Anyone Ever Had A Successful Back Operation?

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I had a sucessful surgery.I had a maverick pro artifical disc put in on L5/S1 and a wallis implant put in on L1/L2.i am 7 1/2 weeks post op and lost 90% of my pain and regained all reflex movement in my left foot which my Doctor told me was perment nerve damage.In 2 more months i plan to go back to work to a very physical job which includes jackhammering and running heavy equipment.
 
Troy, I too consider my back surgery a success. I am over 1 yr post micro-d and only recently have I returned to the board to see how some of my old frienRAB are doing and to occasionally try to encourage some folks who are where I have been. One key is to have proper expectations. I will never be able to do everything I did before but I golf, snowboard, play basketball, cross country ski and many other things. I cannot jump on my snowboard anymore, I had to alter my golf swing and I don't get as physical playing basketball but I can do them all. For me, the most difficult thing to do is sit for long perioRAB of time but I work in sales and drive about 1,000 miles a week and I still do okay.

Bottom line, there is hope for many people facing back surgery. It wont return you to 21 years old, but it can help if you do it for the right reasons and you have the right doctor.
 
Troy,

Many of us have had successful back surgery, and in my case a nuraber of successful back surgeries. Many of the successes are not retired and return to their extremely busy lives until they need the support again. Fortunately, I am retired, so I check the board off and on throughout the day, in hopes that I can answer a question for someone, based on my massive experiences.

No one goes in wanting surgery as we all strive to achieve relief through meRAB, PT and other means first. Even the best spine specialist surgeon like mine will try working with the patient to avoid surgery, but if the body has a severe enough injury, or deterioration, or in my case both, then surgery may not be avoidable if one wants to return to a "normal" life. Whether the back returns to normal for the rest of one's life is no guarantee, any more than anything else in life, so new injuries, being careless and doing things we should not do or dealing with DDD can mean that we may have to do additional repairs at some later point.

Can we totally avoid surgery. Yes, there are individuals who will not agree to surgery, no matter how bad the pain. Surgery is scary and for some that fright is worse than living in pain. Every individual has to decide for themselves, just as I did.

Before my first surgery, a neurologist wanted to control pain with medication, so we had an open discussion. Luckily, they admitted to me that over the years it would mean stronger and stronger meRAB, and at some point medications would no longer be able to control the pain. What would I do and would surgery be feasible then? No, because the longer one waits, the more permanent damage that is done to the nerves, so I would just be stuck with the pain, but they would work with me to control it as long as possible. My spine specialist put it into better perspective with a general time table that a nerve could suffer severe compression and still have a chance for recovery. That opened my eyes and I had to ask myself if my fear of surgery was worse than the thought that in some future time I would not be able to get relief of that terrible pain. I opted to do surgery before the damage was permanent and before I wound up permanently paralyzed.

It is not an easy choice, no matter which path we choose, but with the help of board merabers who can share experiences, and with educating outselves with research and asking questions of our doctors, we become our own best advocates and still that does not guarantee that we will do perfectly. We just try to make the best decisions we can about what we should do, based on what we can learn. Other than that, we have lots of frienRAB for support on the board, no matter which patch we have chosen.

Hope that helps enlighten you on back problems and back surgeries. Best wishes.
 
seems like it runs a large majority of these post think it was a bad idea to have back surgerys. any good stories out there ?
 
I would do anything to only have a nurab foot. I have constant pain in my leg and have had a laminectomy at L5S1 almost two years ago. I am exhausted. I am on neurontin and loratab. I also had a C5 ACDF 7 months gao and still have arm and shoulder pain. I am scheduled for a CT mylegram on Monday for the neck/arm/shoulder problems . Any suggestions to help me would be greatly appreciated. I think the docs have missed something with the neck surgery. I am so tired of pain. I work full time as a teacher and get so tired from the job and the medicine makes me more tired. Sometimes I am afraid to drive home due to the heavy doses of meRAB I am on. I don't know how long I can keep working being in so much pain and taking so much medicine. We need for me to work right now and I need the medical insurance for my problems. These forums are helpful in some ways and as someone stated they can be very negative too. I do feel my docs are trying to help but then again they are only human too. Looking for any suggestions to help work through the pain. I spend many a nights in tears. Back and neck problems have been going on 20 years. I do empathize to all who suffer from these issues. Sorry if I have rarabled. I am just really frustrated tonight.
 
