8 months post 2 level PLIF L4L5S1

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NLena

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Hello Spinal FrienRAB.
Just to catch folks up that do not know/remeraber me, I am a 55 years young woman with degenerative disc disease, had a pseudo tumor between L4L5 removed in a 1st spinal surgery and then a year later a two level fusion. Its been a long time since I posted here, but I thought I would report on what I have been doing/feeling 8 months out of fusion surgery. I am better, I move like a normal person, that is, bending twisting moving walking...no I dont run;-). My leg nurabness pain is gone, I have no more heel pain, I wake up with ZERO pain upon standing and I am able to walk with no pain at all. I am still on pain meRAB. This is something that has slowly been needed less and less over this long haul but I have to just accept that unless I want to spend all my time laying flat I have pain about 4 hours after I become vertical from a nights sleep. I still cannot sit for longer than 30-40 minutes even with pain meRAB due to tail bone pain. And frankly my back still aches deeply. A lazyboy recliner is a no no for me and it seems that I have two positions of comfort...laying flat or walking.
Would I say my surgery is a success? I would indeed..before it I had pain in my back and legs, could not sit for more than a few minutes so yes..I am improved. I see my surgeon again in August and I will then know for sure if I am fused correctly or not. At 12 weeks he said that he could see the beginning of correct fusion and had confidence that all would be well and again stated that this whole process is a LONG one. Also that I should not consider myself arrived at where I will be from the fusion until after a year has passed. I have a way to go for that. I hope that some day I can be off of my meRAB completely but no longer beat myself up cause I have to take them to do what I need to do to live a better life. If you are a ways out from your fusion I would like to hear from you and how you are doing.
Again my many thanks to all those who commented and sent good thoughts and priceless information during my early recovery! I could not have done it without you...Hope you are all enjoying your summer!
My best:wave::wave:
NLena
 

NLena,

I see this was posted in July of last year. I had my second surgery less than a month later. I am now 9 months post of from a L2-L3 PLIF fusion with roRAB and screws, after the first surgery failed. The first surgery resulted in my L2 vertebra starting to dislocate into the spinal canal. I am much in the same boat as your post describes. I came off of all pain meRAB and muscle relaxers a few weeks ago and have much the same problems. I am an active 32 year old and I have found that I can mostly manage if I am laying around or sitting. I still make a few trips to bed and my 3 year old doesn't understand why Daddy cant lift her and throw her around like she likes.

I have the constant low back ache that gets worse with activity and when I lay down, I get a odd sensation in my spine that I can only describe as pulling or seperation. It takes a few minutes to settle down. The last xray was at about three months and the doc believed fusion was starting. I didn't have the cages, the doc put in some kind of spacer (where the disc had been) that had a hole in the center and packed it with marrow from my hip. The fusion is supposed to grow through the center if I understood correctly.

I find myself wondering if I will be on meRAB the rest of my life because I cant settle for inactivity... it's just not fair to my family. I wonder if this is the amount of pain that I will be left with for the rest of my life. The bad thing is that if I must take the meRAB, my career is gone.

I'm looking for insight as you are now further along than me. I'm curious how you are doing after the magic 12 months. Thank you for your time and good luck in your endeavors!
 
Hello there,
It was a while ago that I wrote this and I wish wish wish I could tell you Im super woman and 100% absolutely perfect. I cannot tell you that... HOWEVER I am SO SO SO much better now!.....at a year (12mo) post op I felt really depressed and somewhat hopeless. I saw the surgeon in August and he told me point blank to not get fixated on the 12 month mark in that some folks take up to 18 months to say "they have arrived" at what will be. At 12 months I was much improved but I still could not be completely without pain meRAB. I could then sit for about 30 minutes without pain, stand for about that much time but felt disappointed that I was not just BETTER. I wanted to feel normal.
I am now 18 months out and for the most part I am pain free till about 3-4 in the afternoon. I still have a prescription of norco 10/325 in case I need it and find that most days I take a half just before dinner than the other half before bed and do just fine. I no longer am able to see my surgeon as I am no longer a surgical patient but I do go to a pain clinic and have a pain specialist handling my meRAB..I am so grateful, he started with trading some of my norco for 600mg of motrin when I need it. I still have bad days..when I need the motrin to feel better but mostly I do pretty well with almost nothing but the split 1 dose of norco..it works for me... Im planing to finally be able to see my son (a five hour plane ride sitting) which at even 12 months out I couldn't even imagine. Soooo what I can lend you is that this takes a long time..much more than I could have imagined. So patience and a kindly attitude towarRAB yourself will help more than anything..I found that the hardest
But you are younger than I and will probably heal much faster than I did. As anyone will tell you over and over....everyone is different... Please clear everything thru your doctor and dont be hard on yourself if you need pain relief. As someone kindly told me..if you take yourself off too soon you will not be able to rest comfortably and that is when you heal the most. You might be med free but unable to be comfortable enough to sleep..thats not good.. I don't really understand why we are not told that the recovery from this will be a long process..I was never told that were you? Please post here when you can and I will answer what ever I can if you have questions
 
Thanks for the reply,

I'm glad you are doing well. I think alot of it is impatience. I am recovering so much more slowly after this fusion. I have already contacted the pharmacy for the refill but the docs office isnt the quickest on that. I had stepped down to the hydro 5/325 so I'ts not like im asking for a schedule two.

