Sorry this is a long intro. Hi, My name is Rick, I am 53. Ex firefighter, very active and pretty fit, not athletic, but I am used to running all day long. 5'10" and 190 lb. I had lumbar fusion surgery on Nov. 17, 2010. L3,L4,L5, and S1. The Doc included S1 because he found a fX during the surgery. Things went well for 3 weeks, I was walking alot and doing small things around the house. At this time one of the screw caps moved and pain was intense. The Dr convinced me to try therapy to see if I could continue the healing process and if sucessful they would go in and remove the hardware in 10 or 12 months. Therapy included massage, heat, ice, elec. stim., and mild pt. Well the pain was way too much. So now a second surgery two weeks ago. Replaced the screw cap and also found one of the screws in S1 had worked loose, so I hae a larger screw in that hole now. I just not stable and things seem to be dragging so slow. I dont know if I am expecting too much too soon, I know it may take a year for this get good. Has anyone out there gone through anything like this. I have renowned Dr. at a nationally acclaimed spine insitute. This was all brought about by a perosn who ran a red light and nailed me and my wife at an intersection.
any input is appreciated. thanks, rick

Hello and welcome, Rick!

Sorry for your back problems (stupid driver!).

How is your wife doing?

I won't comment, but wanted to wish you well. Someone should be along shortly to give you some direction.

Hello and welcome to NeuroTalk. Happy to see you have come to be with us. Just let us know if we can be of any help.

There are great number and caring fellow members here to assist you. Our shoulders are here for support in many ways. Hope your lovely wilf is doing ok. Check the following forum for some assistance:

http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum22.html

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Darlene

Thanks so much for your comment. My wife also suffered injury. She had herniated discs, and subsequent surgery L3,L4,L5 fusion. She did so well she went back to her desk job in just 3 weeks. That was 7 months ago. She is working some with our horses now, feeding and stuff outside. I feel like a bum watching her but I know I have to heal. This really encouraged me to go ahead with the surgery once she was stable, but I seem to be plagued with what the Dr. calls crappy luck. As for the stupid driver, he and his 3 friends just left the liquor store on their way to a party with a car full of liquor bottles, and not a single scratch on any of them. Our explorer was pretty much destroyed. I think I tried too hard to miss them. Thanks again for listening. Whats up with you? rick

Hi Rick ~~ I'm so sorry you're having problems. It's not unusual with fusion surgery. The problem is that with spinal surgery - even with the kind without fusion -- the levels above or below the surgery site tend to fail because they have to take on more of the load. Consequently, many patients are told they need more surgery -- and they go ahead with it. That's the WORST thing you can do. Surgery begets more surgery. So if your doctor tells you that you have another herniation -- do NOT have more surgery UNLESS it is impinging on the spinal cord.

Your best bet is to just stay with physical therapy and then go to a pain management doctor. There they can give you more options for pain relief.

Something that startled me is the American Medical Society said that last year, spinal surgeries (both fusion & regular) had the SAME outcome as people who had physical therapy!!! In other words, the surgeries were NEEDLESS. They said more and more needless surgeries are being done all the time. The United States has the highest rate of spinal surgeries than anyone else. Quite alarming, isn't it? It seems our doctors want to get mighty RICH at OUR expense! What happened to the Hippocratic Oath of "First do no Harm?" I think doctors have forgotten that.

Anyway -- try pain management - you'll likely get better pain care than you have now. Best of luck. God bless. Hugs, Lee

Hi, and welcome to NT! This is a very nice place with a lot of friendly, caring, and helpful people.

We're so glad you found us!