Cost vs. benefit back surgery

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maccrocross

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I am 28 years old. I have no children. My boyfriend is 44. He is older but i love him very much. I have a herniated L4-L5 and bad arthritis. My doctor wants to start me on epidural pain shots for two years before doing the "inevitable", his worRAB not mine, surgery to repair the problems. I have mediCARE and will have huge bills from the pain shots plus surgery. But my biggest cost is 2 years of pain shots where it would be unwise to get pregnant not to mention dangerous. Plus the amount of time it takes to schedule surgery and then the long time in recovery. In my math thats at least 3 years where i can not get pregnant and I'm gonna add an extra year to be safe. 4 years!!! i will be 32 and my boyfriend 48. By the time our child would graduate from high school we'd be too old to enjoy each other. So the cost seems to outweigh the benefit to me. I would appreciate anybody elses opinions on this matter. I would like to go ahead and do the "inevitable" surgery and skip the years of painful pain injections. Does anyone have any opinions on this or even advice? Thank you.
 
Hi there you sound like a very grounded & logical individual. I'm a veteran of numerous surgeries - didn't get much choice on the first as I was admitted through A&E, was very young and it didn't seem like I had a choice.

It was a simple discectomy at L3 but I suffered complications (CSF leak, spinal abscess which burst before they got to operate) meningitis and the rupture caused further spinal instability leading to a 3 way fusion L4-5-S1 a year later once the bone infection had cleared. I've had 2 further surgeries since as my lurabar spine is unstable and had a spinal stimulator fitted last year to help with pain mgt. The neurosurgeon has given me the only option of removing the old metal and replace with a fusion from S2 to my rib cage. I have a neurogenic bladder (can only empty using a cathether) and am currently suffering with severe pain & saddle nurabness so he'll be gunning for the metal as a simple decompression is not an option based on my last MRI set in 2009.

My advise is to find a really good PT/physio and follow their instructions to the letter - if you can do pilates or yoga then all the better. I have more faiith in my physio than all the surgeons in the world. I'm now in my mid 40's and if I could go back to 1995 , I'd definitely take my advise.............The cost far outweighs the benefit in my books.

I hope I'm not being too harsh but this is my first time to enter this site and I've read some scary blogs tonight - many have a common thread(excuse the pun) which is the nuraber of poor outcomes with "Failed back syndrome".

There are many alternatives to manage your problem and with much lower risk attached

Best of luck with the decision

M xx:)
 
Thanks for responding. I am so sorry for everything you've had to go through and at such a young age. I hope to be done with this before a lot of time goes by. I had another post where i asked if the problem was likely to fix itself with therapy and the shots. I was told no. Plus my surgeon told me that since I went the pt route before to no success I'm not a good candidate. I can't believe how much trouble bending over to pick up a fallen coat has cost me. I wish i had that time machine you mentioned. I want to be done with all this as soon as possible. Spending years and years on something that could be done in months is killing me. I am the "mommy" type. But have no one to call me mommy. It is the most important thing in my life right now and i've had to stop trying.
 
One thing that Merlc neeRAB to remeraber is that most of the folks who have had successful back surgery are out living their lives, not sitting on line. They are out doing all the things that they can do and should do. There are a few of us who have had successful surgeries who come on here to help out those that need it. You give bakc when you recieve in my books.

maccross, I have had several injections, and mine are caudal (up through the tailbone) and have not found them to be painful. It is more of a sense of pressure than actual pain. The trick is you need to find a good doc to do them. You never know. They might provide yoyu with years of relief, or not...it's difficult to tell. But you might be well enough to get pregnant now rather than waiting years as you say.

What you need to know about fusion is that there is no guarantee as to what the doctor will find when he goes in. My 3-5 hour surgery turned into 8 1/2 hours. And with fusion you get a weight restriction. No more than 8 lbs until you heal. And you should plan on a year to make sure that you have fused and that you are totally "over" the surgery. There is no BLT when you have fusion and that is difficult also. But there are those who have had very successful surgeries, The pain I had is now gone from my original fusion.

Good luck on whatevery you decide to do....
 
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