Quote:
Originally Posted by mariam
I just wanted to thank you, for your positive, and uplifting story. I have just had done the L4-L5 fusion 4 weeks ago, and I have been reading these horror stories (too late now anyway) but I was interested to see how other people recovered from this and the long term results. What I have found have scared me a great deal, but your story is giving me some hope. I am actually doing pretty good for 4 weeks post op. The only thing scares me a little is that now I have a little sciatic pain on the left butt, which I have not have before. I only had lower back pain and left leg pain, and some days were ok, and some days were not. I had a herniated disc (discectomy) operation 7 years ago, now I developed stenosis and the remaining disc collapsed so the Dr. suggested fusion. I took Motrin almost every day, and I could function pretty well without much pain, but I was afraid that eventually I would destroy my kidneys. So I have opted for the fusion, because my Dr. said there are great results from this surgery (95-98% succes rate)He never said anything negative about the outcome. So I am hoping that this sciatic pain is only from the surgery, and will not remain permanently. Did you have this kind of pains after post op? and for how long? I try to stay positive, and I hope I'll be like you,.. Painfree !! Thanks again, Maria  |
Hey Maria , thankyou for you kind words and i am glad the thread helped you
, 4 weeks is still pretty fresh from the surgery, things heal faster on the outside than on the inside,you have had major work done, give things time to settle down inside, don't be worried about aches and pains just yet as it is still early, i know thats easier said than done, i use to lay in bed at night and think about every little ache or pain i felt, asking myself, is that permanent ? or temporary ??...lol...don't torture yourself like i did, just relax, focus on taking it easy and doing your walks, it wasn't until month 3 that i could really stretch out my body and i found that the little aches and tightness that i worried about faded as i started to do this,(including some right leg numbness, from tight butt muscles, when i stretched it out, this faded) after all having 3 months of minimal physical activity did tighten my muscles in my legs and back abit ,but now i have full flexibility back now, i can even touch my toes!...lol...
you will be fine my friend as long as you follow your surgeons advice and even be abit more cautious if you feel the need, i know i did and didn't try anything at all until i felt my body giving me the ok to do it...you will know what i mean by this...if in doubt, back off and take more time.
all the best mate
Mike