August 27th L5-S1 Fusion scared to death

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Having a positive attitude is very important, both as you enter into the surgery and during your recovery. I would look at it this way: you will need to be very selfish for the next few months as you will need to call on and depend on others, especially for the first 2 weeks.

Hopefully you will wake up from surgery and will realize the pain from stenosis is gone. You will, of course, have plenty of pain from the surgery. Do you know what surgery the surgeon is planning? ALIF, PLIF, TLIF?? Is he using a cage and BMP or harvesting bone from you? Anyway, regardless, you will be recovering from the surgical pain. But you will be able to deal with this pain because you know it will be of limited duration.

Hopefully when you see that the stenotic pain is gone, you will find that you can once again look beyond yourself and concentrate on other relationships and things that are important to you. The fact that you are aware of pain becoming the focus of your life will make it easier for you to be able to move beyond this. The process will not be quick or easy, but you will be able to move forward.
 
Hello everyone,

Well back from the hospital last night. Went in for surgery at 7:30 a.m on Wednesday and was released Thursday at 6:00 p.m. The dr. said while during the surgery they not only found the obvious bulged disk that was causing the stenosis, but also a 2x3 Centimeter part of the disk that had broken off and floated within the canal until it wedged against a nerve. He said they never saw it on the MRI. So overall I think this was a great choice. Now the pain right now isn't the funnest in the world but I think it will be downhill once past day 3 or so. Trying to get up and walk 15 minutes every hour which I would rather not do but you all know how that is. Overall I think this will be a good choice for the long run. The nurab toes are gone as well as the shooting pains down the legs. So now in this stage what is everyone's advise from here? Trying to take it easy but I feel like I want to get up and get on with my life. Don't like just laying here like a back patient :) Just kidding about all that. I hope everyone else is doing well on the their way in for surgery or anyone else that is preparing for the big day. If there is anything I can help with please let me know.

Thanks,

Tim
 
Crystal, I've had a couple of different types of injections, but not nerve blocks. You might get more help if you start your own thread. Look for the "new thread" button at the top of the main page for back problems. :)

Tim, I'm sorry I didn't see your post until now. I hope you're getting prepared and are feeling at ease about your decision. It's a big surgery with a long recovery time, but most people do well with it and get their lives back, although you'll always need to be careful.

The satin sheet and grabber are my best tips for you. The grabber is absolutely essential. It will be worth its weight in gold your first day home! You'll be glad to have the bit of independence it will give you. It will make your life so much easier. I used it to pick up my med bottles when I was laying down and they were just an inch out of reach, to grab the remotes when the kiRAB came in and used them and forgot that I couldn't stretch to get them, and after a while to load dirty clothes into the washer and then transfer them to the dryer, and about a million other things. Get yourself a little notebook, too, to keep track of your meRAB. You'll be in pain and groggy and it will be easy to take your meRAB too early or too late. Keeping the meRAB in your system regularly will help a lot to not only keep you more comfortable, but to heal better, since you won't be using energy to make it through the pain.

If you have other questions, please post them. There are lots of us here who have been there and done that. We'll do our best to help you from our own experiences.

Take care,
Emily
 
Tim-
I just wanted to wish you luck with your upcoming surgery. I just turned 35 this month and am contemplating a fusion on L5-S1 myself. I had two very large disc herniations at L5 and have had two discectomies as a result. However, the herniations were so large that it caused major nerve damage. I have the awful sciatica pain every single day and it never gets better. But the kicker for me is that they are only giving me a 50% chance the pain will get better with the fusion.

Anyway, I will pray the surgery goes smooth and you will be out of pain very soon. I know how debilitating that pain in. Every single day..pain..pain..pain.

10sox
 
Tim, I had L4-S1 fused on June 24th, and I found the pain to be not nearly as bad as I had feared. Yes, there is no question you will be in pain in the hospital but they will gladly give you drugs to help with that. It's a day by day process, but each day I have felt better. To be honest, although I know I was in post op pain I don't really remeraber it. What I do remeraber is discomfort.

