Positive ALIF stories!

[fedupfor]

Hello All,
This really has not been a fun ride!! I am a 42 year old healthy female who has been having low back pain along with aching, painful legs. More in my low back, butt and thighs!!. MRI showed bulging anterior and posterior bulge of L5S1 disc. Also moderate loss of disk height as well as disk dessication at L5-S1. L3-L4 also has moderate loss of disk height.My Myelogram was normal but when they stood me up to take the pics after putting in the contrast, I thought my Lurabar was going going to explode?? So I was shocked whe they could not see any nerve root compression. EMG was also normal. I beleive the plan is for a 1 level fusion but will no more exact plan early next week. My biggest need is of course to be pain free in my low back and to releive this aching pain in my butt and legs. I would love to hear some positive stories!!! Along with some similar situations would be helpful. They are hoping by jacking back up the disk height that it will take the pressure off the nerves causing the leg problems. I have an excellent surgeon!! The range of success for my leg issues being resolved is 10-90%. He can fix my back pain he says!! Please any similar situations and some good results would really be nice to hear!!!!

 

[HTOWN2010]

Well, I have the ALIF procedure done just 5 weeks ago tomorrow. Both positive and negative, but mostly positive. The procedure did relieve my sciatica. The day following the surgery I was able to feel the bottom of my feet again (because they were usually nurab) and it no longer hurt my feet when I got out of bed every morning. But I still have lower back pain. There again, its been only 5 weeks, so the jury is still out on whether it was worth it or not. I actually went back to work after 3 weeks, but wish I would have at least taken 1 or 2 more weeks off. The most painful part is getting out of bed in the morning, or getting out of bed after taking a nap. I suppose this is normal this soon after surgery. After I walk around some and work the stiffness out, I feel pretty good. I can sit down, then stand up with no or very little pain, but when I sit down is a sofa that sinks down too far, its alittle painful getting up. I take about 5 tablets of 7.5 mg Vicodin a day, so thats probably masking some of the pain.

I can't really say whether its worth it or not, I've been told it takes months and even up to 1 year to fully recover. It does seem to be getting better by the day, but there have been a couple of setbacks. I'd say its about 1-2% better a day, with a setback here and there. I am optimistic that 1 year from now I will be glad I did this (and hoping).

I'd say the 2 biggest variables that you have to worry about for this procedure is A) The competency level of your doctor and B) how well you adhere to the recuperating process (how well you take care of yourself). That is REAL important. I've read that the majority of failed back operations were due to the fact that people didn't take care of themselves following the procedure. I haven't been perfect here either, but would grade myself a B+ probably. Hope this helps..