If you've had it, what can you tell me about it?
Recovery time
Does it mess with your fishing, rough boat rides
Thanks for any info you can share, John

My Dad has had it. It certainly helped with some of his numbness and pain. That said, my dad and I are both believers it's inflammation caused by some sort of an auto immune that causes the condition to begin with. He cleaned up his diet and felt far better after doing that than he did after the surgery. I don't believe this is pseudo science, lots of evidence out there the "normal" American diet causes a lot of these issues. Get back to the basic, whole foods, lots of veggies, give it a month and see what happens. Worst case you lose a few pounds and go back to your old ways in a month.

I had S1/L5 fusion last May. If that is what you are talking about, i can tell you a whole bunch about it.

I hope for you the best!
I had surgery in Oct. 2015, and mine didn't turn out too well, but it's like I was told, everyone is different!
In answer to your question, yes, all of the above!

Please tell Bob. I passed up surgery in favor of just letting it heal and living less physical. It worked some. Have heard lots of fusion horror stories

MRI shows it to be caused by my arthritis , so l doubt it'll heal with rest or a better diet.
Bob, my S1/L5 are the worst according to the mri..... so if you'd like feel free to let me know what I might be in for.
Thanks

I had cracked the L5 (the lowest lumbar vertebrae) sometime apparently a long long time ago. Maybe as a kid falling out of a tree or something, who knows. This shifted the L5 rearward and as I got older like 2 years ago, it was putting undue pressure on the spinal cord running through the center. This was causing me some sciatica type symptoms in the left leg. Before they would even consider surgery I had to try some alternatives. So I went for physical therapy for 6 weeks, no help. Then I had to get two different MRI's. Next, the surgeon said to try some xray steroid injections very localized in that vertebrae area. The steroid injections did help. So from a trouble shooting standpoint that steroids here helped, they felt better about doing the fusion to correct the problem. After these months of process, they suggested that all indicators pointed to the cracked L5.

I used the Carrell Clinic, Dr. Andrew Clavenna. Both of his PA assistants are nice to look at. Dr. Clavenna very attentive, younger guy with good eyesight and a good track record and favorable reviews and accolades. Surgery was lengthy, I was under for almost 6 hours bent in a V on a table. They have a neurosurgeon attending and they monitor your nerve impulses somehow to make sure the orthopedic (Clavenna) didn't get too close to the spinal cord in the process.

I came out of the surgery fine. Cracking jokes and stuff. My wife told me to tone it down you idiot. So I did. Nurses were above awesome. They have a great staff there. Before they closed up the area of surgery (a 6" scar on the bottom of my spine near your tailbone and up), the Doc injected some kind of long acting pain killer anti inflammatory stuff. So I am in the bed watching TV and feeling no pain at all and sober. They gave me a morphine pump switch but I am not big on any kind of pain medication. This was around 3pm. I was doing good, eating good, etc. The catheter was the worst part. Never been tethered by the willy like that before. I can do without that. Anyway, all was good. Around 9pm that night a nurse came in and showed me how to log roll out of bed. The object is not to bend the spine. So I learned that and I walked with a walker and the nurse carrying the IV pole around the 2nd floor area. They want you walking and functioning as soon as possible. Around 10pm or so I finally was feeling some discomfort, but not any crybaby pain, so I hit the morphine a few clicks and went to sleep. They woke me about 3 to administer some stuff to the IV, I dunno antibiotics or something.

The next morning I was good, had a good breakfast. Then the nurse and the doctor came in to check on me. I was good. My wife came by and then another specialized physical therapy kind of nurse came in again and told me about using the bathroom and stuff. It was painful a bit to sit on the commode, but it got better each time. That afternoon after my begging, they took the catheter out. I could do without ever experiencing this again. But it wasn't any crybaby stuff either. At 3pm that day, they released me to go home. I could walk but very slow. So I was in the hospital for 1 night only. The ride home was no picnic, I was trying to keep my back straight. Next car I get will be a land barge cadillac with cushy suspension.

