Anyone had a lumbar fusion?

[stuckmotor]

I'm scheduled to have a couple of bones in my neck fused tomorrow. I hope to be able to play the piano with both hands afterward. You know the rest of the punch line...
The first sentence is true.

 

[BravoXray]

I'm continuing to recover from the surgery. About the only pain remaining is the deep aching pain in my lower back, other than a little where they took a bone graft and marrow out of my pelvis. I'm down to only two or three pain meds a day, so that's good, as I hate the foggy feeling in the head that the Percocet gives me. I've to take some Tylenol for low level pain during the day, instead of popping more Percocet. Still walking every day, though some days are a little rough, because I know it will help in the long run.

Also, I know some of you have followed my thread about restoring my 70 Nova, the paint shop called today and said I could come and get all the loose pieces as they were all done. So tomorrow, a couple of friends are going to meet me at the paint shop and we'll bring the hood, front fenders, trunk lid and a few small parts back to my shop. After they get the body shell wet sanded and buffed out, and the dash painted, probably on Friday or Monday, they'll hang the doors and have the towing company bring it to my shop.
So, progress on two fronts is being made, but I'll have to wait a few more months on my back recovering before I can do any serious work on the Nova.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and wishing me well, it's much appreciated.

 

[kf4uda]

I'm scheduled to have a couple of bones in my neck fused tomorrow. I hope to be able to play the piano with both hands afterward. You know the rest of the punch line...
The first sentence is true.

I hope everything works out well with your surgery. Good luck with that piano

 

[kf4uda]

I'm continuing to recover from the surgery. About the only pain remaining is the deep aching pain in my lower back, other than a little where they took a bone graft and marrow out of my pelvis. I'm down to only two or three pain meds a day, so that's good, as I hate the foggy feeling in the head that the Percocet gives me. I've to take some Tylenol for low level pain during the day, instead of popping more Percocet. Still walking every day, though some days are a little rough, because I know it will help in the long run.

Also, I know some of you have followed my thread about restoring my 70 Nova, the paint shop called today and said I could come and get all the loose pieces as they were all done. So tomorrow, a couple of friends are going to meet me at the paint shop and we'll bring the hood, front fenders, trunk lid and a few small parts back to my shop. After they get the body shell wet sanded and buffed out, and the dash painted, probably on Friday or Monday, they'll hang the doors and have the towing company bring it to my shop.
So, progress on two fronts is being made, but I'll have to wait a few more months on my back recovering before I can do any serious work on the Nova.

Thanks for sharing your experiences and wishing me well, it's much appreciated.

Sounds like progress on both fronts. I am on my 2nd week back at work after a Dec back surgery so I understand where you are. I finally made it up to 2 miles with my walking. Walking will wear me out but in the long run it does help. Hang in there, it will get better.

 

[stuckmotor]

I hope everything works out well with your surgery. Good luck with that piano

Thanks kf4yda. It'd be nice to play the piano, I guess.

 

[PJRAM]

Hold my beer. I had severe back pain for 2 years and my asshat doctor and asshat local emergency room doctors put me on muscle relaxers and pain killers....for 2 years. Got worse and worse and then a gastroenterologist that I went to ordered a cat scan with contrast and found a tumor on my spinal cord that was cancerous. She called me that evening and told me to get to the emergency room immediately and they operated to remove the tumor and stabilized my spine with screws and rods. I've been going for chemo treatments for multiple myeloma for the past 12 years on and off, as I go in and out of remission. I've been in remission now for the past year and a half. Hopefully I stay in remission. I am on a new drug called Darzalex which is NOT chemotherapy. It is a targeted monoclonal antibody that helps slow or stop the progression of multiple myeloma.

 

[BravoXray]

That's a lot of hardware!
Hope the treatment keeps you in remission guy!
Hang in there.

 

[turbo36]

Hold my beer. I had severe back pain for 2 years and my asshat doctor and asshat local emergency room doctors put me on muscle relaxers and pain killers....for 2 years. Got worse and worse and then a gastroenterologist that I went to ordered a cat scan with contrast and found a tumor on my spinal cord that was cancerous. She called me that evening and told me to get to the emergency room immediately and they operated to remove the tumor and stabilized my spine with screws and rods. I've been going for chemo treatments for multiple myeloma for the past 12 years on and off, as I go in and out of remission. I've been in remission now for the past year and a half. Hopefully I stay in remission. I am on a new drug called Darzalex which is NOT chemotherapy. It is a targeted monoclonal antibody that helps slow or stop the progression of multiple myeloma.
View attachment 784538View attachment 784539

Wow! Must have been a large tumor?

 

[PJRAM]

That's a lot of hardware!
Hope the treatment keeps you in remission guy!
Hang in there.

Thank you.

Wow! Must have been a large tumor?

Not large, but it was wrapped completely around my spine and was putting pressure on my spinal cord. The back surgeon said I was millimeters away from being paralyzed from the waist down if it was not removed. I was very lucky that they found it in time.

