Today is the Day! I am going in to the hospital for my back surgery today. I am far from happy about it though. It is a really depressing and frustrating situation. We got so much going on at OTM these days, missing any time is just awful.
I am even missing the great Gumby’s bachelor party!
One of the huge problems is that I can’t travel for 6 months. ACK! That is a lot of fights and tournaments to miss out on. And, I already missed out on Pac Sub in Hawaii.
It’s been about 5 weeks now and I have tried every kind of relief I can to get my left leg to work and have feeling again. I have tried a lot of different treatments and doctors and some were more successful than others.
Just recently in San Francisco to see Dr Pete Goldman. And, Dr. Pete was able to adjust me and he did a great job on getting me standing up straight again. I had been hunched over since China. I had been adjusted by a few other chiros, but Dr. Pete has a very unique system and it really works. That’s why top guys like B.J. Penn, Kenny Florian, and many other top competitors go out of their way to work with him. Anyone who trains would benefit from healing from this master.
Check them out here: http://www.sfgoldman.com/
Health Pro Wellness Center in Huntington Beach, CA has this awesome machine, that I think every martial artist can benefit from. The thing is amazing. I got so much movement back in my spine from just one visit. I am now on my 5th and my spine feels great. The machine is called DRX9000 and it slowly stretches you back in very small increments. This loosens up everything! I’d say one session is equal to 2 months of Yoga! Amazing.
They also do Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments. I haven’t yet tried this system, but I am going to after my surgery. This is used by high level pro and olympic athletes for recovery and healing.
Check them out here: http://www.healthprohb.com/
Pro-Active Wellness Center in Redondo Beach can do some amazing stuff for your body too. Dr. Lu there spent a lot of time reviewing my x-rays and MRI’s and offering some good honest advice. The Active Release Therapy they do there is second to none. If you have tendonitis or ligament problems, their skills are awesome. Even if you don’t have problems, head in there before a competition for a treatment and you will be amazed at how much stronger and lasting your grip will be. I know I was. When you get all the scar tissue and crap out of your hands and forearms, they never get tired.
Check them out here: http://www.proactivewc.com/
In all I went to 8 doctors and was still really confused about what I should do. There are just so many back surgery horror stories on the web it was really scaring me a lot. I really didn’t want to get the surgery, I even canceled my first appointment I was so scared.
Almost all the dcotors were telling me the same thing, that I needed the surgery. Even the chiropractors who were normally anti-back surgery, said that my situation was bad. I had a torn disc, there was not much of it left and the worst part is that pieces of it were now lodged in my spinal cord pressing on my nerves and causing all my problems. Nerves are a funny thing and when they shut off, you loose everything, and my left leg knee down was dead.
Grant Collins a brown belt in BJJ under the legendary Tinguinha is the head acupuncture guy at the exclusive OC Acupuncture. Grant did some great work on me, but my nerves were to far gone. He normally can get me refreshed and feeling great with just a session or two, but this time I was too far gone. We even burned my leg a little, because I couldn’t feel how hot they were getting.
Check Grant out here: http://ocacupunctureclinic.com
The thing that really helped me decide was the people here on this site. I got so much good feed back from people who went through similar surgeries and they were all still rolling! I guess only people that have bad back surgeries go online and complain, not the success stories.
So I am about to go under the knife and I should be in the hospital 3 days. So if you’re trying to call or contact me, I might not be available.
I’ll let you all know how it goes!
Thanks for all the support and a big thanks to my OTM team that is holding it down for me while I heal up.
Scotty