Hey Abby

Glad to hear that you are booked in for the operation!. Your story sounds similar to mine, 10+ years of back pain, I to refused to take meds as this to me was just dulling the problem and not fixing it, I wanted a permanent fix. So I just learned to live with it and adapt, but you don’t have to at all! . I to had a collapsed herniated disc that was pushing onto the sciatic nerve, thus causing me all sorts of pain/tingling/numbness down my right leg ( I could see it myself on my x-rays, it was black and squashed and pushing on the nerve). The surgeon cut that out, fused the bone with rods and hip bone putty and now it’s great. I encourage you completely and I hope the op is a total success!. Be prepared though, it is painful for the first 2 weeks and you think to yourself “what have I don’t to myself, I should have left it alone”. But ignore those thoughts, they will pass very soon, after one month things get a whole lot better very quickly as your movement and muscle’s repair from the op. But please TAKE IT EASY, lots of rest and walking and you will come out of this fine I’m sure of it.

Make sure they put one of those waterproof sticking pads overtop of the wound , so that you can shower without getting water in it and avoid possible infection.

All the best Abby, you’re in my prayers , let me know how you get on

Cheers
Mike

Abby,

Glad to hear that you are going to find a remedy for your problems. Don't be afraid of the narcotics. I have had to come off of them several times before and never had any issues. This last time I was on them for over a year and came off them fine. I do however know that people are all different. They will allow you to function while in agony, until a permanent solution is found.

Mike,

Glad to hear that there is another success story on here as well. I had a L5-S1 fusion and I feel great! It was my second spinal surgery in three years and I can honestly say that I was scared as hell because of all of the horror stories associated with a "spinal fusion" surgery. Especially the ones on here. Lack of mobility was one of the problems I was most concerned about.

After surgery, my pain was unbearable until the morphine pump was hooked up. That part I won't lie about, it was not fun at all. But that lasted only for a half day. Once that subsided I felt that I was in better shape (post-op) than my lamanectomy(sp?) three years earlier. The surgeon used no hardware at all. He used bone from a cadaver and everything fused great. Due to my age(26) at the time, he said that the bone would fuse just fine due to my youth and I needed no instrumentation. My last post-op visit was Sept. 13th and his words were, "Everything looks like it is fusing great!"

I still experience pain in my legs due to nerve damage from my first spinal cord injury, not related to the spinal fusion. Other than that....I can't bend over and work on anything while standing up. I think that it strains my lower back area too much. So I just sit and work on what I need to. To me, that is a very, very small sacrifice compared to the shape I was in. That's the only thing that I've noticed since my surgery. I can't notice a decrease of motion in bending over at all.

My surgeon is William Zerick in Columbus, OH. I can't say anything but wonderful things about him. He is very confident, but not in an egotistical manner. It's a comforting confidence. I would recommend anyone in the area to visit him. I would venture to say that he is one of the better NS on the east coast.

-Seann

Hi again;

I had the surgery on Friday night the 12th after a couple of reschedules. I came home yesterday the 16th. Wow, apparently the surgery went well and they really straightened my spine. The doctor put me on flexeril due to muscle spasms in my back (horribly painful) and hydrocodone. I really want off the pain meds but am not sure that is going to happen this week! I am getting around okay with the help of the brace and my youngest son has been helping me a lot. Thank God for children! Today, I get to shower, I can't wait. I'll keep you posted. For now, I want to go lay down.

Abby

I'm new here..I'm 26 and on Jan. 9th I will be one year post-op from a posterior/anterior L5-S1 fusion with instrumentation.

I'm still having pain, although I'm better than I was before surgery. My rods feel odd, when I try an flex my spine to much it feels like they are being gripped.

The doctors are concerned the bone grafts aren't healing properly, so Ill find out next fri at my 1 year post-op. I'm not where I thought I'd be at this point...I just hope things have fused then I can deal with the pain. I want my active life back, I want to travel without worrying about where I'll rest or how I'll carry my own bags. I want to start thinking about having children with my husband without being scared of how my back will handle it.

This is the hardest hurdle I've ever faced. I have horrible insomnia since the surgery becasue I can't seem to get comfortable. Enough of my late night, over-tired ramblings!!

Thank you very much to everyone. This is a very encouraging post. The bad results speak so loud, it is hard to here the positive outcomes.

I have been waiting for several years to make the decsion, it keeps getting put off due to the "what if's". This past week I spent a day in the ER because of a bladder/kidney infection, I never knew it because I dont have much feeling during urination due to the disc problems. Didnt even notice till it was so bad I needed IV antibiotics.

I have a spinal surgeon who is scheduling me for lumbar fusion surgery, but needs a repeat discogram, since mine is over 2 years old, to confirm what everyone allready knows is there, unfortunetly we cant find anyone to do that till late July. My only concern is that this surgeon wants to go from the back instead of thru the abdomen which I am told will be a shorter and easier recovery. I do have some calls in for a second opinion at Penn in Philly but havent heard back.

