CARSON Daly shared an upbeat post-op statement with his fans after undergoing his second surgery in three months.
The Today host posted what he described as his “actual X-ray photo” on Instagram and thanked his doctor following his first check-up.
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“Hello. Quick update – I had my 1st post spine fusion surgery check up today with @andrewhechtmd & everything looks great!” Carson wrote.
“Also, we found the missing pieces from our nativity scene!”
Fans and colleagues wished for a speedy recovery in the comments section as some made jokes.
Earlier this week, Carson dialed in virtually to update co-hosts Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb, Craig Melvin and Al Roker on his chronic pain.
“I feel really good,” the 49-year-old said while resting in his home. And to prove it, he even took a lighthearted jab at one of his pals: “I feel as good as Hoda’s hair in Fort Myers. Full of life. Zesty.”
Last month, Carson underwent an Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion surgery to alleviate lower back pain he says he’s had since a snowmobile accident in the 1990s.
Anterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery is a procedure in which an intervertebral disc is removed and replaced with a bone or metal spacer.
It’s basically the exact same thing Tiger Woods had done to his back. So we’re pretty much the same guy,” Carson joked.
But his recovery has been no laughing matter.
“The first week was tough, just getting over the surgical pain,” the former MTV star explained. “I’ve been in the downstairs bedroom, kind of avoiding the stairs.”
He’s also forcing himself to go on long walks, as he waits for the ok to return to work.
“I’m like Forrest Gump here on Long Island. I walk everywhere. Yesterday, I walked to New Jersey,” he joked. “I’m getting stronger… The problem is that I want to come back to work, but I can’t put my pants on or tie my shoes.”
PAINFUL PAST
In the early days of the injury the pain came and went, but as the years went by it grew more severe and persistent.
“The pain source actually isn’t coming from those discs or the vertebrae. It’s coming from within the vertebrae,” Carson previously revealed on TODAY.
He wasn’t able to play with his kids the way they asked him to, which affected him.
“It’s like I’m an old man, and it sucks because there are times when my son’s like, ‘Hey Dad, let’s go play basketball, or let’s go outside and throw the ball.'”
Doctors told him pain management was his only option since his back was still “structurally sound.”
In June, Carson decided to try a new minimally-invasive, FDA-approved procedure called Intracept.
But it didn’t bring him the ultimate relief he needed, so he opted for fusion surgery.
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