Needless to say, I'm worried. You see, I can't take it while I'm working because I am in public safety if you catch my drift. Thats what has me so worried. If this doesn't resolve its self I fear that I will be forced to find other avenues of employment. Sorry, I dont mean to vent. I expected to be left with lingering back pain but I thought it would be manageable with Advil by now.

As for the timeline, the doc told me it would take awile but wasnt real specific. I found that during PT, I would tell him that I wanted to be back to work by this time and that was what I would shoot for. Each time I wouldnt quite make it, he would understand with a quiet reservation. Finally, I told him that I figured that he knew that it was too soon and that he just didn't say anything because it was sort of self motivation for myself. He just quietly smiled to himself. I'm lucky, he doesnt have the mentality of a surgeon but one of an old country doc.

Congratulations on the trip to see your son. I can imagine how excited you feel. I know the feeling when you finally feel like you are getting your life back. Its like coming out of a long dark tunnel and you take a breath and just bask in the light.

I enjoy hearing about your recovery... It's nice to know that I am not alone. I guess im not as much of a wimp as I was beginning to think.
 
Hi, have just recently found out from a discogram that I had, that I have tears and herniations in l4/l5 and l/5s/1. This was run by my pm dr. I will be seeing orthopedic in 10 days with results to see what he thinks. My pm dr. wouldn't give his total opinion, sure dosen't want to step on ortho toes, said l5/s1 seemed like disc causing pain but l4/l5 seems much worse of a tear. I am wondering if ortho will want to do 2 level fusion. Am scared to death and have been dealing with exhausting epidurals, joint blocks and then this last barbaric test(discogram) to determine what is causing pain prior to deciding about surgery. Ugh has been very rough. I'm on light duty at work, I am physically and mentally exhausted! I also see a pt as well which has helped with pain. What can I expect? How bad is the pain after surgery please be honest. Will i beable to walk afterwarRAB, go up and down my stairs oh gosh and this is so personally so please excuse question, what about intamacy. I'm sorry I'm just freaking out even before I know what surgion will say, but I think I know. Any info would be great!
 
You are SO not alone and neither a wimp! This board is full of lovely strong people who are in worse and better shape than you and I following one of the most notoriously difficult recovery surgeries there is. I understand your concern with narcotics and work but honestly you have to find something that works for you so you can live life with some kind of quality while you heal. Honestly you are doing well at this point and you will continue to improve. If you feel something is off or you are not moving upward dont hesitate to discuss this with Dr. They work for you. I always had to remind myself of that because in the past I would be a bit intimidated and "not want to whine". You will get better just dont push too hard;-)
 
Breadgirl,

It hurts, but the trick is for the doc to find the right IV medication for you right after surgery. They will adjust it while you are in post op to find the right level. They most likely will start low and move up. On my first surgery they started with morphene and went to phentanol but it didnt work for me. They could not give me any more due to so much medicine slowing my breathing down. I was told i was breathing only 11 times a minute and was in post op for about 4 hours. The first night was horrendous. The next morning, the doc came in and asked how i was doing. I told him "I hurt like a M-fer". He switched my IV med to Dilaudid and that made me comfortable. I was switched to oral pain meRAB two days later (10/325 percocet). The second surgery, I insisted on the doc starting with Dilaudid. MUCH BETTER EXPERIANCE!!!!! I was in post op for about 45 minutes if that tells you anything.

If you have surgery in the morning, you will most likely be up taking a few steps the same day. A late afternoon surgery and it will most likely be the next day. They have to get you up as soon as possible. It wont be fun but you will be able to do it. You will be suprised how much better you feel right after surgery. The pain that you have before surgery will so much less or even gone immediatley and you will be left with surgical pain. As for the stairs, you will be doing those in a day or two. The occupational thereapists will not let you go home if you have stairs in your house until you can do them. They have to know you will be able to make it alone if you have to be. I spent four days in the hospital on each trip.

Intimacy...It wont be a good idea for a while. I would suggest none for at least several months but that is a question for your surgeon. Take his advice over mine any day. To tell you the truth, you prolly wont even be interested in it for a while. The meRAB will help with that and the pain will take care of the rest. I didnt try it for at least three months if I remeraber correctly (I'm 32).

Just remeraber, its gonna hurt but you are finally on the path to recovery. Once you get home, take it easy and dont try to do too much. I hope you find this helpful and if you have anymore questions, please ask. I'll do what I can to answer them for you.

Best of luck,
"Joe"
 
Glad to hear you are doing well. I was recently told I need a fusion from l4-s1, with 6 screws, 2 roRAB, cages for 2 new disc and bone graf. Love my dr but still very scared and nervous. I'm only 42 and in good shape, so hope I will come out of it ok and with less pain and more of a fuctional life. Have to wait, mine is a work related injury so this will probably be a fight. Thanks for posting good to hear someone is doing well out there.
 
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