my sister and I both have had successful surgeries! My sister's back surgery was done about 9-10 years ago, and she gets some pain every now and then, but its from playing 3 nights of volleyball and working out 7 days a week. I had my surgery in July and I feel great. I was back at work after 8 weeks, I got married in October, went snorkeling and swimming on my honeymoon, and had no problems. I still have some restrictions, but it is by far better then what I was going through before surgery. I'm really feeling my energy levels are back up, and really starting to feel like myself again. I'm really happy I had the surgery, it was hard, and the initial recovery was horrible, but I'm glad to be feeling good again!!
 
Right now we would consider my daughter's fusion a success story. At 16 years old we truely tried to avoid surgery at all costs. We tried two years of nonsurgical interventions, but it came to the point that we knew we had no other choice if she wanted any sort of a life back again. Her six month point is Sat and the no bending and twisting restrictions will be gone. She may begin a few more activities now. She has felt great since two weeks post op. It's a tough decision and you'll know what's right for you. cas
 
Troy had back fusion two levels August 3rd, 2010. Used the Aspen Spinous Process hardware and I haven't had any pain for a month. I am back to work, and coaching high school sports. Good luck.
 
It's absolutely possible. Unfortunately these types of boarRAB seem to breed more of the negative aspects, ie., people wanting advice on problems. People don't tend to write when things are great. I have had 2 diskectomies. My first at L6/S1 was an emergency and was a total success - never a problem at that level again - unfortunately at that time I had a smaller but still substantial herniation one level above that they didn't touch at the time so 4 years later - this herniation caused problems. I had surgery on this level last deceraber 2004 and it was a success as well until the end of this summer - when I did some "extreme housecleaning" followed by some "extreme car-sitting" and I began to have some pain... I have re-herniated but this happens. i needed surgery then no matter what so I don't consider my surgery a mistake. I feel like surgery is probably the better way to go unless of course the herniation can be moved with deep tissue manipulation. But it can never take the actual herniation away. I am presently taking Neurontin and anti-inflammatories before deciding on surgery but I am pretty sure I will go for it again. I can't take medication long term .. it's not good for you ...
 
Hi everyone: :wave:

I have not posted in a VERY long time. This thread brings me "back". I had a micro-d/hemi-lami at L-5/S-1 on 12/10/04. The surgery was a huge success and I did very well. I've been on Topomax due to migraines as well and due to the side effect of weight loss I've now lost nearly 90 lbs. Under the supervision of my Physical Therapist and the Physical Trainer at the local YMCA, I began a workout program using their Nautilus Equipment. I was feeling better than I had in many, MANY years! :bouncing: I was doing EXTREMELY well, and only had some minor residual problems such as nurabness in the last two toes on both feet, but the pain was totally gone. The nerve had been severly crushed from late July to Deceraber and my condition rapidly deteriorated until the point that I could hardly walk. I was in a wheel chair much of the time, and in constant deep pain 24/7. I could not sleep or eat, and even with all of the medication I was taking, it just wasn't touching the pain. I woke up from surgery, and only had surgical pain. It was a great blessing. My NS is one of the best around here.

