Operation questions

C

Chips

New member
:confused:I had a spondylolisthesis of L4 over L5 with marked disc narrowing and a sacralised L5 to S1.

I was told that I would have fusion at both levels going through my front and back and possibly side. In the end the surgeon only fused L4 to L5 although the operation was very difficult and took 8 hours.

Can anyone suggest why L5 and S1 were not fused as originally intended. I am not due to see the surgeon for another couple of months. If it was orginally deemed necessary am I not at risk of further problems at this level?

I still have lower back pain and hip pain.
 
You don't say how far out from surgery you are. The pain in your lower back and hip are side effects of having had surgery. It takes time for everything to settle down, for hte swelling to go down. In the mean time you are left with pain that may or may not have experienced before.

As to why you weren't fused at the higher disc. I'm not a doctor, but there could be a couple of reasons. When he went in and got everything cleared out he could have found that the main problem wasn't stemming from that pair of discs so he didn't need to mess around with it. Or it was too dangerous to deal with after he cleaned up everything. Those are the only two things that I can think of. Or those discs may not have been severely damaged enough to deal with at this time. Most doctors dpon't like to fuse more than they have to.

good luck!
 
Thank you `bake and pray`. I am now 9 weeks post-op. I wasnt sure if the pain in the hips was due to osteoarthritis. I have many osteophytes.
 
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