Recently, on national news and in the papers etc., it's stated that there has been entirely too many unnecessary fusions and back surgeries as of late. Consequently, more and more people are ending up disabled. I've seen this happen myself, and I'm one of them. I've not had fusion but I've had surgery and now I'm disabled because of it.

I don't think I'd opt for fusion and I think I'd tell my doc. From what I've seen on your film, it doesn't look like you NEED it. It looks to me like you have a herniated disc that may be pressing on the cord, and the part that's herniated needs to be removed. THAT'S ALL. The rest of the disc remains in. Even doing that, it can make the other levels unstable ~ ask me, cause that's exactly what I had done, and the levels above herniated afterwards. The same WILL happen after fusion.

I'm just warning you of future trouble, because fusion WILL cause further instability. Your doctor will not warn you of that and he will probably deny it. But it happens all the time. Ask almost any fusion patient. I don't want you to become another statistic.

I wish you the best of luck. God bless and keep us posted. Hugs, Lee