[lal209]

Hey, everyone! Hope you all are having a great holiday season!

I'm 6-weeks post laminectomies with fusion and instrumentation at the L2-S1. In the past couple of weeks I've started getting a lot more new pain in my legs and tail bone. A few weeks prior to surgery the weekness in my left leg got worse and my knee kept buckling. I also had inconsistent, but frequent pain in my hip, down the front and side of my thigh, at the top and around my knee and down the leg into the foot. Right after surgery that pain cleared up for the first 3 weeks or so and then started coming back, but at a lesser level. In the past two weeks it's gotten worse than it was before, is now in my right leg, too, and I have new pain lower down the lower back all the way to the tailbone. At first it was mostly after I'd sat/reclined for a long time and at night when I went to bed and woke up in the morning. Now it's more frequent and it's actually making walking at times very painful. To top it off, when I go to bed, it hurts enough to make me want to move my legs frequently sometimes making it difficult to go to sleep. I don't think it's at the level or type to be considered restless leg syndrome, but it's definitely uncomfortable. I'm still on hydrocodone and soma, and while it takes the edge off, it doesn't always make it bearable.

I've seen enough on the forum to know that surgery does not necessarily fix pain and that it can make it worse, so I know this isn't out of the ordinary. I see the NS on 10 Jan fo my "6-week follow-up" (he's on vacation now). I have a few questions I hope you can help with so that I can be better prepared when I see him:

• With the new pain in the tailbone and right leg, could this be an early sign of the domino effect? Or a problem with the fusion?
  
• Is there another possible explanation for the change in pain?
  
• Is there another pain med I should ask for?
  
• I expect him to prescribe physical therapy at this appt. Should that help with this pain?
  
• I was seeing a pain mgnt doc before the surgeries and he said I could see him anytime now without a referral. Should I try to get in with him before I see the NS?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated!
Thanks,
Leigh Ann