It's been over a year and a half since I had my operation on L4, L5. I'm still improving. I expected to be up and running after six weeks. No such luck. My doctor has finally found a pain killer for me that works well. It's called "Mint-Tramadol, acetominophin" Pardon the spelling. I can take one to two, three times a day. I've never taken more than one every 24 hours. It's like I never had a back problem.

I made pies from scratch on Friday and no problems. That meant that I was standing on my feet for quite awhile. Without the pill, that would have never happened or I would have been in excrusiating pain.

Prior to the new medication, I would take two Tylenol every four hours and I would not get any meaningful relief until after I had taken six pills every four hours apart.

Think positive! one day you will suddenly realize that you have made an improvement. It may not be a huge improvement. Just tiny steps at a time.