Hi, as you can read in my signature I've already had lot's of fun. However my new hobby is falling. A lot. I've already had 3 epidurals this year and I think we have the pain under control. However my back is one huge stenosis herniation's, bla ,bla. We have tried hydro, PT, all kinds of crap. Nothing has worked. My Dr. said the only thing left to try is surgery. He wants to do a lumbar fusion. My wife is keen for it but I'm the one being carved like a holiday turkey.

I' scared to death. Is this just moving the time to when I need a chair out to the right? I have a top guy and if he has tried everything and says it's time, it must be time.

Anybody have any info on pain, recovery, whether I will have to retire from the US wheelchair fencing team?

Thanks

My back pain/issues are severe but from what I gather from your post you sir are much worse off than I.

I may be confused but just in case I'm not I will say this and remember it is just my experience and opinion...nothing more.

I had disease that caused L5 to shift forward on top of S1. I went for a while and just dealt with the pain. Most of the time my pain was a 5 (1-10) with a 7 or 8 every now and then when I did something like pick up something wrong or whatever.

Anyways, my back doc (head of the department at Vanderbilt...and still is) told me quote "you either have to adjust your life style to fit your back or I can adjust your back to fit your lifestyle"....end quote.

Well, I was tired of hurting every time I did something to amount to anything such as pick up a box of whatever that weighed 30 or 40 lbs and move it a couple of feet......then I would have severe pain for days.

Well, I went back to my doc and let him do this surgery. Rods/screws/fake bone added for support at S1/L5.

My doc all but promised me I would be 100% within 6 months post op. LOL.....it did not go that way. I have been in severe pain a lot more than I ever was before surgery.

Where I use to only have high pain after doing certain things I now have that type pain regardless.

Before surgery I did not take pain meds often at all. My gp would give me a few and they would last me for weeks.

Now..........I take 3 10mg oxycodones and 2 20mg flexerils every day and still stay in more pain than I did pre surgery when I was taking almost no pain meds.

Now for some more good news. If you ask my surgeon he will say that the surgery turned out great. Nothing is wrong. Everything is fine.

LOL....yeah right!

Only after bugging the crap out of him did he send me to a pain management doc. After seeing the pain doc he said "ok, we can fix you right up".

He did blocks, nerve ablation this and that and all sorts of different steroid shot but all failed to give me relief. He then said quote "there is no reason why you should be in all this pain....you may need some mental help"....end quote.

Well, I did a little research on the good doctors and found out not only are they in the same group (work for the same organization) but they are good friends.......well, no wonder he was not willing to find anything wrong...DUH!

I then found a pain doc far away from him. This pain doc did one mri and one scan and said quote "omg, how do you even walk without pain meds" end quote.

He checked all my records to make sure there was not something that could be done short of yet another surgery and seen that all the test that could be done had already been done. He then said "only thing left is meds and you will be on some sort of pain med for life".

He did tell me that I could take the chance of another surgery (his very words) but it may make your pain even worse....it's up to you or we can get you started on pain medication to try and control it best we can.

I opted for the meds and have not looked back.

I wish I could go back in time and not have that surgery. Before that surgery I was still disabled due to Tourette syndrome, depression and anxiety but at least when I had a tic my back did not feel like it was going to come apart.

Hind sight is 20/20 as they say.

I don't know if I was any help to you or not but that is my story with back pain and surgery.

My opinion is stay FAR, FAR, FAR away from surgery unless you HAVE to have it. Don't forget some doctors are knife happy and will use the words "HAVE TO" very loose.

Good luck!

Rake