Hi Laurie:
I'm a 69 going on 76 yo great grandfather of 3. Born and grew up in San Diego, so great on the soon to be arrival.
I understand your stenois problem as I have had Spondylotheis (?) L1-l4 for over 20 years. I was able to undergo the epidural, but it didn't do much for me. I have stenois throughout my vertebrae especially C1-C7 by which I had surgery on 6 of the vertebrae as three of them were pressing on the CNS. So far pain free. I assume that you have not been on steroids or any type of codine medication. You should be able to obtain a detailed summary of the surgery from your doctor. This will tell you the extent of what was done and the observations made during surgery. It helps to know. Any kind of brace is not good for the following reason. Even if a brace relieved your pain significantly, the muscles in your back and adomen will atrophy and eventually cause you more difficulty. A suggestion: if you have access to the YWCA pool, water walking can be beneficial. The water makes you more boyent and you can exercise more easily. You may be able to use ThermaCare heatWraps for your pain-check with the dr. I hope you are seeing either a Neurologist or an Internal Medicine dr. Either one should be able to pin point the cause of your incessant pain. God Bless