I now feel I've made great progress, and am almost pain-free, in terms of the "surgical" pain. I've used a lot of bodyworkers, and have found Feldenkrais, and deep muscle massage both very helpful. Yesterday I had my first acupuncture, and immediately was able to bend easily and put on my shoes to leave. My back had been stiff, and achy, and that totally lifted.

But I still have pain in my left butt, going down the left leg, which began several months after the surgery. I had an MRI in August which didn't show a cause, and a CT which showed I wasn't completely fused yet, but the rods and screws were okay.

Today I saw my neurologist, and he says that the butt pain is definitely due to spinal stenosis at the level of L4. He doesn't seem to think that this means surgical revision is the only answer, and tells me he thinks I'll be okay to take an active vacation with my kids in January. He thinks the MRI will show the docs where to put a needle for an epidural. But I can't help thinking that if it's spinal stenosis, there will be a re-do surgery in my future.

Yuch.

HAs anybody shared this experience of symptoms occurrnig about 3 months after surgery?

BTW: I am feeling very good. I've gotten back my flexibility and do not have unremitting pain. I just have pain with sitting (butt) and extension. If I'm a bit flexed, I'm okay. And my overall health seems good, so I am still optimistic. I think the healing from the surgery is near complete, and that's good.
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LizaJane

www.lizajane.org

LizaJane,

Maybe I am being stupid asking this question, but how could you have spinal stenosis at L4 if you had a fusion at that level? I thought the fusion would eliminate the stenosis.

GZ--

Well, yah, I'm wondering also. Originally, I had stenosis caused by two things: a cyst, AND hypertrophy/arthitis of the long ligaments. But with the fusion, there shouldn't be any more cysts forming, and there's no bone to cause stenosis.

Yet the thing is, when I carried a heavy package in my left arm, both legs just turned to jello. In the shower, twice, when doing my normal morning stretches, which involve elongating myself, my legs turned to jello again.

The pain is worse if my back is extended, less if I'm hunched forward. That's a sign of stenosis.

So, I don't quite understand.

I received an email from a woman who has had many spinal surgeries and has been very supportive, and she tells me that it could just be swelling.That there could be areas of inflammation and swelling from the surgery which "mimic" stenosis.

But I'm hoping to hear more thoughts from people who have more experience iwth this.

Acupuncture and deep tissue massage are helping extraordinarily! I'm very pleasantly surprised. In a way, it seems everything helps, at the right time.

Liza,

I saw my surgeon on Thursday and I told him exactly what you are saying. I am still needing my cane. He said that if I go to PT I will not need it. The PT will strengthen the muscles in my back. They asked me to bend backwards for the ex-rays, but that is an impossibility.

I just know if I do any bending at all, I can not straighten up at all. I walk hunched over and need my cane to walk. I also need the cane after sitting for any length of time my legs are stiff and do not move right away. This could not be from muscles in my back since I had this problem before the surgery. For the first time the other day my legs felt heavy as you described. I had this pre-surgery though and thought the surgery would eliminate it.

My surgeon now tells me that I am fusing, but there is not much bone in the cages. He told me I did not have to wear the bone stimulator anymore. I really do not know how he can see that, since his partner told me there was too much arcing on the films and they could not tell if I was fusing. They sent me for a CT Scan and I do not think he knows that I got the report from the radiologist telling me that there is too much arcing and they could not tell if I was fusing. They could not see the spinal canal at all and most of the pictures are just bright white. So I guess he saw something the others did not see, but I just find it odd that I am still on pain meds when he said I would only need them for three months. It is now almost nine months. He said once I heal more I should not have as much pain, but I seem to have the same pain. It is not as intense as immediately after surgery, but they had to up my meds after the first visit with my PM doc, and when it is time for another I am in so much pain I would not be able to walk at all, so I am just a little worried.

What happens if bone does not form in the cages? I see him again in six months. There was a woman in the waiting area bragging to everyone how great my surgeon is...Yes, he is...She had L3 to L5 fused...She said she could not walk before the surgery and now she is walking without a cane and fused at three months. I am ashamed to admit I was a little angry with her. I know I should have been happy for her and I did express it to her, but a part of me wanted to tell her to shut up. She just went on and on and was telling some fellow that he was the greatest surgeon in the world...He is, I know that, but I want to walk without pain too...

No real good news today. I've been having more sciatic type pain, and my lower back has been gripping more. The "sciatic pain" is a shooting pain from my butt down the side of my leg that occurs when I do anything twisting. If I roll onto my left side, or bend to the left, it's a pain that knocks the wind out of me and near brings me to the floor. On the other hand, it's not constant. My right butt has caught some of this pain, and now there's some aching there too. And because of this, I think, my lower back is gripping more, undoing most of the good results from feldenkrais and acupuncture.

why did I get worse? a bit of activity 2 weeks ago? Overdoing it?

I had an MRI and CT last week. And saw my neuro today. He said there's evidence of irritation at L4, L5, and S1. My knee jerk is way down, and I've lost sensation on the top of my foot. I get tingling down the back of the leg. That's a lot of irritation. He moved me around and saw that it was all positional and said this is clearly something mechanical. Since the MRI and CT were read as healing perfectly, he couldn't find a reason for it. Maybe, he thought, a pedicle screw was irritating the nerves, and taking out the hardware would be required. At the time, he was thinking the fusion worked.
It's not arachnoiditis, and everything is in place, so he was puzzled.

But he just phoned me. He talked more iwth the radiologist, and I'm not at all fused. This leads them to think that maybe I'm unstable. I shouldn't be being held together by the nuts and bolts, he said. So Monday I have to call to set up plain films with bending and extension and such.

In the meantime he offered me Lyrica, and then thought that maybe since Soma works for getting me to sleep (and I'm scared of being tired during the day) I'll be okay with what I'm doing now: Soma, Klonopin, and Oxycodone.
But I do need more Oxycodone to pull the level down down.

I've just rethought this, and think maybe we should have gone with the Lyrica, and starting on a weekend would be good. So I"ll call and ask him to phone my pharmacy.

That's where I"m at. I'm not pleased, but people/patients who know, say this isn't that unexpected, and reallydoesn't qualify as Failed Back yet, being under a year. I don't know--it feels like a failure to me. Like it's going in the wrong direction, if any direction.

Liza Jane,
I am so sorry to hear that you are having problems with your fusion. I really wish you were feeling and doing better.

Are you going to go back to see your surgeon or has he dismissed you before the year was up?

I am told that you are not unstable so long as you have the rods and screws to hold you together. It is when they do a bone on bone fusion without hardware that you have to worry.

Hi LizaJane,

I too have benefited from body work for my back/neck problems, specifically from Myofascial Trigger Point therapy. So much so I changed careers later in life and went back to school to learn how to do this profession.

Your ongoing glut and leg pain may be from the QL muscle(s) and paraspinals (multifiti and rotators) in your low back.

Your chronic sinus infections may benefit if your SCM and jaw muscles are worked on by your massage therapist or PT trained in Myofascial Trigger Point Therapy.
Best wishes.

turns out the butt pain is from the L5 facet, which is now arthritic, being the joint below the level of the fusion. Last week I got my first facet block, which is taking the edge off it. I'm told that next time, they'd recommend a radiofrequency ablation of the nerve from L5.

seems it's hard to stop with one fusion--the problems keep marching on.

Hi all and hope u can answer this question for does anyone think its normal to have severly swollen ankles and feet and semi my hands and terrible arthritic pain from this recent surgurey had it nov 10 06 please send me your opions and or if u have encountered this problem too thank harleymom