Some of you may know that Joel has had terrible back problems since we've been married. He injured his back while on his mission in Florida. At the time he was helping members clear up damage and fallen trees from hurricane Ivan. In the process he managed to herniate two disks in his back which had him on bed rest for several weeks. He then injured it for a 2nd time on his mission while playing basketball. Once he got home his back was pretty severe, but he managed the pain through light medication. That is, until he re injured it playing with our 6 month old puppy. Then a year later it was injured for the 4th time while water skiing. With each injury his back has only gotten progressively worse to the point where his disks were then herniated and spilling over into his spinal column. Joel finally made the decision after speaking to several doctors that his best option was for him to have open back surgery to have excess disk completely shaved and removed from his spinal column.
On November 5th Joel had the surgery done on one of the two discs, (the other disc will be done sometime in the next few months). While the healing process has been long, and difficult, there does seem to be light at the end of the tunnel!
Here are some pre and post surgery photos :)
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