Hey Compadre!

I was so excited to read your post. I have been in the same boat you were in. I am having a double fusion on Monday the 29th. I was wondering what kind of surgery you had? Mine will be using cadaver bone and not cages. Do you have any advice for me post op? I am nervous about waking up in an extreme amount of pain. I just turned 30, so like you, I am not willing to be an old lady in a rocking chair either!!! I am happy that you had so much success. Is there anything you would recommend that you learned in the process? Thanks so much.......wish me luck!

tazdell

Well, worker's comp finally came through and I got the cortisone shots in my back. I actually woke up giggling because the pain was gone.

That was yesterday. I just got back from walking the dog for the first time in ages. I have a little tightness/soreness back there, and perhaps the slightest bit of sciatica.

Did anyone else try cortisone before a fusion? How did it feel? Should it be tight?

I am a little nervous about a little bit fo sciatica, I didn't have any after the shots, and now I do a little. I also tend to be resistant to a lot of painkillers and other drugs. I'm worried I'll burn this stuff off before very long...

Either way, it's great to be pain free, at least for a little while. Still expect to need the fusion soon tho...

I am a new poster to this site. I'm 39 years old, was very active and have been dealing with back pain for over 10 years. The pain has progressively gotten worse through the years where now I am at the point of heavy pain medication and no movement. While trying to make a decision to have a S1 to L4 back fusion I was researching any information I could from doctors, individuals and the internet. My research lead me to this site where I read the majority of posts on the subject of back fusion. I must say that addygirl312 and kiwimike were very helpful in their thoughts leading up to their surgery and recovery. Knowing that their are success stories was very helpful. I have gone through all the pros and cons and have come to the conclusion to have the surgery on November 7, 2008. My choice was to literally sit around and watch my family grow up or put aside my fears and have the surgery. My goal is to be able to play with my three little girls, restore an active lifestyle and if possible play golf. How long is that process?

As I mentally prepare for the post surgery recovery I am curious how difficult it was to deal with the pain during the first 4 days, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months. When was it that most of you felt that you were back to your old self? Can you feel any major bending or twisting restrictions from a S1-L4 6 months later? Can anyone play golf like that just to 12 months later. Not that I can touch my toes now but is that possible.

I am looking forward to being pain free but I am very scared of the recovery. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I'm a new poster that has never posted on a forum site before, but has found this forum to be very helpfl and I'm glad to hear I'm not alone. I am having an S1-L4 fusion. My pain had been generally mild for the last 8 years but has become progressly unbearable the last 3 months to the point of taking heavy pain medication and being restricted to basicly no movement. Completely against my past active lifestyle in Sports, family and everyday life. The posts of kiwimike and abbygirl312, as well as everyone else, were very helpful in me coming to grips on what I needed to do. I have decided to have the surgery on November 7, 2008. I am curious as well as scared to death on:

1. How difficult was it to deal with the pain in the first 3 days, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months? Around what amount of time did you feel normal again? Dr. thinks 6 months.
2. For those of you that have kids up to 6 years old when could you begin picking them up and playing with them.
3. After 6 months are you feeling any restriction in your movement such as touching your toes or twisting from side to side. I'm told by my doctor that won't be very noticable. I was curious what very noticable really means.
4. When could you resume some form of physical exercise. i hear walking is good when does that start.
5. Does anyone play golf anymore? My goal is to try and play again by 8 months.

Any assistance in helping me better understand the recovery period would be great.

Congratulations to those of you who had a successful operation.