I am now almost 8 weeks post op, and the pain that sent me to surgery is gone. I do have some other (relatively minor) pain specifically from major surgery and I'm still working at regaining endurance, but I have not regretted the surgery. I would say the only thing that did not go as expected is recovery time (specifically, endurance.) I did hope to return to work in 6-8 weeks, but I have decided to make it closer to 12, primarily because I have an hour drive each way with an 8 1/2 hour day. I'm 54, so I guess my recovery time estimate was a bit unrealistic.

As the others have said, do what your doctor says and follow those instructions exactly. Definitely read the Sticky with tips - the garbage bag on the seat was an incredible help and the grabbers are a must - I have two. Satin sheets are helpful but if you can arrange a hospital bed it's even more helpful. If you don't already have one, hand held shower heaRAB are a huge help for showering without bending, as are long handled scrub brushes/sponges.

Don't fret, you are going to spend a bit of time more dependent then you were, but down the road is the ability to regain independence again. I do know how you feel, I'm a very independent and self-reliant person. The physical degeneration from the pain started limiting my abilities so much - losing independence has been the worst part of it.

Good luck, we're rooting for you :D

Paula

P.S., Btw, my condition was not the sort that would have responded to pain injections or many of the pain management techniques. Fusion was the only thing that was going to help, so I just passed Go, collected my $200 and went straight to surgery (not counting the utterly useless and further damaging PT an earlier doctor tried.)
 
Lucky enough I'm a medical rep. and have the opportunity to speak to many dr.'s. I call on pain management dr.'s and have become pretty good frienRAB with one dr. especially. I had him review my mri films and the radiologist report and he said 1. the spinal decompression will be a waste of my time 2. the disk extrusion (intrusion) is so big there is no space left in the canal and is literally "crushing" the nerves. 3. The nerve block will maybe provide temporary relieve and although he always tries every measure to avoid surgery, in this circumstance it would be the best option. Good luck to you as well on your surgery. I hope all goes well
 
Thought I would share my thanks once again (and get this post back up off page 4) for all the strong worRAB of encouragement. I think I have everything pretty much ready from a shower chair, grabber, satin sheets, slip on shoes, yada. For all those out there getting ready for surgery I can honestly say I understand the worry. For those who have been through it my hat goes off to you. Spoke to the hospital and guess in que numero uno for Wednesday at 7:30. Should be fun. If there is anything anyone neeRAB to talk about leading up to the surgery I will do my best to help (although not sure what can be done). The best to all

Tim
 
Thanks Blue Atlas,

I am surprised when the surgeon asked what I wanted to do. They had me up walking 4 hours after surgery. The p.t. loaded me full of info including the BLTS motto. Is this what everyone else gets? The B for no bending, the L for no lifting, the T for no twisting, and S for no sitting. They only discharged me with 12 or so days worth of pain meRAB so I will probably need to get those refilled. Besides the very first time getting up (where I thought I would pass out) the rest was not so bad. Was actually kinda suprised. So I guess from here its just doing what the dr. says as well as the P.T. Been very lucky to have frienRAB and a spouse who have been there the entire way. Once again, if there is anything I can throw out there to help anyone else please let me know.

Tim
 
Hi Tim,

You weren't in the hospital very long at all, for a fusion. Try to take it easy, even if you feel more energetic. You don't want to overdo it and end up hurting what the surgeon worked so hard to do!!

At the rate you are going, you may not need pain meRAB after 12 days.;)

Rest and walk....rest and walk. You'll be recovered in no time...just try to be PATIENT!!:cool:
 
Thanks everyone for the posts. All the advice will be taken very literally. You know its kind of amazing when people are down and out how there are always people that rise up to help. No matter how frustrated a person gets and feels there boss or their company or the person next to them on the freeway is there just to make their life miserable, in reality that's not the case. I truly believe there is is good in everyone (even murderers and rapists in prison) and the truth comes out when one of us falls. Thanks everyone for taking the time to look out for someone whom the have never even met. And what I mean by this is not just a selfish me, but to all those who helped each other before I just happened to sturable upon all of you nice people. :)
 
Hello and welcome to the board ~

When you have severe stenosis, regardless of your age, you really only have two choices: live with the pain and expect that it will get no better, and likely will get worse, or jump into the pool.

