Anyone had a lumbar fusion?

[MinnesotaEric]

I've been enduring lower back pain, shooting pains in my legs and increasing numbness in my legs for a few years, and in a week I'm going in for a two level spinal fusion of L3, L4 and L5. I'm not looking forward to the surgery and recovery, but was told by the neurosurgeon that if I didn't get it done soon, I could lose the use of my legs. After looking at the MRI and X-rays, he said he was surprised I could walk as well as I can.
Originally, back in 2018 I had the surgery scheduled for late December with another surgeon at another clinic, but called it off because I was just put off by the personality and manner of the surgeon, even though he is highly regarded and recommended. I just didn't feel comfortable having him do the surgery.
Last summer when I was seeing my GP, I asked her if she knew of a good surgeon. She said "Well here's the guy that all the other doctors go to." That sounded like a pretty good endorsement, so I was finally able to see him in early December and the surgery is scheduled for January 24th.
My experience with the doctor that did the initial evaluation and the surgeon left me with an entirely different feeling of their competence, and was much more at ease in their company. I have recently talked to a former patient and the daughter of a former patient and both couldn't give him enough praise for the treatment and results, so that is very comforting.
It looks like I'll spend three nights in the hospital and then go home, if everything goes as planned. Fortunately my present house guest is a recently retired RN, so I'll have my own personal Nurse Ratched (One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) to watch me.
If you've had this surgery, what was your experience.

I have a double fusion and a total of three back operations and I've been walking around with a blown L3/L4 since 2006. They now offer replacement disks, the holy grail of orthopedics. Before getting fused, ask about replacement disks.

also, keep in mind that these guys are all carpenters and they look at you and ask themselves if I can do the thing I do to you.

 

[WM75Guy]

I was having severe lower back pain. Tried the conservative route, physical therapy and neurotomy, where they burn the nerves coming out the spine. That provided some relief. I just got out of the hospital yesterday. I had a laminectomy of L2-L5 with nerve decompression. The ortho spine doc went in and removed a small part of the back of each vertebra. That allowed him access to clean out where the nerves were pinched. The nerve pain is gone. There is pain from the large incision down my lower back, but it is getting better. After a couple of weeks I will be able to lift and walk without pain.

 

[jjeff]

I gave no credibility to the chiropractor I was seeing when I gave him a cd of my neck mri's shrugged them off and he insisted all he needed was his x-rays. However I believe some chiropractors are very credible, I had pretty bad lower back pain about 20 yrs ago before my neck problems was especially painful at work framing houses. She fixed it with 2 months of alignment and gave me tips to prevent lower back problems like don't drive a car with your wallet in back pocket. So to some degree non surgical methods can and will help in my experience.

 

[kf4uda]

Not sure how I missed this thread but I just had lumbar fusion number 3 on December 27th. They did the fusion and replaced the previous hardware to extend from L2 to L5 (trying to make me into Ironman). Also cleaned out areas of spinal stenosis. That was my 2nd surgery of 2022. I had my second neck fusion back in July. I have gotten much needed relief from both of these surgeries but there is still the recovery from having them. Over the years I have tried every way I could come up with to avoid these surgeries including an inversion table, many Chiropractor visits, many spinal decompression sessions and 5 spinal injections. Some of that gave me short term relief but in the end didn't work for me.

I am currently taking physical therapy twice per week and wearing a back brace until the end of March. I go back to work next week with limitations. I plan to find a personal trainer to guide me through a workout plan tailored to my situation. I spoke to my Dr about this and he thought it was a very good idea but told me to wait until 6 months after surgery before starting this.

BrovoXray, I assume by now you have had your surgery and beginning recovery. I hope that you are doing well. The first few days may be rough but it will get better. Some of the things that I have learned (most of them the hard way) are:

Listen to your doctor and do exactly what he says, if not why did you go to him for help.

Take your pain meds as prescribed for the first few days then use Tylenol or whatever the Dr says.

You will need a reach tool. This is the best one that I have ever had. I can pick up a coin laying flat on the floor with it:

https://www.amazon.com/Ettore-49036-32-Inch-Gripn-Inches/dp/B001B13PC2?pd_rd_w=oJeV3&content-id=amzn1.sym.deffa092-2e99-4e9f-b814-0d71c40b24af&pf_rd_p=deffa092-2e99-4e9f-b814-0d71c40b24af&pf_rd_r=49CR8DMKH7C08CER5E9W&pd_rd_wg=l9d1c&pd_rd_r=6dfb0833-0e80-48b7-86ef-8a2d60836a54&pd_rd_i=B001B13PC2&psc=1&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_i

Walking is your friend when recovering. Try to walk everyday and increase the distance. I am sure that your Dr or PT will advise this.

LISTEN TO YOUR DR.

I wish you a speedy recovery and hope this is a "one and done" for you.

