Everyone recovers differently. Age is also a determining factor. Am I 100%, absolutely not but my quality of life is much better after having had fusion of L5-S1 than before. I would also think that medical procedures have improved since I had my surgery back in 2003 resulting in better post surgery performance.

My surgeon put it to me simply; you have a 1 in 3 chance it will be worse, a 1 in 3 chance it will be the same and a 1 in 3 chance you'll be better. He could not promise anything but asked if the quality of life I was living was how I wanted to live for the rest of my life. Like many have posted, the level of pain and mental anguish was debilitating. I chose to have surgery and I would do it again.

Ask your neurosurgeon what are the chances of success. If he says it's 50-50, what he means is that either you'll stay the same or worse.

For surgery like that, a 2nd and perhaps a 3rd medical opinion is prudent.

Thanks everyone. I appreciate you all taking the time to share your experience.

alreadydead, sorry about your dad. I know several people that have had problems with infections in the hospital.

Looks like this is pretty much a crapshoot. I’m sure there are too many variables to be able to make any kind of a definite maybe prediction.

All I know right now, is this is miserable. I can’t sit, stand, or lay down. I haven’t slept for over 2 hours straight since the 29th.

I get my shot Wednesday, so that should give me some relief until I can figure out what to do.
Honestly,the surgery scares me, but I’m not having any fun this way.

Everyone please stop with the shots! All it does is mask the pain while you continue to cause more damage. Pain is your bodies way of saying hey, something is wrong here!

My wife had a laminectity of L4/L5 because of a ruptured disk. She had pain, tingling, and numbness in her right leg, but hates doctors and put of getting anything done. I practically had to drag her to a neurosurgeon to get it looked at. They found the ruptured disk in an mri and operated the next day. If she had gone much longer she would have lost the control of her bladder and bowls!

This was 15 years ago and she is doing fine.

quote:

Originally posted by truckola:
2007 to 2014 my back deteriorated to the only pain free place was my living room floor, spent a month there before a L4-L5 fusion surgery. Followed the surgeons directions to the letter, 6 months off work, no further issues.

My L4 had slipped forward over my L-5, it was very obvious in the MRI. Not all back issues are as obvious or are good candidates for surgery.

I researched both surgeons and hospitals, there are A+ surgeons and C- surgeons. Hospitals can have excellent service and outcomes and some not so much. It pays to stack the deck in your direction as much as possible.

How did you research to find the difference between a A+ and C- surgeons. I was real lucky 3 times (not all back surgeries)but would like to know how to chose the next one.

quote:

Originally posted by Ed Fowler:

quote:

Originally posted by truckola:
2007 to 2014 my back deteriorated to the only pain free place was my living room floor, spent a month there before a L4-L5 fusion surgery. Followed the surgeons directions to the letter, 6 months off work, no further issues.

My L4 had slipped forward over my L-5, it was very obvious in the MRI. Not all back issues are as obvious or are good candidates for surgery.

I researched both surgeons and hospitals, there are A+ surgeons and C- surgeons. Hospitals can have excellent service and outcomes and some not so much. It pays to stack the deck in your direction as much as possible.

How did you research to find the difference between a A+ and C- surgeons. I was real lucky 3 times (not all back surgeries)but would like to know how to chose the next one.

I started with "www.healthgrades.com". I was told to look for a surgeon that was "Board certified, Fellowship trained" that did lots of surgeries like what is being proposed (don't want a rusty surgeon), there are also places that keep track of hospitals, look for post surgical infection rates and what types of infections. Also ask if the surgeon uses IONM (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intraoperative_neurophysiological_monitoring). The web has lots of info if you dig.

Thank you for the information, greatly appreciated.

I have had 2 back surgeries. First in late 80s. Second one was last year. Both were a success. No shots for me period.

L5-S1 back in 2004. The best thing I ever did.
C6-C7 ACDF in 2016. Pretty good result.