Firstly i just wanted to post this to encourage all those out there that are thinking of having spinal surgery because there are good success stories out there. Before i went through mine i had read alot on the internet about peoples horror stories and it almost put me off having it. but the constant thoughts of suicide were annoying me and i didn't want those things in my head anymore and i thought it surely can't get any worse than it is now. So i had a L4-S1 posterolateral fusion with instrumentation and now 3 months later i am pain free. Please be encouraged , these guys can get it right, sure there are horror stories out there and i know that those people to can be fixed, just hang in there (thats you Pam ). And to those who are thinking about it please go for it, because you don't want to carry on as you are with pain and always think to yourself, "i wonder if the surgery would have fixed it ?" , i waited 10 years before i finally had the courage to go through with it and i wish i had done it years ago.

This was briefly my situation somedays my pain was bearable , other days I could hardly bend over or climb stairs, (the day I was to have the op in hospital I felt great , always the way though isn’t it! , but I still went through with it)

Heres a few tips if you do decide to go through with it.

1. Firstly ask around about surgeons, find a good one ,ring around as many medical places as you can and ask “who’s the best spinal surgeon?” I managed to speak with a patient of one surgeon who raved about her op and how good this guy was (she had the same problems as me and had the 2 level fusion done to fix it and never regretted it) so I went with him in the end.

2. If you have the op TAKE IT EASY !!!!, no running, jumping , lifting for at least the first 3 months, this was hard for me as i am an active person, but fight the urge!, the best thing you can do is walk, just a little to start with , then go further and further each day.Listen to your body, it will let you know if you over do it (i had this happen twice) I have only just started light running after 3 months but will continue to not do much up until month 6. There is still lots of healing going on inside you, even though you may feel great, TAKE IT EASY PLEASE! , i can not stress that enough. This is major surgery and your body needs lots of time to heal , don't stress it out by thinking that you feel great after 2 months and can do whatever you like. I laid out on the couch for the first 3 weeks and just watched movies, the only thing i did was my walk each day and i believe this aided big time in a successful recovery.

Well that's all for now, if anyone has any questions, please ask me!! and please all those who still have issues from things that have gone wrong , hang in there! and all those considering this type of surgery , as long as you have exhausted all other options (ie physio, chiropractic, orthopaedic methods just as i did as surgery is the last option) then go for it and i wish you the best!

Cheers
Mike

PS Don't expect to end up so your as good as you were when you were 18 cause i'm def. not! , but i'm active again without pain and i'm happy with no more suicide thoughts at all.My goal is to beable to play soccer again, i am aiming to play my first game on the 1 year anniversary of my operation.

I recently had ACDF on C5/6,6/7. I am 5 weeks out now, with no lifting restrictions. I am back to work full-time, and doing well. There is a lot of success, and we should all focus on that heavily.
Thanks,
Dave

I agree , nice to meet you Dave and i'm glad to hear of another successful story.

Well, after 12 + years of constant pain, they are preparing for surgery. My question is; did you have this new technique done, or the old one where they took part of the hip bone? Abby

Mike,

I am very happy to hear this!

So many times we all go through conservative measures...one after the other to no avail. I have had two cervical ACDF's and while there is some residual pain I am so much better than I once was. I may someday be looking at the L4 through S1 myself so your post is encouraging.

i feel my l4/5 fusion was a success. I still have a lot of pain but the nerve is not being crushed anymore. So the worst of the pain is gone.
My big problem (imho) is that the nerve was sqashed between the bones for 11 months, after having a bone spur removed that was "biting" into it for the previous 11 months.

i was told by my surgeon and my pcp and spine rehab docs that the damage is permanent and this will probably not get better.

I think a lot depends on what we expect the op to do. I knew i would never be 100% again.

sims

Hey Abby , i had the old one where they shaved my hip bone and used that as putty to fill in around the metal rods.

ok just to update you on things (and everyone else) its been 9 months now since my op and let me tell you things are great! , i would say i'm 98% of what i use to be before the pain started 10 years ago. The only weird thing is i swear i can sometimes feel them some days (the rods that is) and i have set off the metal detectors in airports also..lol..my brothers call me the T-800 terminator , living tissue over polymetal alloy...lol.. , it really weird but i'm getting use to these things. But there is no pain whatsoever, that is the cool thing. I have joined a football club now and i am playing again , really happy about that , its 3 months shy of my 1 year ann. like i said before i would play , but i couldn't take it anymore and i had done lots of back strengthing exercises and sprint tests and also spoke to my surgeon who gave the go ahead. I am feeling very strong now. i can pick up very heavy objects now, things i wouldn't never have even thought about doing pre-op (even a fridge!). So please be encouraged everyone, total success here and you to can be free from back pain, its a life changing operation and it has totally changed my life (just got to find a girlfriend now and things will be complete...lol) Even my mindset about things is different and i certainly don't have anymore suicide thoughts that use to haunt me daily . I really hope to hear about your stories to in this forum so we can all encourage others as it is big step to take and its nice to have someone with you when you go through this. ( i had no-one in the hospital when i went in and i nearly did a runner at the last moment, if you can, take someone with you as it helps alot). ok any other questions please ask me , i am totally open and would like to help others who are going through this.

ok later
Mike

The doctor got the MRI report and said that there is a herniated disk, a bone spur protruding into the sacral nerve, L4 and L5-S1 something or other that I didn't understand, etc. But he said the bulk of my pain is coming from the bone spur that is protruding into the nerve. If I don't chicken out first, the surgery is scheduled for the 27th. I've survived off Bayer aspirin and ice packs for many, many years because I won't take narcotic drugs. I work for a medical clinic and have seen way too much addiction.

Mike, thank you for your encouraging words. The doctor said that they will (ahem) Saw off the bone spur , and that I will have 3 screws on either side. It sounds like I'll be setting off metal detectors too huh?

I'll keep you posted.

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