L-4 - S1 fusion Dec 5, 2011
 

My doctor said that my fusion went very well. He also made the comment to my wife afterward that after going in there, he understood why I was in so much pain on my left side of my body.
I am 6 days post op and I am in considerably less pain than the begging of the week. I am still in a fair amount of pain but as I said, alot less than 5-6 days ago.
The hardest part of this is when I see my wife struggling to get things done and not just getting up and doing all I can to help. I do recomend you take it easy as possible in order to makethe healing proccess progress as your doctor has planned for you.
Good luck to you if you plan to do this surgery. I am not all the way through the other side of this but I will try to update.

Thanks for the update, Conrad. I hope your healing process continues to go smoothly! I'm sure it will be a long haul -- and pretty boring too! ;)

Keep us posted on your progress! Take care & God bless. Hugs, Lee

Hi Conrad
 

You will feel better soon. The first week is the hardest. Take it easy and just heal. These surgeries are not easy. I am fused C3-7. After two weeks, I really felt alot better. Take care of yourself, and I am sure your wife is helping you to the max. Ginnie

Conrad, I had fusion L4-5 and wore a brace for 6 months. It is tempting to do what you should not be doing. The hardest part of recovery is letting someone else help you. You don't want to risk unsuccessful surgery. Prayers for successful surgery, recovery and very important - "patience".

Update
 

I am now 11days out. It has been a up and down time for me. I enjoy the walks, but the rain has made it hard to walk outside.
I made a mistake yesterday. I was up to get a drink and something started to fall, my natural reaction was to try to stop it. I had jerked and twisted to stop it from falling. Pain was the first thing I had that let me know what I had done.
Pain is a bit worse now but the meds help.
My wife has been having some of the same problems with her back that I know we all have had. I am just really anxious about what she will have to go through. We have to be ready. We need to be focused on all that we need.
I will update a little more later if I can.

Conrad, do you have any type of a brace? Mine was the soft brace - but, it really helped as a reminder not to try to bend or twist. Our reflexes get the best of us. Be careful; both of you. And, if things do not get done the way they usually were; you might just both have to close your eyes to them and focus on getting well instead.

Update
 

I do have a brace and I was wearing it at the time of my mistake. The only time I do not wear it is when I am in my lounger.
I am very careful when it comes to what I do right now. I want to be back at work as soon as possible, and I do not trust the work comp people at my work as far as I can throw them.
I found out today that I have already been removed from the crew list I was on at work. This could be a technicality due to being out of sick time from the other surgeries I have had. We have to cover one third of our time off for the work comp time we take off (after the initial ten days). I will let an attorney sort it out if I can not.
Sorry for rambling, I will update later.