Hi, I have had 3 levels done at the same time. When asking a question as this, please keep in mind that everyones case is different and has their own complexities. Also what is painful for one person is not necessarily so for one person or vice versa. We all feel and interpret pain differently.
When they do a laminectomy, they go in and grind, cut and remove bone to decompress the nerves. Sometimes during surgery, they even have to pick up the nerve and move it out of the way which can cause nerve pain after surgery that you may have never had prior to surgery. Just remeraber this is temporary and to use nurabers to express your pain with medical personnel. There is a pain scale from 1 to 10 which you can search online for. One is the least amount of pain and 10 is the worst pain you can have.
Be careful of saying your pain is always a ten, or they will tend to dismiss your pain after awhile. I normally say something like this: My pain right now is about a 8, I feel like someone is hitting my back with a baseball bat or My pain is a 9, I feel like I am getting a root canal without any novacaine or I am a 5, and feel like my pain has been worse before but I am uncomfortable kind of like the novacaine is wearing off during dental work and feel like I need more medication.
If you receive pain medication and are still uncomfortable in 1/2 to 45 minutes, make sure you let the nurse know. They can generally give you something additional. They may say, you are not due for meRAB for awhile but tell them I am such and such nuraber on the scale and still hurting. I need something else. Remeraber to be an advocate for yourself and don't sit there in pain. They can call the doc for more medication or they generally have pain management department in the hospital they can call on for assistance.
I hope these tidbits of information helps you. Can you tell I have a few surgeries?
Hugs, Pepper
