Hi Mike. A fellow Kiwi here. I would love some details on where you had your surgery in New Zealand. I am an incomplete paraplegic of 38 years duration who is suffering from spinal stenosis. Surgeons have said they would operate if I insist but no promises of reducing the pain and no improvement in walking as being a para for such a long time, I should expect to end up in a chair. I don't accept that because I am deteriorating because I can't walk far because of the pain. I'm highly motivated, healthy, work fulltime, garden, renovate my house etc. etc. I try to exercise and keep core strength up but that too is limited because of the pain.
What other options did you look at before surgery. What about steroidal injections? I just can't accept that I should sit in a wheelchair when I have muscle strength that can be utilised just as it has been for the last 38 years!!
Look forward to your or anyone's suggestions.

I have had back pain since the end of 99 when I was rear ended by a passenger van and after much pain and 10-15 Dr's I found one that would do the fusion (a 3 level, l1-l2 and l3 and he promised me at least a 50% decrease in pain so I had it and now when I hear the word surgery I run like the wind (only in my mind of course) instead of 4 days in hosp it was 12 and NS slipped and cut my spinal cord twice and I bled into my spinal fluid which gave me Arachnoiditsis, a condition with no cure....I only thought I knew what pain was before, now I would give it all to turn back time. I take morphine (long acting) 100mg 3x day and 15mg fast acting 2 x day, Valium 10mg 10mg 3 times a day if I want to urinate (it left me with paralysis of bladder and bowel , my left arm is numb and the numbness travels everywhere except for from the waist to the thighs and my left arm is constant .I feel nothing other then the constant pain that all the meds in the world will never make it go away! I fall all the time without any warning. I have no friends and even family avoids me either because they think I am a junkie or because I won't give them any and friends are out of the question because it takes everything in me to just survive the day. I wished I had researched more and listened to all the Dr's that said no. I wish you the best, but be very careful because what they left me with is for life. They tried to talk me into having surgery on left arm and I said Hell No!! Never again for me.....I used to be a nurse before this and look at me now
I am not trying to scare you off, just sharing my story, my surgery was 6-15-06.

Hey Mate, no problem, i had the operation at Mercy Hospital in Auckland with Dr Barnes (his office is near ponsonby/new market) he is one of 2 surgeons suggested to me of which both are 10+ years doing spinal surgery, i think they are pretty much the top 2 in NZ for this kind of op. from what i found out when i did my research. Hope that helps and all the best!

Cheers
Mike