As I am sitting here not able to do much more (I am a bit stir crazy)I started wondering what if my L5-S1 Spinal Fusion didn't work. I started feeling a bit down, wondering if I did the right thing. I googled it and voila, came upon this forum. I am amazed at how many others have the same questions, fears, how many want to return to their active lives. Mike, you are a God send, I don't know why your words of patience and resting and not over doing are resonating more than any one else, even my doc. I had a plastic soacer inserted between l5 and s1 and the disc removed, 2 plates and 4 titanium screws. This was done anterior and via a 3 time c-section incision. I am down to 1 percocet a day. I have to say that I never expected the post op pain to be as bad as ai was took me by surprise. I too have a bit of nerve pain (just set in today), nothing like I had before. The nurse told me nerves take a while to regenerate, I hope it goes soon. The other thing that really amazes me is how long people have suffered , I tried all other avenues, chiro, PT, cortisone injections X4 for 1 year and knew I couldn't go on like this. I am 40 and in great shape for the first time of my life, and want to keep it that way.