Hi,
I had multi-level laminectomies and within that surgery, they also did foraminotamies and took away a small amount of bone from a facet joint at
L4/L5 area. I had the surgery in 2006, almost 2 years ago. I had severe pain before the surgery and could hardly walk anymore, etc. I also had neurgenic claudication from the stenosis.
After surgery, you will be in alot of pain, though you will be given painkillers; but there is still alot of pain, especially when you try to move or shift position in bed. But that is from the surgery itself. They usually get you up and walking soon after surgery - they got me up after 1 day with a walker. I was quite pleased at that time because I could stand up straight again, the only pain I was feeling was the post-surgical pain. Of course they also gave me a script for painkillers to take home. I had a follow up appt. at 2 1/2 weeks, and by then I did not take another painkiller script. I still had some pain, but it was bearable enough that I only took ibuprofen or tylenol. My scar healed nicely and quickly (even though I had a pharmacy worker open a door behind me...and the doorknob was pushed right into my surgical area!)
I can't remeraber exactly, but after another follow up a month or so later (about 6 weeks after surgery), I tried to do some shopping in a department store and could only tolerate walking around for about an hour or 2. I started getting back spasms. Slowly I started feeling different pain that was deep inside my outer hip areas. I mentioned it to my surgeon and he thought it might be new pains from my hips, so he set me up with an appt. with his group's hip specialist (who is also a surgeon). I had MRI's done on both sides..it found mild hip arthritis with a possible spur on the right side. The hip doctor didn't think this was causing my pain, though.
But as time went on, that pain in my deep outer hip areas has gotten worse; I have also had more disc herniations and bulges. And i've had some episodes of severe sciatica. Most of these issues were caused by the discs as well as scar tissue from surgery. So scar tissue is another issue that can cause problems after surgery. I know docs try what they can to minimize scarring, but there's no way to predict who may end up with too much scarring or whether it causes them problems. It did happen to cause me problems.
Recently I had a year and 1/2 follow up with my spine surgeon and he took a bunch of xrays of my lurabar spine; I told him about all that's happened and he said when my pain levels get to a 7, I should be gettting more ESI's , since ESI's seem to help me. (Though I dread when the steroiRAB wear off, because I get all sorts of other problems when it wears off). I did tell him I went to my local PM (since my surgeon's offices are far away); I've already had 3 more ESI's and am currently on multiple medications to control pain and spasms. Oh,...when he did the x-rays, he can see my hips clearly and noted that the arthritis in my hips are probably causing most of my current pain. My hip OA has gotten worse since the 1st time I had them checked. But as of now, I really don't know for sure what is causing my current pain. I am not sure if it's directly related to my original surgery or other new problems. Or..since I had alot of bone removed from my spine, it does cause more stress on the rest of the spine, so could be causing other areas to wear again more quickly.
I really think my first surgery was successful, though...being most of the original pains I had were gone and I didn't start having other problems until about 6 weeks out. Plus I had some more herniations...and that can always happen again if discs are decompressed. Decompressing a disc is no guarantee that it won't happen again. Even with all the other issues, I am still better now than I was before my surgery.
