lumbar back fusion at l4/l5 , l5/s1 levels on 2.20.08

  • Thread starter Thread starter deviphish
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marlosmom -> i thank you so much for your input and i'm glad to hear that the surgery was a success for you ! i did see 3 doctors before i reached my decsion to have this suregery performed. i saw a neurosergent and 2 orthos , the orthopeadic doctor " dr. phair " will be doing the operation {8hrs long } . i have ben in a great deal of pain and to be honest , i can't wait to have this surgery done so i can move on with my life.. i am concerned on what type of pain meRAB that they will put me on after the surgery , i;m currently on percocet. these pain pills don't do much for my pain , what did they give you after your operation ? o yeah ware do you live that your getting all the snow ? , i live in n,j and it really has not snowed yet this year . thank you and god bless
 
emily
thank you for getting back to me , much appreciated ! like i said evryone on thos site is wouner full. i am having my surgery performed threw a back incision "posterior" on 2 levels l4-l5 & l5-s1. i will be purchasing a grabber , looks like thats a hot item for people after a back surgery. i'm trying to stay positive and mentally strong , but it's hard. i'm getting very restless , and the pain is simply horrible at best.. what type of surgery did you have ? what pain meRAB did they give you ? when did P.T begin ? thank you emily..
 
HI, Welcome to the club, even though it's not the best club to be a meraber of. I had L5/S1 fusion 3 weeks ago. I had a discectomy in 1/06 that lasted about 18 months then I started having severe back pain.

My surgery was a piece of cake for the first week. The first night in the hospital I was up walking the halls with no help at all. They kept me very comfortable with pain meRAB. Went home on day 4. I thought it was way to easy until day 7 when I hit a brick wall. Apparently this is common due to the fact that they coat you internally with some type of pain meRAB that last about a week from what I have read on this site . My legs started having terrible pain from the bottom of my rear to the back of my heals. It feels like they are in a vise being twisted and pulled. Went to the doc on day 13 and he said the x-ray shows things look good. He gave me no reason for the pain. I take percocet and it gives me some relief. From what everyone on the message board has said it is probably nerve pain due to sweling and pressure. Hopefully it will go away in time, but it hurts alot.

I haven't had any pain at all at the surgical site on my stomach. Not to much pain in my back either. I have been somewhat fatigued and stir crazy in the house. I have been trying to go outside when the weather is nice but that is hard to do in Ohio. Everyone says the best thing to do is walk,walk, and walk some more.

Everyone has a different experience when they have surgery. I think in my case the recovery is way worse than the surgery itself. Do what the doc tells you to do, baby your back and take your pain meRAB.

I hope I have been some help. I'm sure you will get through it just fine. If you have any other questions about my experience feel free to ask. Good luck with your surgery.................Debbie
 
I would say it is much too early to call my surgery a success -- but so far it hasn't been as bad as I was expecting.

I was given some sort of morphine after surgery. It was in my IV and I had a button I could push every 6 minutes. That was sufficient to control my pain. When I came home I was given oxycodone and lyrica to take all the time, and hydroco/apap and a muscle relaxer "as needed." I would recommend that you talk to your surgeon prior to the surgery about what medications you will be given, any concerns you have about that, etc. I think it's easier to get this all straight before your surgery.

I had heard that N.J. was having a milder than usual winter. I live in southern Wisconsin near Lake Michigan and we have had snow almost every other day since Nov. 15th; we had a 12" storm that is just ending now. We are having much more snow than usual.
 
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