[GJZH]

I am six months out from a 360 lumbar fusion L1 to S1. I am still having much of the same pain I had pre-surgery. I do not have any regrets and know I still have much healing to do also. This is a long process and I am hoping I will see some good results eventually.....They told me at the last appt though that they were having difficulty reading the ex-rays because of arcing from the hardware and sent me for a CT Scan.

Well, the radiologist cannot read the CT Scan either. He did do a 3D reconstructed image from the scan...but I was surprised at how short the scan was...They told me to hold my breath and put me through once and then again and that was it...The radiologist came out from the booth and as he helped me up and walked me to the door he asked if I had the fusion because I had cancer....Do you find that an odd question? Should I call my surgeon to ask if there is something he found on there or was he just making conversation? and poor conversation at that?

I asked for a copy of the study and have a CD of it...My spine does not look good on the reconstructed image.....The only thing they could see is that there is severe hypertrophic spurring at all lumbar disc levels, most severe at L1-2 and L2-3 levels and hypertrophic degenerative changes of the lumbar facet joints. Other than that he could not see anything else to determine fusion. How will they determine fusion and hardware placement now? They told me an MRI will not help either...so what now? I know at some facilities they use a Stryker Scanner...I have had that type for my sinuses...Does anyone know if that would work for my spine?