You will be sore sweetie for several months, I'm told. I'm 2.5 weeks post-op for L5-S1with anchoring to ilium and sacrum. My pain is significant but I am taking it an hour at a time. To promote fusion and successful 'anchoring', your movements will be restricted. However, they encourage walking as it facilitates recovery and healing. My guess is that you won't even want to THINK of bike riding. Someone else posted a very good analogy. Like with delivering a baby, the pain may be significant but you will remeraber being in pain but not re-live the pain from memory. It will be tolerable. After lower back surgery, you rely more on upper body and legs for movement. You might wish to ask your surgeon what impact will your recovery have on your still mending knee as you will not be bending from the waist in the near future, but rather from the knees. I have both a walker and a cane and didn't think I'd need them BUT I DO!!!!!! Don't know what I'd do without them. Do you tolerate bending at the knees right now? Does your knee soreness increase after bending? Do you know why the surgeon doesn't want to wait until your knee is healed? My ankylosing spondylitis (AS) attacks connective tissue in places - one place is my left knee (not a sore as yours, I'm sure). Because my AS meRAB act as an immune suppressant I can't take them so soon after surgery. I am trying to imagine how I would cope if my knee hurt any more than it does. You might even ask for an order to have a consult with a PT (physical therapist) before the surgery to make certain that your knee will not complicate things and that you are adequately prepared.
Best wishes,
Anterior discectomy & fusion at C4-5, C5-6, C6-7
Anterior discectomy & fusion at C3-4
Posterior discectomy/revision due to pseudoarthrosis (failure to fuse) and re-do of
instrumentation at all cervical levels
Ankylosing Spondylitis
Cardiac Pacemaker
Bronchiectasis
VERY recent L5-S1 ALIF with cage & anchoring to hip bone and sacrum
