You are not the only one... I'm due to have another fusion this year, it will be my 5th major surgery on my spine. Twice I have had bone taken from my hips to form grafts and the area it was taken from hurt for years. I try to explain that sometimes I feel as if my back is splitting into two. Imagine doing breaststroke and when your legs push out and then back in to finish the stroke is how my lower back feels. My fusions have been L4/5, in 1977 then 1994 and 1996 to remove the broken rods. In 2013 they did L4,5 & S1 to insert new rods and will do L3 sometime this year. Im totally over it all