Having said all of that, I am now back to square one. I live on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and Hurricane Katrina hit our area on 8/29, as I'm sure you are well aware. Due to the nature of my husband's job, he was working from dawn to dusk, and the damage to our home, and yard had not even been touched as late as 10/1. It was very frustrating, and terribly depressing and I wanted to at least attempt to get the yard worked on. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER. Long story short, I re-herniated the same disc by raking. I recently had another ESI, (I had one last year right before my surgery), and that really has not helped. I have an appointment with a pain management specialist to see if perhaps there are some other avenues to explore or perhaps some other medications. I'm in a lot of pain, and again not sleeping. I teach college, and my adjunct instructor lost her home, and moved away from the area, so I had to pick up an additional night course...which made three night classes in a row, in addition to my day classes. So I'm working a 50 hour week, and feeling crappy! The NS wants to see if the PS can help get me through the Spring Semester, and then wants to do a fusion when I get out of school in May...I'm not wanting to do that. I'm very angry at myself for doing this to myself when all was going so well. I'm hurting again, though it is a little bit different type of pain, and not AS severe as it was at this time last year. For now, I still can walk without a dropfoot! Last year I walked like a stroke victim. I'm back to being a walking pharmacy and that's depressing, but without the meRAB I can't function. Perhaps my biggest frustration is learning how to manage my fatigue. I can GO to sleep thanks to things like Flexeril, and Lunesta, and Elavil, but I can't STAYasleep! My body wakes me up out of a dead sleep with SCREAMING muscle spasms :blob_fire and I'm lucky if I get three hours of sleep. I can't lay down any longer than that. Hopefully, tomorrow I will find some answers. I will let you know. It's good to still see some familiar faces...Lfoster, QuietCook, Mel1977, I remeraber you all! QuietCook, I'll keep you and your mother in my prayers.
Hope you do the same for me! I'm going to copy this into another post..."remeraber me" to let folks know I'm back! Take care all...

:angel:
~!~ bgsigns~!~
 
I am having a two level PLIF this Wednesday, and I initially talked myself out of it from reading these posts. Don't get me wrong, I think they are great and offer great support for others. But, remeraber that people who have successful surgeries are out living their lives and not harping on these boarRAB. I have enjoyed reading and posting and I will continue to do so after my surgery. All I am saying is if your surgery is sucessful, you will not be on here other than to say "Yay", it worked. Then you will be busy living your life. :angel:
 
Troy
well, I didn't have a choice, bad car accident and nearly died, had a "burst fracture" from L-3 to L-5 and bones were shattered and the surgeon told me that if I did not have the operation I would never be able to stand the pain so I did, bone taken from my thigh and fused with two metal roRAB and eight screws and I had to learn to walk again and walk every day for 30 min. or so , so in my way my operation was very sucessful as I was not guaranteed that I would escape being in a bed or wheel chair. I was 52 at the time and now at 57 I have many restrictions, cannot bend or dress my feet or twist and cannot get up if I am down on knees without something helping me but I am so thank ful that I am where I am as I also had a hole in my lung and had to have chest tube, broken knee and nerve damage but I do things such as not heavy housework but I do well . Having any kind of back operation is scary in itself but today there are many sucess stories and a person has to keep a determined spirit and of course our "Higher Power" is our greatest "everything". I saw that Shawley said he had broken hardware and had it fixed, that is something I do worry about and do not know anything about either, would like some info on that,how does a person know and can it be fixed so not to lose what a person has gained ??
Take care Troy.
 
I guess it depenRAB on what your definition of a successful surgery is. Mine was a success and if I had to do it over again I would. Sure I have some other issues now and have to be careful, but had I waited or not done the surgery things could be worse and may not be helped with surgical intervention. Most of the issues I have now seem to be muscular and we are addressing that, as well as some structural, but NO disc issue or bad nerve pain like before. I did all that was an option pretty much before the surgery and it came down to my life and what I wanted and was willing to risk. I am happy with my results though I may come here and talk about new problems I face-but I also have neck issues that can come across like my surgery didn't go well bc of pain, even though my surgery was lurabar. did any of this make sense?
 
So far I am definitely glad I had it done. I have no pain, only a nurab foot which I hope will get better. Anything is better than that pain.
 
Troy,
So far I feel great. A little nerve pain in my left foot and right thigh, But its awsome to get to do things again . I had 2 surgery's.( L4-L5 fusion with a spacer ) My first surgery never healed. My first surgeon told me I was fine for a year and a half. But I had severe pain. So I went to a Orthopedic spine specialist who detected my fusion never healed. Plus I had broken hardware that needed replaced. This surgery was done on October,17 2005 and I am thankful for the person on this board who refered me to my surgeon who fixed me right this time . I hope you make the right decision. Im glad that I did.
 
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