Dear all,
Actually my bf also just had his bone fushion(L4-L5) 3 months ago. He started to have this pain since 2 years ago. We have tried so many ways to avoid the operation end up everything was not successful. Finally he decided to have this operation.
We really have high expectation on this operation. Unfortunately the pain still there from butt to knee. Have done all the MRI, CT scan, X-ray again 6 weeks after his operation. His doctor who a spinal specialist said everything is fine and the operation he did was "pretty". The other neunoroglist also said the same things.
It's already more than 3 months, he still need to take pain killer around twice a week. We are very disappointed with the result, especially he himself felt that he has to keep his friend "pain" for the rest of his live and he is only 30 years old.
Can anyone have any suggestion what should we do now? or like those specialist said just wait and take time?

i went an visited my doctor last monday, and it's now official- we're going for the fusion. just gotta wait for worker's comp to come through now.



you're worried that he's still hurting after only 3 months? you DO know what they did to him, right?

thus far, i've only had a microdiscectomy. i had a rupture in my disc, the jelly filling was pressing on my spinal cord. it hurt. a lot.

they cut a one-and-a-half inch hole in my back, scraped it out, and sewed me back up.

pretty mild stuff, compared to a fusion. and i was still stiff and sore for 3-6 months after that. and the doc said i'd be up to maximum improvment after a YEAR.

i'd say if he's still hurting, significantly, after 6-ish months, then there may be a problem.

however.... without knowing the specifics, i'll say that a fusion is kind of a last resort. (it WAS worthwhile doing the nonsurgical stuff first, just in case it worked. sometimes it does.) if the fusion didn't work.... well.... there's not much else that can be done.


BUT BE PATIENT! he had MAJOR surgery! this will take time for a full rehab!

Hi batfish55,

Thanks for you replied. May be you are right, we need to be patient. As you said this is a major operation, we really hope and pray it "WORK".
Good luck to you and all of the above.

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

hey mike,

thanks for continuing to check this page. it's still the only lower back fusion forum without degenerative disc disease, or stenosis, or other bone problems.

at any rate, worker's comp denied my request for surgery. why, i'm not sure. they're still paying me close to what my salary is in the first place, and my physical condition IS deteriorating, so it's not like i'm giong to get better on my own. but, i saw the doc again last week, and we appealed the decision, and this time he put his personal cell phone number in the appeal, so i expect it'll go through this time.

and thanks again for the specific advice, ie: BE AS LAZY AS THE DOC SAYS. i'd hate to have to go through this again. my doc said i should walk around as much as i can, but NOTHING ELSE, until the bones graft, around 3-6 months. then i should start PT.

and given that i appear to have the exact same problem as you (and am even 31 as i'm heading into surgery), and the same good health (probably even including this 20-ish pounds of 'i can't DO anything' fat), hopefully i can follow the same path to recovery.

hey, why doncha email me, lemme know what state you're in, and if i'm ever there, in a year or so, i'll buy you a round. this forum has been great.

cheers!

I've posted once and I am happy to say that I had the S1-L4 fusion done on November 7. It is now my three week anniversary of the surgery and I can't explain enough how much better my back feels. My two week X-Ray already showed that the bones are fusing. The original pain that sidelined me is completely gone and I'm dealing primarily with post surgery pain. My biggest complaint is that I still feel stiff but Doc says the majority should subside within the next 30 days. Note of caution due to me being as lazy as possible during recovery, as the doctors recommended, I got a blood clot in my calf that put me back in the hospital for a couple of days, exceptionally painful. The clot is much better but set me back a few days and now I'm on Blood Thinners. Doc wanted me to be walking a mile a day by week four, I just got done with 1.2 miles (two days in a row now). I can't wait to have my 3 month evaluation to hopefully get my back brace off. My optimism is running very high. Another note of caution is even though I feel fairly good I have to remember to dial back my activities, which consists of only walking, sitting, standing and not lifting anything heavier that a coffee cup. I'm taking the doctors rules very seriousily. I'm exhausted by 6:00 every night with the little bit that I do. So far so good. I hope I have the success of Kiwi Mike and others. I'd like to start playing golf this summer. That may or may not be a stretch.

Good luck to everyone considering. Do your homework and heavily consult with your doctor and family. It is a major undertaking. First two weeks were very difficult. The third week was a breakthrough. As of right now I am so happy that I did it. By next week I will hopefully be off all pain killers.

This is the best forum I've found on the web for capturing information when I was trying make a decision.