Quote:
Originally Posted by abbygirl312
The doctor got the MRI report and said that there is a herniated disk, a bone spur protruding into the sacral nerve, L4 and L5-S1 something or other that I didn't understand, etc. But he said the bulk of my pain is coming from the bone spur that is protruding into the nerve. If I don't chicken out first, the surgery is scheduled for the 27th. I've survived off Bayer aspirin and ice packs for many, many years because I won't take narcotic drugs. I work for a medical clinic and have seen way too much addiction.
Mike, thank you for your encouraging words. The doctor said that they will (ahem) Saw off the bone spur  , and that I will have 3 screws on either side. It sounds like I'll be setting off metal detectors too huh? 
I'll keep you posted. |
Abby,
Glad to hear that you are going to find a remedy for your problems. Don't be afraid of the narcotics. I have had to come off of them several times before and never had any issues. This last time I was on them for over a year and came off them fine. I do however know that people are all different. They will allow you to function while in agony, until a permanent solution is found.
Mike,
Glad to hear that there is another success story on here as well. I had a L5-S1 fusion and I feel great! It was my second spinal surgery in three years and I can honestly say that I was scared as hell because of all of the horror stories associated with a "spinal fusion" surgery. Especially the ones on here. Lack of mobility was one of the problems I was most concerned about.
After surgery, my pain was unbearable until the morphine pump was hooked up. That part I won't lie about, it was not fun at all. But that lasted only for a half day. Once that subsided I felt that I was in better shape (post-op) than my lamanectomy(sp?) three years earlier. The surgeon used no hardware at all. He used bone from a cadaver and everything fused great. Due to my age(26) at the time, he said that the bone would fuse just fine due to my youth and I needed no instrumentation. My last post-op visit was Sept. 13th and his words were, "Everything looks like it is fusing great!"
I still experience pain in my legs due to nerve damage from my first spinal cord injury, not related to the spinal fusion. Other than that....I can't bend over and work on anything while standing up. I think that it strains my lower back area too much. So I just sit and work on what I need to. To me, that is a very, very small sacrifice compared to the shape I was in. That's the only thing that I've noticed since my surgery. I can't notice a decrease of motion in bending over at all.
My surgeon is William Zerick in Columbus, OH. I can't say anything but wonderful things about him. He is very confident, but not in an egotistical manner. It's a comforting confidence. I would recommend anyone in the area to visit him. I would venture to say that he is one of the better NS on the east coast.
-Seann