I'm hoping to avoid that unless it gets worse, which it might soon. What really sucks is that I live with my mother and of the two of us I'm in better shape physically which means I have to consider how long I'll be down post back surgery if I do go for that.

I was out of hospital after a few days, then at home and in discomfort for a while btu the corset actually helps a lot as you cant move to annoy the wound.

I know I had my surgery in November and i was running WWII living history events (in a command role in a tent with a radio) in december so its not as deabilitating as you think. Then again i was on tons of morphine at the time.

One the swelling had gone down and the staples were removed i was 'back to normal' (no pun intended) for ages but then scar tissue formed and started to irritate the nerves as much as the prolasped discs did so im actually now in worse pain than i was before the op.

The important thing though is if i hadnt have had the op i'd have lost control of my bladder and my left leg entirely. I've saved the functions entirely of the former but my left leg is slightly atrophied and very very weak compared to my rightt.

It also hurts like hell if i over stress my back and irritate the nerves.

dont fear the op though and the downtime is less than you'd expect.

My mums got to have a similar op on her neck and shes in her 60s and lives alone and has a dodgy hip so im staying with her after her op for a week or so to housework and cooking for her... only because shes really infirm anyway.

If you're reasonably physically sound (other than the problem needing an op) you're be fine convalescing.

I found that changing my diet before and after the op made a world of difference

I dont smoke any way but i stopped being aroudn smokers

i stopped drinking

I gave up sugar, caffeine, chocolate and processed food

I pretty much lived on fresh food and lots of fruit and veg.

Stayed that way for about six months after surgery too but slowly weakened over time so i now do all my 'bad lifestyle' habits.... still dont smoke though!

But honestly , i was terrified of having my op done and it wasnt that bad. Dont worry about it you;ll recover faster than you would think

My mom only has one leg and because of how they had to remove the leg a prosthesis would be difficult at best so having me down at all is problematic though. I got hospitalized for three days due to a virus a copule of months ago and mom had a nightmare just from that.

Bugger, sorry dude thats difficult.

Kudos to you for caring for your mom though.

I don't know if I'd be able to cope well with a spinal injury of that magnitude. Good on you and everyone else here for persevering through it all.

My Senior year of high school I was pretty ambitious in leading the track team. Worked hard as a role model and was declared Men's Team Captain and in that same day during a hurdle exercise that went wrong I tore my calf, hamstring, ACL and MCL. My foot was locked downward while going into the ground at a less than 45 degree angle and the full speed force just ripped my muscles up. Couldn't walk on my own for a good two months. Had to quit the track team in shame (they started making jokes about sprains and shin splints as "pulling a 'Nick'" since they thought I over exaggerated my injury). My dream of enlisting into the Air Force right after high school was out the window.

It took about 16 months for a full recovery, to be able to run, climb, pedal and jump at full confidence again, but the pain is still there. Not anywhere near as crippling as some injuries here, but its enough for me to take pause in a workout or sit out for a few hours when it really starts to sting. Since I took the community college route during my recovery time, I'm still hoping to serve in the AF as a commisioned officer after completing university, hopefully be able to through an ROTC program, but I'm doubtful since this injury could be disqualifying for my potential candidacy.

In the air force i imagine you'll have to do a degree of basic infantry training and a small amount of humping backpacks around forests getting basic 'survival' skills learned (in the UK everyone is trained to be a soldier first then a specialist afterwards) but if you can hack that bit without wrecking your leg i imagine you'll not be under those levels of stress again.

In the UK we had an annual BFT (basic fitness test) and an annual APWT (annual personal weapons test) which you had to pass both of to stay around. Kept everyone competent and made sure no one got too fat.

I seem to recall the BFT was a shedload of pressups, followed by a load of situps (as many as you could do of each in two minutes and i *think* it had to be 30 press ups and 60 situps minmum) then a mile and a half run in under ten minutes.

I could be massively misremembering that as its over 15 years since i did my last one and i think they changed the entire system to some 'bleep test' thing the year i left.

I'd go and talk to someone in careers / recruiting about it if i were you and find out sooner than later if its going to be an issue

Thanks everyone for posting so far. Y'all are a lot of the reasons I love this community.

I personally have had a lot of issues from a hemorragic stroke at 40 brought on by PTSD related hypertension from the miliatry and fire service. Actually, it took me 2 years to even go to a game store to play, as my memory issues cause me to get "lost" with activities frequently. I just blank out and have a heck of a time remebering what I was going to do or what was happening. Don't even get me started on upgrade cards, I just can't remember to use them and totally can't keep track of opponents cards. Combine that with mild aphasia and I tend to get some weird looks, hehehe.

Unfortunately, I had a bleed in my mid-brain so the effects are kinda random and more noticable as the years go by. One of those "we just to have to wait and see" things. There are years that I just don't remember and most of my training as a Paramedic is just gone. Also, one of the reasons I don't post much except for some paint jobs, things just don't come out right unless I do about 25k re-edits prior to posting (and even then it's usually nerfed up, ask Nightshrike (thanks Lady!)). I did dodge a bullet in that I have very little physical issues from the event, so I count myself very very very lucky.

This game and it's players has been my solace and therapy. Not only allowing me to interact with people somewhat comfortably again but getting into painting and modding has surely helped my fine muscle control and spirit.

Keep Flying (and Painting) Casual, my friends. Thanks for listening...

I'm pretty disabled myself. I have aspergers (mild form of autism) and I have anosmia (not quite full anosmia, but I need to physically sniff something from like half a foot away in order to smell it).

I've gotten by many of the disadvantages of aspergers (unintentional rudeness, saying horribly inappropriate things) but non-verbal is lost on me completely. My anosmia might actually be beneficial (I'm working as a janitor until I get a post-college job. I'm 23 and just finished college for the third time (pre-media, TV broadcasting and public relations), and I have yet to physically detect the existence of flirting or how bad garbage smells, but people say I have a bright future.

You'll find that wargaming actually appeals to those on the austistic spectrum, aspergers etc.

I think its because their is an absolute set of rules, that are imutable so you always know what you can and cannot do.

My wife is slightly aspergers and she finds social interaction stressful because there are so many variables and no real rules in conversation/socialising. Shes very mildly aspergers andhigh functioning (shes a university lecturer) but really struggles with social situations unless shes almost 'rehearsed' some parts of a conversation she's guessed might occur.

I have notices over the last 20 years of gaming that most the guys with very well organised large collections of miniatures and those who are quite adamanent the rules have to be as they are in the book fall onto the aspergers spectrum

Its very rare for women to have aspergers but it does happen.