 

[stuckmotor]

That's a lot of hardware!
Hope the treatment keeps you in remission guy!
Hang in there.

What BrovoXray said. I hope God will bless you.

 

[PJRAM]

What BrovoXray said. I hope God will bless you.

Thank you.

 

[BravoXray]

Recovery is proceeding well I believe, only taking occasional Tylenol for pain relief. Next Thursday I go to see the surgeon for a six week check, will be interesting to see what he says. I'm walking at least a 1/4 mile a day, but today with the trip to Lowes, a couple of trips to the shop and my regular walk, it was probably closer to a mile. Second to what pain is still there, is the itching of the incision site. Seems to only flare up at night, and I've been putting to Benadryl cream on it, which help some.
The PA I was a couple of weeks ago was saying I was to start agua therapy soon to build my core strength. What is that all about? Anyone else gone through it?
I'm a little dubious, as the docs are part of the same medical group as the aqua therapy facility, so it sounds to me like another way to suck some more cash out of medicare and my insurance company.

 

[MossRoad]

Recovery is proceeding well I believe, only taking occasional Tylenol for pain relief. Next Thursday I go to see the surgeon for a six week check, will be interesting to see what he says. I'm walking at least a 1/4 mile a day, but today with the trip to Lowes, a couple of trips to the shop and my regular walk, it was probably closer to a mile. Second to what pain is still there, is the itching of the incision site. Seems to only flare up at night, and I've been putting to Benadryl cream on it, which help some.
The PA I was a couple of weeks ago was saying I was to start agua therapy soon to build my core strength. What is that all about? Anyone else gone through it?
I'm a little dubious, as the docs are part of the same medical group as the aqua therapy facility, so it sounds to me like another way to suck some more cash out of medicare and my insurance company.

I'm gonna guess aqua therapy will be walking and other exercises in a pool?

If so, I gotta tell you, water is an amazing thing. Takes all the weight off of your body yet still makes you work resistance against it. I work out in our pool in summer months. Was a lifeguard from about age 14-almost 30. It's so easy on your joints and back. Low to no impact. Give it a try.

 

[stuckmotor]

I'm gonna guess aqua therapy will be walking and other exercises in a pool?

If so, I gotta tell you, water is an amazing thing. Takes all the weight off of your body yet still makes you work resistance against it. I work out in our pool in summer months. Was a lifeguard from about age 14-almost 30. It's so easy on your joints and back. Low to no impact. Give it a try.

My wife has been working out in the YMCA pool with a class for years. They asked her to be the one who stood on the edge and lead the exercises. She explained that she could only do them in the water and that was the end of that.

 

[turbo36]

That’s interesting, I will have to ask my doctor when I see him in a couple of weeks why he suggested fusion for me. My back structure was pretty good however no room in L3 and L5 for the spinal cord. Besides pain I had lost 85% strength of my right leg and had numbness in my left leg.

I wanted to circle back to this post because I had a recent follow up on my surgery. My doctor explained to me that some laminectomies only need to remove a small amount of bone to get good results. In my case they had to remove a lot of bone in three vertebrae, therefore my back would be very unstable without fusion.

 

[BravoXray]

Saw the surgeon last Thursday, and he said it looks like I am coming along pretty much as he had hoped. I'm happy also since I no longer have the shooting pains in my legs and chronic pain in my lower back and hips. I thanked him for doing a good job, and he said he does the best he can on every patient he treats.
I even had him take off the mask, so I could see his face, as I hadn't seen him without a mask before, he wore one even during my initial assessment appointment. He laughed and took it off for the last few minutes of the appointment, but said it was policy to wear a mask whenever around patients.
I go back on April 20 for x-rays and evaluation of my progress.
I haven't taken any Tylenol or other pain meds for three days now, as the pain continues to abate.
So far, so good.

 

[goeduck]

^^ Good news!

 

[stuckmotor]

I'm scheduled to have a couple of bones in my neck fused tomorrow. I hope to be able to play the piano with both hands afterward. You know the rest of the punch line...
The first sentence is true.

I had a post operation conference with the doctor yesterday. He cleared me to fix fence if I go down with my knees instead of bending. Going down isn't going to be as much of a problem as standing back up.

 

[turbo36]

I had a post operation conference with the doctor yesterday. He cleared me to fix fence if I go down with my knees instead of bending. Going down isn't going to be as much of a problem as standing back up.

I washed and waxed one of my cars yesterday, it was amazing! What I used to take for granted is now a struggle. I’m really sore, but I feel better than I have in the last six months.

 

[WM75Guy]

Doctor told me after my laminectomy on 01/27/23 that I was free to lift as I pleased after 2 weeks, I couldn't damage the work he did to the spine. However, physical activity could cause scar tissue where the muscles were healing to tear and bleed, causing hematomas that could press on the nerves in the back. He said that activity would be self-limiting. Unloaded 3 bales of alfalfa at 95# each last night from the truck and stacked them in the barn. Today I found out the definition of self-limiting.