Hi Folks,
Most of the time I am posting on the Epilepsy Forum but my husband has back surgery last week for spinal stenosis and I was wondering if any of you that have had this type of surgery could tell me how long it was until you were able to drive and the pain went away. It's been a full week now and my husband is still in a lot of pain and isn't driving but he wants to drive this Monday and I don't think he should. Here's wishing all of you well and May God Bless You! Thank you for your help and time.

Sue

Hello Sue

It seems very soon for him to be driving after that type of surgery. I don't really know how long he should wait. Did he receive any information about recovery times from the hospital or the surgeon? If it's been less than 2 weeks I'd definitely not be driving and then I'll still be asking the doctor when I could.

Usually the hospital gives a list of "to do" items, doctor instructions, etc. before leaving hospital. If you do not have this list would be best to contact doctor either way.

Did your husband have a laminectomy (removing some of the lamina)? This is to open an area or areas of the spinal cord being compressed.

It's been about 9 yrs. ago when I had my spinal fusion. At that time I also had a laminectomy done to relieve the worst area where spinal cord was being compressed due to spinal stenosis.

Again, I definitely suggest your husband contact the doctor before attempting to drive.


Gerry

What type of surgery did your husband have?

It seems there are a few surgical approaches to spinal stenosis:
1. Laminectomy 2. Intraspinous spacer implantation 3. minimally invasive lumbar decompression (MILD)

The Spine-health forum lists a bunch of different surgeries

Perhaps knowing the exact procedure and the levels involved could inform how long he'll need to rest up for.

Hi Folks,

I want to thank each and everyone of you for all of your advice and help. My husbands neurosurgeon told him he could drive after 1 week from his surgery as long as there were no problems.
The form of surgery he had done was a laminectomy in the lumbar region disc L4 with neurologic claudic. He has a lot of pain coming and going from the lower buttocks and down his legs but he's much better than before the surgery.
Yesterday (Saturday) he drove to town 6 miles and back home and he said he was feeling good. I was surprised but I don't want him to over do it and have a set back ending up with more pain.
I want to thank each and everyone of you for your time and support. May God Bless all of You!

Sue

How is your husband doing by now?

SS was a "gift side effect" from a hip replacement I had in 2010...I was a big mess after 5 months post op with the hip and ended up with SS....could not sit for 5 min and not be in crying pain. Bought a donut pillow...went to an alternative rheumy here in my town and went thru many sessions of acupuncture with her and she sent me to a PT who specializes in SS work, even went in thru coccyx and did internal work. I've sent it all but had no desire to "think" about a surgery again. I'm much better now and can sit now with pretty good ease....but still deal with other complications from this hip job.

The PT directed me to special exercises too from SpineUniverse site and do them faithfully. How are things there? C