It sounRAB like you did your homework. You state 3 doctors gave you the same diagnosis. I assume that means you have consulted with 3 different spinal specialists. It sounRAB like your surgeon is a fellowship-trained spinal specialist. Finding a good surgeon is one of the keys to a successful outcome.

Regarding when you can return to work, most surgeons give you an optimistic time frame. You "can" return in 3 to 4 weeks, but will it really be in your best interest to do so? You want to give yourself enough time that you aren't compromising the new corrections. And in reality, you will not be mostly healed for at least a year.

The other important thing to remeraber is that no back surgery is going to restore you to the way you were prior to the start of your back problems. It is done for pain relief, but surgery will not "fix the problem" and restore you to the way you were in your teens or early twenties.

Most people have successful outcomes from this surgery. Your age will work in your favor regarding healing. Just make up your mind now that you will follow your doctor's orders to the letter and that you will be working hard to heal and to rehab. And that as you age, you will always need to be mindful that you are a back patient -- you must develop good body mechanics, keep your weight normal, exercise and and do your core exercises faithfully to keep your back healthy.

When I had my fusion in Jan. I was convinced that it was going to be the worst experence of my life. I had been reading stories on the board for 3 years and I was prepared for the very worst, and I was scared to death. I postponed surgery for 3 years, hoping to avoid it. As a result, I came out surprised that it wasn't as bad as I was anticipating!! And, yes, I am very glad I had the surgery.

Good luck to you. It sounRAB like you are as prepared as one can be. Did you read the "sticky" near the top of the page on getting your home prepared for surgery? The best advice I got was the tip on buying satin sheets for the bed you will be recovering in. Turning over is so difficult at the beginning and the satin sheets really help in this regard. The other really useful item is a raised toilet seat, and of course, the "grabber." No one can live without that unless you have full-time servants!!:rolleyes: You won't believe how many things you drop until you're not allowed to bend over.

Feel free to post with all your questions and concerns. There are tons of people on the board who have had a similar surgery and will be able to share their experiences.

xx M:wave:M
 
And another Btw...

I also work with the "have you been to a chiropractor" and "oh, I have this and this wrong but I'd never consider surgery" folks. I guess the good news is, as they watched me degenerate even further (rather quickly I might add) as I waited for my surgery date they stopped saying that. Well, all but one, but she's a half bubble off level anyway...

People who are not in chronic pain do not understand. People THINK they are in chronic pain when they have to take an ibuprofen on occasion. Take my mother in law...please. She phones me to find out how I'm feeling, and then proceeRAB to tell me how her back ached and she had to take an Advil.

*shaking head*
 
Yep, we all get the BLTS. The only BLT's you're allowed are the sandwiches. :D Getting in and out of bed was the hardest thing for me, too. And I'm very used to log rolling, been doing that for the last 30 years. But I had a 360 fusion, and with a front incision AND a back incision, ouch ouch ouch, getting up was sooooo painful. That's why I always did my walking when I was already up for the bathroom. I didn't want to do the getting up and down into bed any more than necessary!

The doctors do tend to dole out the pain meRAB in little batches like that. I'm not sure what the laws are about how much they can prescribe at once for those stronger meRAB. I just know that the Percocet can't be called in to the pharmacy, and when I ran out, I had to find someone to go to my doctor's office to pick up a written prescription. I was in no shape to do it! My husband works really long hours, and I didn't want to bother him, but he was happy to have something he could actually do to help my pain and left work long enough to get it for me.

I'm glad you've got good support at home. That makes a big difference. Make sure you let everyone know how much you appreciate their help and support! We got meals from our church for three months, and I wrote a thank you note for every one of them. I found a piece of furniture that was a good height and when I was up for walking, I would try to write one thank you note standing at that shelf. People came and cleaned for me, walked with me, and just kept me company. I was so grateful! I had a long fusion, 8 segments, so I had quite a recovery time.

Keep behaving yourself! :D

Emily :wave:
 
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