There is one item that the surgeon recommended that I am forever grateful. He said I should pay for the rental of a "Game Day" ice wrap machine. It was like a velcro vest that wrapped around your spine from the waist to the chest. It had two quick disconect hoses that connected to an electronic box that had ice water in it. You set the controls and it pumped ice water periodically through this vest and this thing was a blessing. I wore it as much as possible for 2 weeks. Especially at night, oh man, that thing would kick on and you could feel the cold surge around the surgery area and it gave so much relief. Let me sleep like a baby. I took some recommended pain pill regimine for 4 days total after the surgery. It really was not that painful with the help of the "Game Day" machine and I did not want to end up a dopehead spending my life savings on opiods and living in a crack house on Harry Hines. So I was only taking Tylenol after the 4th day. Winning.

I was able to walk around and get to the bathroom and stuff but slowly. Spent a lot of time in the recliner watching Andy Griffith Show re-reruns. Eating was good. They gave me a bunch of vitamin D, and B to help grow bone over the rods installed in the spine. I bought a combination cane/grabber thing to reach for stuff. No bending they said. The stitches and surgery site healed up fine. I also bought an aluminum frame for the commode. It was easy to setup but it gave me handrails to get up and down. I highly recommend this too. Not too expensive.

After 2 weeks I was able to go to Church, ride in the car etc. Then I took back the rented "Game Day" machine. I loved that thing. Went back to the docs for a checkup. I had to do a series of these every so often and they do a quick Xray to make sure the rods and screws and vertebrae don't move. Then they set me up for physical therapy after 3 months of rest. I was off work for 3 months, that is what the doc recommended. I was able to walk fairly good but still took my cane/grabber with me wherever I went. In hindsight, it was really not a bad experience.

Then, physical therapy. This did not go so good, because they and I were thinking no pain no gain. So I was doing everything they told me but I still had the pain in that left leg, upper leg and radiating down to the ankle at times. Oh, that is just spinal cord "memory" they said. So I did the PT for a while and after 7 months the Doc said, well, your leg pain should be getting better by now. So he says, maybe there is some hip joint issue. Well I had seen a hip Doctor months prior to this surgery and they gave me a steroid shot in the hip and it did not have any effect of relieving the pain. Actually I saw two hip doctors prior. First one said I need a new hip, second one said, your hip is fine, it is old of course but not all that bad. So a second opinion hip doc said, I dont' think your leg problem is related to the hip either. So this is why everyone was thinking it was the Fractured L5 that was the root cause.

Then Dr. Clavenna says, well I know that the steroid in the hip did not have any effect last time, let's try it again in our Carrell clinic where we can do a radiological Steroid injection in the hip joint. So they did and for 5 weeks the pain was gone. Now it is back again but bearable. I still limp a little if I walk for a long distance or climb stairs. They say that if you see 10 old men walking down the street, 9 of them will be limping a little. So I am one of 9 right now. I am not taking any pain medication, not even aspirin or ibuprofen or acetimenophen, on any regular basis. But I will take an Aleve now and then. We'll see. Maybe it will get better on its own, or maybe I can tell you what it is like to have hip replacement.

All in all though, I'm glad I had the surgery done, if nothing else it would have caused me problems later on anyway and sometimes you have to change out some parts in the course of troubleshooting.

You won't be fishing for 3 months or more I will guarantee you that. But functioning otherwise fine. If you can work from home i.e. computer type of work you'll be back at it in 2 weeks easily.

What type of surgery are they proposing? A discectomy is a relatively easy procedure with a short recovery. But if they are shaving parts of the bone, or any type of fusion it makes a big difference on recovery.

Either way, you will be down for a minimum of 2 months.

Oh [censored]

[quote=Bob Davis]I had lumbar fusion last year. I could have gotten a C section much cheaper. I should have opted for the C section.

my wife had these implants between L4L5. was taking 6 advil and 2 hydrocodone a day prior. 3 different X-ray steroid injections at 5 month intervals provided only temporary relief and through hindsight were a waste of time and money. strongly recommend a neurosurgeon who specializes in backs and necks. she had 2-3 months of post-op surgical pain but is now much better but not totally pain free. have handicap toilet rails (wallgreens)installed before coming home as they will discharge you with a portable toilet

Mine was this: Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF) Back Surgery. 4 screws , two rods. I hope they don't rust out. Great antennas though, I can pick up several local channels.

L5/S1 back in August '16.

tmd11111, yours is cooler looking. Looks like some metallic type of spacer. How are you doing today?