Posted on 10/17/2021 3:57:36 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo
Going through the back. The problem is in the L2-L3 area.
It had to be hard to give up chocolate.
My we assume they've done an MRI within the last couple of months? And my neurosurgeon has called for a lot of diagnostic tech prior to the surgery. EKG, PTT, chest x-ray, urinalysis, a raft of blood tests including A1c (I'm diabetic). They should be doing the same for you.
One thing that a neurosurgeon who did a c-spine surgery told her is that she could expect to have another surgery in about 7 years (because of additional stress placed on the adjoining non-fused disks). This was before her second surgery (her first was 8 years prior). And, guess what? He was right.
She finally got the process to stop by losing a crapload of weight, getting off virtually all her meds (both were important).
And, naturally, once she felt better she decided she wanted to do her own thing...with half my 401(k) moved to her name.
Thus...the ex-wife LOL.
2 MRI’s in the past 6 months. Last was 3 weeks ago. My A1c is 5.
;-)
I have had cervical spine surgery first for vertebrae repair and disc replacement and a second surgery to plant rods to hold things together while the bony parts fused back together.
I have no experience with spinal lumbar surgery.
I wish you the best, and hoping your surgical spine outfit is a good one.
Not like what your experience is, but I broke L2-3 (IIRC) after hitting a tree during a motorcycle crash.
Had to have the busted parts fused with a bone chunk taken off my hip.
This was 40 years ago and I gather the procedure and parts to immobilize the spine have changed. Rather than a body cast, i elected to have “Herrington rods” implaced. Still in there.
Far as post-op, the bone surgeon told me I would wake up from surgery feeling like an elephant had stomped me. Heck, after the wreck, I already hurt like hell. It did feel rather grim, but after therapy and taking up weightlifting all that is left is not bending in that area. not a huge thing. Percodan was my salvation every afternoon for a while.
kerping
Don’t know anything about the surgery, but I pray for your total healing and recovery, in Jesus’ Name.
“I’ve got one of those handy picker-upper tools.”
I bought one from Home Depot which is a super-duper pick-up tool with two handles to pick up heavier things. The squeezer is more powerful, also.
Good to know.
I have had two lumbar laminectomys l5-s1 11 years ago l4-l5 8 years ago
In no particular order...
Walk as soon as you can, get 250 steps every hour
Get off pain pills as quick as you can
If you are overweight, lose weight until you are not obese, better to be “normal”
Request and do physical therapy
Try pilates (personal instruction with a certified instructor)
Try yoga (Iyengar)
Lift weights
Do cardio (30min a day)
Try an inversion table
Swim
Figure out what foods give you inflammation and stop eating them
Sleep enough (6.5 hrs at least)
Drink water
Practice mindfulness
The surgery is only the first step to being functional, you will have to work to recover and maintain.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/imj.14120
I'd search for a completely different option.
I was able to get a woman at a former place I worked to stop her fusion in favor of a disc replacement done virtually as outpatient work. It was somewhat more expensive, but the fusion she was to have done would have major issues by the 10-year mark, while the disc replacement would have no expected issues.
She was incredibly pleased with the result.
Every good spine doctor / surgeon will tell you that they would not have spinal fusion even if they were uncontrollably peeing on their drop foot.
They say it to make a point.
The surgery honestly hasn’t changed a lot in decades, nor have the outcomes. Some people fare quite well, many don’t.
There are some other surgeries that are a lot less invasive that tend to have better outcomes, but they may not be suitable for you or you may not be a candidate.
If I was in your position (may have been in the past), I’d look for a doctor that has gotten paid by insurance companies to do multi-level disc replacement in the lumbar spine and talk to them. That’s what I did and he showed me that my back pain was actually from my hips and SI (mostly hip related). I went to a hip specialist that he recommended. They did the correct diagnostic tests, which sucked, but they did show labral tears and FAI. I believe the labral tears were a lot of my issues pain wise.
I had episodes where I was literally pulling myself across the carpet in my home because I couldn’t stand - went to ER twice via ambulance and it took a lot of morphine and dilaudid just to get me to be able to sit part way upright. PT off and on for years, injections until they didn’t work anymore, nerve ablations that mostly didn’t work, etc... If I had as many needles sticking out of me as I’ve had stuck in my spine I would be a porcupine. I have been through the wringer with my lumbar spine and have had two c-spine surgeries as well.
Bottom line, get a second opinion from a really good ortho spine specialist.
I had it 1995. Back then, they chopped a chunk off your hip joint to use for the space between where your disk was.
Now, I understand that they use a type of cage and put that in there for the bone to graft the area.
If you are having terrible nerve pain, you should notice when you wake up that its gone. But, the dam laying perfectly flat for hours is gonna be hard. No moving without getting nurses in there to help you. You will need to stay on your back, but they can roll you just a bit and place pillows along your body to hold you.
I kept apologizing to my nurse for my bothering them because, as I told them, I cant get comfortable no matter what.
Concentrate on relaxing.
The surgeon who did it was one of the top of the line in the USA and now is teaching at a university since he has MS.
He had a business which developed spinal implements to correct spinal deformity as well as invented the ability to use cable instead of wire to keep the spine corrected after surgery.
Another. I worked in the logging industry before and after. I did things after I did before. You need to use therapy to keep the muscles from becoming to tight in that area cuz they will develop massive scar tissue and cause problems that are not unlike your original pain.
If they put any type of metal in for support, you shouldnt feel it after complete healing unless..its lower than 30 below zero.
Oh God.
I never took pain killers. They made me sicker than hell.
Advil in massive doses.
Did they go in anteriorely or posterialey?
They talked about spilling my guts out and going in front and I told them NO WAY IN HELL. They did it from the back.
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