 

[BravoXray]

Okay guys, I'm back!
Surgery was moved around and finally went in Thursday morning for a 6 hour surgery. Came though just fine, the doc said it took longer because of all the stenosis and arthritis in the spinal channel and around the vertabrae. They got me up and walking Friday morning, and did a couple hundred feet in the ward hallway. Was able to get out of bed and set in the recliner chair in the room for a couple of hours. Saturday was about the same with some PT including climbing three steps, Sunday and Monday were more walking, two laps around the 8th floor. Walking isn't a problem, but I have had a horrible amount of pain and nerve spasms (shooting pains). Pain meds (Percocet), muscle relaxers and stool softeners have been set up on a schedule and have been taking religiously, except for times that the pain subsides and I can function without them.
For some reason, about 4:00-4:30am every morning, I get an attack of really bad pain, and it takes an hour or so for it to abate. No sleeping or sitting position helps it. The doc says this is not uncommon as the muscles and tissues are beginning to heal and a certain amount of inflammation begins to occur in the area, and that it will subside over time. I hope so.
Sitting here now, I'm not having any pain and that's a step forward. I keep moving every half hour or so, bathroom breaks or just a trip to the bedroom and back. I don't have a large house, so there's no really a good place to walk until it warms up a bit and I can go outside, as it's just above zero now.
So I'll keep everyone up to date on my progress and want to thank all the well wishers and hope this thread helps others considering this type of surgery.

 

[Bearsixty7]

Okay guys, I'm back!
Surgery was moved around and finally went in Thursday morning for a 6 hour surgery. Came though just fine, the doc said it took longer because of all the stenosis and arthritis in the spinal channel and around the vertabrae. They got me up and walking Friday morning, and did a couple hundred feet in the ward hallway. Was able to get out of bed and set in the recliner chair in the room for a couple of hours. Saturday was about the same with some PT including climbing three steps, Sunday and Monday were more walking, two laps around the 8th floor. Walking isn't a problem, but I have had a horrible amount of pain and nerve spasms (shooting pains). Pain meds (Percocet), muscle relaxers and stool softeners have been set up on a schedule and have been taking religiously, except for times that the pain subsides and I can function without them.
For some reason, about 4:00-4:30am every morning, I get an attack of really bad pain, and it takes an hour or so for it to abate. No sleeping or sitting position helps it. The doc says this is not uncommon as the muscles and tissues are beginning to heal and a certain amount of inflammation begins to occur in the area, and that it will subside over time. I hope so.
Sitting here now, I'm not having any pain and that's a step forward. I keep moving every half hour or so, bathroom breaks or just a trip to the bedroom and back. I don't have a large house, so there's no really a good place to walk until it warms up a bit and I can go outside, as it's just above zero now.
So I'll keep everyone up to date on my progress and want to thank all the well wishers and hope this thread helps others considering this type of surgery.

Glad to hear.

Would an Ice bag on the area for 10-20 minutes help reduce or stop the pain flair up due to inflammation?

 

[MossRoad]

Nice! Here's to a speedy recovery.

 

[goeduck]

Very happy to hear! I knew someone that had that done and it changed his life for the better, very much so. He was probably 35 at the time and it eliminated nearly all of his pain in short order, and I think by later all of it.

 

[BravoXray]

So now I'm 11 days post-op, and I think I'm doing pretty well. When the mail lady delivered the mail just after lunch, I went out and walked out the drive and down to the stop sign at the end of my road and back, retreiving the mail, a total of a quarter of a mile. I not having any pain in my legs, but still having moderate pain from the muscles at the site of the surgery and in the lower back, but that is slowly easing. Except for the first thing in the morning and a trip to the bathroom at night sometimes, I have pretty much ditched the walker during the day. Thursday I go in for my two week check and to have the staples and sutures removed. I'm going to try to stop my pain meds Wednesday night so I can drive to the appointment in my F150. As well as I'm doing, there is NO way I would be able to get in the my friend's Kia Optima, hell, I could barely get in and out of it bafore, and there is no way she'll be able to navigate the F150 in the parking garage. SO, we'll see what happens.
Everything must be healing pretty well, because it stats itching like crazy some times. When she changed the dressing on Saturday, she says everything look great, no redness of swelling anywhere. From past experiences, I'm a fast healer, so that's helping my recovery along, I'm sure.

Everyone stay safe and well.

 

[workinonit]

All of my pain was surgical pain. My back or legs have not hurt a second since I came out of surgery. I did mine outpatient. 30 days I was back doing what I wanted to around the farm. Just had to avoid the lifting. They gave me progressive weight limits and I stuck to them. I was back on the tractor in 25 days. Once the surgery is healed, you can't hurt the back. Within reason of course. I had mine on Nov 17 and barbequed a 150 pound hog for Christmas.

Sounds like you are progressing. Good luck.