4 months post op

[jlh49]

Not really sure where to go with this one. I was injured in a slip and fall accident at work, it took a week for the employer to do the paperwork and get the ball rolling and in the mean time I went to my Dr and he ordered an MRI and from that he sent me to a neurosurgeon. I underwent the shots which did not work and the surgeon then opted for the fusion and hardware for L5-S1. Knowing that I am a 1-1.5 pack a day smoker the surgery was done on a thursday and I was home on friday, at roughly 3 months post op I was sent to therapy where it felt like more harm than good was done. At every post op Dr visit I complained of the lower back pain and sporadic tingling and nurabness in left leg below the knee, the Dr would take an X-ray and say everything look good, come back in a few weeks. Finally he ordered a CT with and without contrast, it showed debris,further bulging of another disc and narrowing of nerve spaces, he says that he didn't see anything to be concerned with and he didn't know what to say. I finally ended up going to a second opinion and took with me the previous CT results and the X-Ray from the Dr.s office, the new dr does his exams and tells me the same thing that the CT report says and he orders a Myleogram which confirms what the Ct says and that the attempted fusion had not fused. I guess my question is where do I stand and what should be my next move, am I dealing with a careless dr and am I looking at another surgery

 

[ibake&pray]

Can I ask you a question? Are you still smoking? Did the doctors mention that it takes longer for fusion in people who smoke? Your bones are more brittle and it is a longer heal for you.. A normal fusion usually isn't seen for 6 months in non smokers, so even at 4 months it's early to be expecting to see full fusion.

The tingling and nurabness is because of the nerves that were moved during the surgery. Nerves are notoriously cranky things. They don't like to be messed with. The fact that your surgeon went in and messed around with them set them aflame. It takes them time to settle down from being moved about. They need time to re position themselves and for swelling to settle down. It's almost as if they have a life of their own. If the crawling and tingling is too much, ask your doctor for some of the meRAB that work on nerve pain. Regular pain meRAB don't touch the nerve pain. There are several meRAB out that will help. Neurontin, Topomax, Lyrica. They were all designed for something else, but have been found to be succuessful for nerve pain control.

What you need to give yourself first and formost is time and patience. Back surgery is a slow and tedious heal, and the sugery often kicks up pain that wasn't there before the surgery was started. Give yourself time to heal and not torush-you end up doing yourself more harm than good.