Anyway, thanks again for the encouraging posts.

Hey All...sorry i haven't been on here for a while, but when your back is all good ,you tend to be out there doing things and less time infront of a pc! ...i see there has been quite a few new posts and i am glad to see that people are helping others with this, really cool! , so i thought i would give a general update on how i am now and hope to cover some of those questions asked. It will be 2 years next month since i have had the fusion done and i can say that i am soooo glad i had it, long term effects did worry me when i was pre-op but so far so good and i see no reason for things to change now, my fusion has taken well and my back is really strong and solid...i am still pain free and enjoying everything life has to offer, i am back playing football again, i run freely and feel at total ease about taking on most things as before i was always thinking "how can i do that with my back the way it is" and while i always know the rods are in there and can feel them 24/7, they never hurt, the only thing that still seems to exist is a tender spot under the flesh where the hip bone was scrapped and use to complete the fusion around the rods, its fine most of the time, but if i get hit there or bang it, it can be quite sore briefly,kind of like getting kicked in the shin, very tender but fades quite quickly and i know this as i have been kicked on the otherside of my hip and it didn't hurt half as much, i plan on asking my surgeon about that at my next 6 month checkup, hopefully that will fade in time. Otherwise i can't recommend this enough to someone considering it , it has totally changed my life, i have suffered no loss at all of flexibility at all, if anything i am more flexible because it doesn't hurt to stretch out more, i am fitter now than i ever was and have lost all the "back pain weight" that i had put on over the years while suffering, i am 33 now and was 31 when i had the op, ...it feels so good to be free of it all and the difference in mindset towards things is incredible!. All i can say is do the research on the things that i spoke about in earlier posts, STICK TO THE REHAB PLAN ,don't over do it and be to keen to try things out to earlier ,that's a big no no! , i can't stress that enough as you all know if you have read my posts...lol..the more time to can give it the better, slow and steady! , i am living proof of this, when i was in the hospital there was a guy in the bed next to me having the same op again as he tried to go back to work after only 2 weeks and because of that his fusion didn't take and he cracked a rod!, had to have it all pulled out and re-done...i was determined that wasn't going to be me... i am sure you will have the same result as me if you stick to my advice...like i say it does feel very different when the rods go in , having these things bolted inside you and you always know they are there, but i think that is a good thing as it reminds me of my second chance at a pain free back and it keeps me in check and not take it for granted so i don't go and do something to stupid, i don't want to go back to how i was , well thats all i can think of for now, please ask me if you have any questions and i will help if i can!

take care everyone and all the best!

Michael

It is so wonderful to FINALLY hear about successful fusion stories, I am due a second opinion in june (after allergy testing) and am terrified to have to make a decision in case I regret it! I have had back pain for 7 yrs but have managed it with alternative treatments (chiro physio etc) but when the nerve became compressed and I couldnt stay on my feet for any length of time I had to see neuro. his first (and only) option was ADR and fusion. I felt this was very drastic and am getting a 2nd opinion just to make sure as I do not think my MRI was overly bad other than nerve issue. (well normal wear and tear for a 38 yo with previous back injury/fracture) thankyou all for posting your success stories it is so reassuring!

Michelle

Seann,

Thanks for the story. I am new to the site and am 1 year post-op from my first surgery (discectomy) and thought I was doing well until a couple of weeks ago. Did you ever figure out why the first surgery didn't work? Was the disc too badly damaged from the start?

I actually had the discectomy when I was 5 months pregnant with my 3rd child last year. My other children are 4 and 3. It appears my disc is now collapsing and I am suddenly back in the same pain I had before, just on the other side. I am not preapared to do this all over again especially with a 6 month old...I wouldn't be able to pick him up for months!

What is the recovery from this really like. I feel like I missed out on so much last year and just want to be able to take care of my children.

Thanks

I am having L4-S1 surgery on Wednesday. Thank you for sharing your sucess story and tips!!!!!
Thank you!
Christy

Mike,

Hearing your story has me thinking. I had scoliosis as a kid, i have 2 rods in my back and i am fused from T14-L4 right now. I am having a TON of pain. Its miserable really. it hurts when i breathe, walk, stand, sit, anything. Lots of numbness and sharp pain. I had a CT mylegram done last week and i have broken L5 and S1. So my doc wants to fuse those 2 vertebrate and then fuse my pelvis. I know that there is alot of pain associated with the surgery, im not afraid of that because i have already done it once. What i am afraid of is that i wont ever be able to golf or bowl or do any of the activities that i love. i am athlete. i am on the go all the time. I am curious, how much motion did you lose? My doc is saying that i wont be able to twist at all. He isnt going to restrict me from any activities but he said that i just wont be able to do them. Any insite you have i would really appreciate... i feel quite alone in this situation because it seems like there arent alot of people with GOOD outcomes so it is refreshing to read your story, thanks for posting it!

photo 13 is what he wants to do
photo 12 is what i currently look like. you can see the breaks in the mylegram.

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