Concerns and symptoms of possible gradual CES

Hello everyone,

I am new here and found you all by conducting research on some symptoms I’ve been having. I’m a male 33 years old and immediately prior to surgery I weighed 175 lbs (5’11) in great shape from being a serious competitive cyclist. A month ago I got a microdiscectomy on my L5-S1, where I had a bulging disc compressing the S1 nerve. My symptoms at the time were only left side sciatica with left foot numbness. It got bad because of my intense cycling. I never had any symptoms or issues with my right leg, ever, and I barely ever had back pain. Like an idiot, I grew extremely optimistic hearing all of these success stories about minimally invasive microd so I elected to get it so I could cycle pain free and chase my dreams of winning championships again. Little did I know I’d be making my life a lot worse in a split second. I easily could’ve lived forever with my condition prior to this surgery and gave up cycling (had I known) since the symptoms were not bad and I could still work 16 hour days and play with by children no problem.

Immediately after waking up after surgery I noticed both my feet were burning and the heels of both feet were on FIRE. This slowly went away within the first few hours of recovery. I was in complete miserable pain and struggled to barely even get up out of the medical bed (I walked into hospital on my own power and extremely capable). I eventually got up to walk and attempt to urinate so I could be released from the hospital and go home. I noticed I could not feel anything down in the bladder area and could not squeeze to pee, it felt completely numb. I was told it was common/normal after being under general anesthesia and that if I could pee I could go home. So I drank water and after several tries I was finally able to urinate.

I got home same day and I could barely walk, both my legs were so tight. At this time besides the tightness I felt decent and my left side sciatica and numbness was gone and my right leg felt perfect as always. I laid in bed and fell asleep. All of a sudden I woke up a few hours later to extreme stomach pain and knew only because of the extreme stomach pains that I had to pee. I went to pee and it was numb and hard it barely came out, I was to work hard to empty. I then went back to bed and this cycle repeated for the first day. On day 2 I started to feel better and by day 3 it felt “normal”. By the end of the week I felt 100% but buttocks and hips were so tight I still couldn’t walk right. I also noticed my left butt cheap would go numb while sitting for a short period but the surgeon’s nurse told me that was normal.

Later on during week 1 post op I had to vomit violently and my back popped / cracked multiple times. My wife even stated, “holy crap was that your back?!”. I immediately had sciatica pain return to my left leg but this time WORSE than before. A few days later due to all the pain meds I then developed the worse constipation I ever had in my life. I was on the toilet for 2 hours with a complete clog and had taken dulcolax stool softeners etc. it got to the point to where I had the most extreme ab push squeeze as it finally cleared and it felt like I caused some serious pressure all through my core. It was extremely violent and painful.

1 week after that (week 2 post op) I noticed sharp stabbing pains coming into my right thigh. Then my right leg and foot went numb. I was devastated since this was my good side! Doctor put me on steroid pack and a week after that no improvement he ordered me an MRI.

The new MRI stated disc bulge contacting and effacing the ventral thecal sac, and T1 hypointense enhancing peridural fibrosis versus granulation tissue is seen extending along the left margin of the thecal sac at L5-S1 and surrounding left S1 nerve. They also found mild bilateral facet hypertrophy/arthropathy on L4-L5 and L5-S1 with mild bilateral neural foraminal narrowing. 

The surgeon told me he didn’t see anything on my MRI that would be concerning in the area where he did surgery and didn’t know why I was having all this new pain so he was going to refer me to a neurologist to find out where the nerve pains are exactly coming from. 

Around this time I started to notice weird dull sensations in my lower abdomen around where the bladder is located. I also started to feel like my “squeeze” when peeing started feeling dull (I don’t know how to explain it or if this makes sense). My wife and I tried very gentle sexual intercourse and I got an erection just fine but it slightly felt like I had a very thin condom on, the sensation did not feel the same prior to surgery and when I ejaculated the sensation felt dull. When I have a bowel movement and it comes out I have slight loss of sensation but can still feel it and can feel the wiping.

I started researching the findings on my new mri and noticed concern with the thecal sac and it being linked to something called CES. I learned about the different red flags here on this forum (thank you very much!) and learned other things as well and I’m trying to be proactive in making sure I catch anything of concern before it’s too late. I may be paranoid but I truly feel like I’m having slow gradual symptoms leading towards CES? Each day I feel like my nerve pains get worse and my lower abdomen is dull when my bladder gets full. I’m a bit concerned and looking for any type of opinion. I now weigh 155 lbs and lost 20 lbs in just a month! My wife is really concerned and I am now concerned about my job since I originally only took 2 weeks off thinking I could return on limited desk duty but I am in pain and can't do it with this numbness and leg pains.

I completely understand that no legal medical advice can be given, give me a disclaimer or what ever, I’m solely here to learn from you all and to see what I can do going forward. I see my surgeon on Tuesday, October 9th, and this is all new to me.

If you all were in my shoes what would you do and what detailed questions would you ask the surgeon when I see him? I don’t want to mess this up since this is my first time seeing him in person since surgery (1 month Post-op). I’ve been only dealing with his nurse for the incision care etc. Which one of the MRI findings would be a concern towards CES if my symptoms get worse? The effacing of the thecal sac?

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this, I’ve really come to appreciate life more in this short painful month, and I can’t even begin to imagine what everyone else goes through. I’m so glad that you’ve all brought education and awareness to new folks like me seeking help and answers.

Please ask me anything and I will respond. Thank you!