Although this outcome is not entirely unexpected--the literature and our boards are full of people who have had spinal operations and did not fuse--its still a major pain in the *** (all pun intended) when it happens to you.

I know you know how to get alternative opinions, etc.--the real question I would have is if there really is some possibility that you could still fuse (and anything you could do, body movement or supplement wise, to help that process along), and, if you do fuse, would that help your pain significantly. If not, you're looking at a lot of painkiller consumption, or another operation, neither of which is a great prospect. Moreover, given your air-surrounded screws, there's no guarantee another surgical procedure would work any better. (Wonder if there's some way to figure out why your spine is, so to speak, "rejecting" the screws and not building bone around the area--how's your calcium/mag/Vitamin D intake?)

What would your body work people think about this? Do you think there is they could do/prescribe that would lessen the discomfort so that you would need less medication?