Hi Jon, hope all goes well with consultation and subsequent procedures.

My operation didn't leave me in any more pain than before, i.e. no pain as an effect of the operation, only the NP I had had before. Came off the drips quite quicly and I was able to walk, albeit slowly and uncertainly, with sticks after 3 or 4 days (and I am neither young nor specially fit). I would probably have been fearful if I had had time to think about it but the op. was done more or less as an emergency. They did laminectomy, removed some fatty tissue, and trimmed disc(s).

Looking at it from this end, the experience of the op/recovery wasn't bad at all. They did keep me in for a while after the op. but that may have been in part because I have no-one to help at home. As for success, it did restore some important control but by no means accomplished all I, and the doctors, had hoped for. Though I wish I had had the operation earlier, I think things had gone too far by the time I got to the table. Whilst it is hardly a routine operation, the surgeon (and I don't think I do him an injustice by saying he is not a world renowned specialist) didn't seem to think it posed any great risks.