Please Help....l4 And L5 Fusion..is This Normal??

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dawnie71

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Ok on april 17th I had a l4 and l5 fusion. Two bones were removed. Two roRAB and 4 screws put in. Very inflamed nerve behind those two bones that had to be shot full of cortisone. Because it was very infected which was causing my right leg pain. I have had less pain in that leg until today. My back is very swollen and my leg hurts severely. My doc is not on call to question this. Any help wld be appreciated. thanks:confused:
 
Since you're only a few weeks out from surgery, it is not unusual to have a little bit of swelling. What you describe warrants a call to your doctor first thing in the morning.

In the meantime, use your ice packs and take your pain medication. Hopefully the swelling will go down by morning.
 
Also you are about 4/5 weeks out from surgery and typically you have a spike in pain because all that nurabing meRAB they put in there after surgery begins to wear off. Several of us have had increased pain at this point. Just remeraber no bendling, lifting, or twisting and follow your doctors orders. Take you meRAB exactly as your doctor prescribes and if it does not relieve the pain don't hestiate to let him know.

Hope you feel better soon. :angel:
 
Hi Dawnie, and welcome to the board!

Ditto and ditto to what MM and Pepper said. Also, by this time most of us were getting antsy and started trying to do a little more, which also increases your pain. This is a huge surgery with a long recovery time. You'll need to take it easy and let your full time job be to work on recovering. Rest and walk, rest and walk, rest and walk. Walking is essential to bone growth because it gets blood circulating around the fusion area. Listen to your body and take a little step back when you need to. At the point you're at, I was still lying down more than being up.

There's a thread at the top called, "Post Surgery Tips" which might still be helpful to you. If you have other questions, we'll do our best to help you from our own experiences. There are lots of us here who have been there and done that!

Take care,
Emily
 
I am very sorry you are in so much pain! Based on my own experience (I had multi level fusions - twice done) I can tell you that you will have a lot of ups and downs during your recovery. Some days are very bad, some days a little better. Nerve pain can take up to 2 years to heal.
You are still so early after surgery, fusion surgeries are not a walk in a park, for sure.
Please, take care of yourself, rest a lot, keep your pain under control since when we in pain we don't heal. Let your DR know what is going on, just that he is aware of your problem.

Best of luck to you!!!:angel:
 
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