Too Young

"Mom, my leg hurts again." These are the dreaded words my mom had to hear when I was in sixth grade. My mom didn't think to much of it, but after months of this pain she took me to the doctor. We went to the clinic in Beulah, and the doctor told me I just was out of shape. My mom and I decided to get a second opinion because the pain was way to horrific for it to be my weight. We made in appointment in Bismarck with Dr. Moore. He sent me to physical therapy for a few weeks, but the pain persisted. He ordered a MRI and we made an appointment to see him a few days after the MRI. Well, needless to say, it wasn't my weight. He found a bulged disc in my lower back. My only option was back surgery. He told I was the youngest person he's ever had to do a back surgery on, and the worst back he's ever seen. I got the surgery, which is called a discectomy, and went home the day of. After the medicine wore off, the pain came back with such intensity we had to go back to the Bismarck ER. He did an emergency MRI and saw that the bulge came back out. He went in a few days after and redid the surgery. I stayed in the hospital for those few days, and another night after the surgery. I finally slept with no pain and woke up with no pain. 
Four years later, sophomore year, the pain came back. I dreaded to tell my mom those words once again. We went back to Moore and he sent me to Dr. Johnson for a pain shot, the pain went away finally. Though, one year later, my junior year (this year), I had to once again tell her about my pain. I've been in pain for six months now. Dr. Moore makes his decision on surgery after six months of pain. I got a shot first, which helped for a few days. I got a shot a few weeks after again, which helped for three weeks. Now, it's been six weeks since that second shot and I'm back to where I started. He's told me my choices, surgery with about a foot long incision, or another shot and cross our fingers it works. 
Now, I'm sure everyone is saying take the shot! Well, imagine a bee stinging you 10 times and then multiply that pain by 10. That's about the pain, but the needle is at least 4 inches long, and goes into my back all the way to my spine. If he makes one tiny mistake, I could be paralyzed. So, now imagine my dilemma, not to mention the horrendous feeling I get every time Moore brings up this shot. 
Lastly, the surgery. Well, incisions and scars are SO much better than pain, right? WRONG. Don't forget the possible paralysis from this, too. Not to mention, possible leakage of spinal fluid. Doing another discectomy on me could be very difficult and almost impossible. This could mean a possible fusion of my discs. To further explain a fusion, it's where they take the disc between your vertebrae out and fuse the two vertebrae together making you unable to bend at the site of the fusion. They also sometimes need to add a metal "instrument" to hold the bones together.  I'm only 17 years old, which would mean another fusion at least every 10 years. Now, I have to choose what to do. My choice can affect my entire future. I'm young still and would love to have kids, a good job, and be active with my children. Having a fused back can make this overly difficult. Unfortunately, there's no magic answer...only my difficult choice. 

Bulge

Fusion