounds of golf. The hips weren’t completely niggle free but they were good enough.

I am booked in to see Simon at Lake Physio to get my ‘final’ rehab program for the long term future on July 29. Should be interesting to see what he has in store for me.

This is my MRI report.


If you are reading this blog and have any thoughts or comments, good or bad, I would really appreciate it if you could add your comments after any of my posts. I feel like I am on my own with this and would love to hear from people in the same boat.