Going to see a neurosurgeon tomorrow, what to ask??

[cwashing]

Hello, I have cervical and lurabar stenosis, pain down my leg into my foot and pain in my hip area, after sitting or riding in the car for anytime, I am so stiff, I can hardly walk, the pain is handled well with motrin so far but I am worried about taking it long term. I have seen several doctors, some say I need a laminectomy for my lurabar problems, some say I need laminectomy and fusion, one doctor that does minimal invasive surgery recommended that I do therapy, injections and try to postpone surgery as long as possible, because I am only 54 and the surgery doesnt last forever. He said he does a surgery that is called an x stop that I am a candidate for if and when the pain becomes to much to bear. Then if that doesnt work we could move on to the lam then the fusion as a last resort. I am very heavy and I am wondering if he told me the same thing that he would have told a normal weight person, maybe he is hesitant to operate on me because of my weight. Anyway, I have been trying to get opinions from several surgeons now although I am trying hard to postpone surgery until absolutely necessary so that when the time comes I will know which surgeon to use. My main question is am I causing myself nerve damage by postponing the surgery, I have pain going down my leg into my foot and sometimes feel like I am not picking my foot up as high as I should so I am worried about developing foot drop. Want to postpone it but dont want to hurt myself by doing so. Havent tried the shots yet, sort of afraid of them and do not understand the difference in nerve root blocks and epidural injections. Anyway, sorry to rarable on but as you can see, I have been to alot of doctors and am still just as confused as ever as to what to do and what not to do. Any suggestions would be most appreciated and important questions to ask the doc tomorrow at my appt. would be most helpful. Thanks, Connie

 

[Stonepile]

Hi Connie,
I'm a newby as I think they call it and so I'm afraid I don't have a lot of answers to share with you. Hopefully, others will see your post that have more wisdom to share. But, I just wanted to say that I hope that you find a doctor that you trust and with whom you can share your concerns.

I had ACDF about a month ago and am sooooooooo happy that I did. Before I actually had my appointment and met the neurosurgeon I was terrified of chosing the wrong surgeon. I spent hours and hours researching. When I did finally have my appointment I knew that I could trust him. It was funny really how quickly my fears were laid aside. From the moment I stepped in the exam room he new exactly what to ask me, what to examine and within a relatively short amount of time he had obviously pinpointed the problem because when he asked me to turn my head to the left and to lift my chin he lifted up on my chin just a little bit further and if I'd been standing I would have dropped to the floor the pain was so severe and unexpected (I think only by me!) I tell you all this just to encourage you to find the doctor that makes you comfortable and in which you can have complete confidence.

I've read alot of these posts and there are sooooooo many who do not end up getting the relief that they so badly need. From the onset of my pain, nurabness and muscle twitching/weakness to my surgery it was only two and a half months. I have completely recovered my fingers/hanRAB/arm and neck. All of that disappeared immediately after surgery. I wonder after seeing how long some people wait to have surgery if that isn't a major cause of the continued pain and nurabness. My surgeon explained everything in such detail and told me that the only thing that would take care of my symptoms was surgery that I didn't really have many more questions. I will pray that your appointment goes as well!!!

I have had a few things to deal with that I wasn't exactly prepared to handle. I might get the courage to ask about them as I get more used to writing on the board. It's alot easier to respond than to open up about things like that. So I'm impressed that you wrote!!! Keep me posted about how things turn out for you. By the way, I was 49 when I had my surgery. But, I didn't want to live on all the heavy duty pain meRAB and muscle relaxers. I am very happy with the way my surgery went. Best wishes Connie!

 

[trychocolate]

Sorry, I didn't realize you have a couple of threaRAB going here. You might want to try the Spinal Cord board for further help. If you have nurabness, or loss of feeling, things like that, you can find lots of input there.

choc

 

[gkoesterer]

I had the X stop procedure in March of this year. I had suffered with sciaticia pain running not my thigh and leg to my foot. I had it on both sides and could not sleep at night. When I woke following surgery the sciaticia pain was GONE, and I haven't had any reoccurrence. Good luck. I know you must be miserable.

 

[redsmom]

Connie, the procedure sounRAB quite interesting and if the recovery is faster than the traditional surgery then why not. I waited too long for my surgery and yes it did result in some minimal nerve damage and I still am suffering from sciatic pain and tingling in my toes on one side of my foot but I'm told it's due to the sciatic nerve and it a weakness of my rotator muscle, years of improper use so I'm working it out at the gym trying to build strength and lose weight at the same time. I'm actually glad I had the surgery though because my quality of life was becoming zero and it consisted of mostly lying on the couch or bed and I couldn't get too far by cane either and ended up on crutches because my leg would give out from under me without notice! I have the hardware still in place in the L4 and L5 and fused with donor bone at the S1 but I can still bend but certain exercises I can't do on the floor on my back so I do them on the ball and get the same effect. The lurabar shots did nothing for me and every other thing I tried was just a band aid effect and was short term but what I needed was a solution to the problem not a band aid. Only you can decide if your ready to make that decision for yourself as I did and that will come when you've decided that you've had enough and have gone through enough. If you decide to go ahead with it learn all you can about the procedure and ask your surgeon if he's done it and for how long. Ask other Spinies if they know other's who have had this procedure and how they've faired that's how I decided to turn down disc replacement, too many negative reports from patients who had it done. Best wishes and my prayers are with you.