Hi V8
I am wishing you well hun I am a 2001 L4 L5 SI1 Anterior Metal Cages Lumbar Fusion Bone Grafting off hip and as well as from another source 6 day's in the hospital 7 and a half hour op. I did so well after I woke up the next day when my Doc came in I was crying now I hurt because of the op it is not a cup cake
The reason I was crying and my doc got so upset he thought I was in pain was because I already had seen how much help it did to get my back fixed it was a shock to me.
I hope you have as much luck. I am not so great now about 2 years ago I started to have problems again but hey I had a couple of years with no pain well pain but not to the point I was reduced to a bed hopper and my life was taken away from me again.
I am going back in next month to have a little more work done things wear out and such.
Please make sure you have help for when you come home, do everything your doc tells you to do I am more than positive this makes the surgery work out far btter than if we jump right back to regular things we think we should be doing. Give yourself the time to heal let the body do what it needs to do and wear that brace I am sure you will get . I also had a walker I did not use it much after the 1st few days home I think more so because I felt like I was being weak. You will find little things such as trying to use the bathroom are not fun to sit down if you havent I would say get a toilet seat lift it helps alot. Use the pain meds it is proven we don't heal as well if we hurt. We all know what pain is or we would not be on these boards. Most of all as I say have support at home you have alot of recovering to do and from the sounds of it you will have alot of work done. if I had to do it over again the 1st time I would never have had part of my bone grafting taken from my hip that hurt worse than the cut from the Back op it's self I still have problems from it. Omg I hope I am not making you worry .
Anyway here is to you and a great outcome for you'r up coming surgery hun may you have your life back and be able to live it as you and us all wish we could
Surgery Tomorrow for Me... 
Hello fellow "spineys". Just wanted to let everyone know that I am having my surgery tomorrow, March 16, and was hoping for some well wishes and prayers. 
I am not real sure exactly what they will do, all I know right now is that there will be at least a laminectomy of L3/4. My surgeon says he will know more once he gets in there to see what it looks like. I know that I have bulging disks at L4/5 and L5/S1, as well as hypertrophy, stenosis and DDD. The main culprit for my pain is believed to be the herniation at L3/4. So I almost hope they do a fusion of all 3 levels to prevent subsequent surgeries due to instability. I know I am heading down a long road of recovery, but I am anxious to get my life back. I am a 33 yr old mother of 6 and would love to be able to do normal things with my kids. My 8 year old has her first play today but I am unable to attend due to pain. I don't ever want to miss this stuff again. I know I only have a 50/50 chance of success, but I also know that I am young and have had a succesful fusion of C3/4 in my past. 
So, any advice would be great and of course, well wishes and prayers are generously accepted! 
Re: Surgery Tomorrow for Me... 
shelley
Re: Surgery Tomorrow for Me... 
