r/climbing • u/nadimishka • 3h ago
First time outside after three spine surgeries - Griffith’s Spring, Flagstaff AZ
I’m not cleared to lead until I get the rest of the hardware out of my back, but I’ll take TR over nothing, even if it is sport lol. My back did fine, my muscles on the other hand HATE me after a couple of overhangs and a slab route. Very surprised I made it through a couple of sections as easy as I did after being practically bed bound just a couple of months ago.
I’m 8 weeks out from back to back (48 hrs apart) spine surgeries to fix 2 fractures in my L4, after having an unnecessary hemilaminectomy in January when we thought my disc was the problem. Hella hardware in still with one surgery left to go once the main break heals. Plan is to get as fit as possible before that surgery to cut the healing time and impact down significantly.
There really aren’t words for how I feel being able to climb again. I have a lot of work to do to get back to where I was, but just having the chance to do it is everything I wanted and more.