Hey Gang... so I went for my 1st neurosurgeons opinion at the U of M yesterday and he said I will likely need a fusion with spacer & synthetic bone graft at L5-S1 & possibly just a disectomy at L5-L4.
He wants me to try to get back to my old life style & see if I have another major episode before he will schedule the surgery, he wants to see me again in 6 weeks.
Questions...
1) Has anyone had this fusion & with what results?
2) Has anyone waited for another big episode & suffered a bad result? I am currently quite numb & tingly with pressure & low level pain in both legs/feet & a numb butt.
3) Is the 6 week review pretty standard? That seems a lil odd to me.
He also stated that a lot of doc's who would see my MRI & EMG would rec surgery but he likes to be conservative.
My question is if you are having pain are we trying anything during these six weeks other than pain meds?? If you are not doing anything, this sounds weird to me and I don't understand what his reasoning would be.
22 years ago I had a fusion at s1/s2, last May I had a laminectomy at L5/s1 and 3 weeks ago I had a fusion at L5/S1.
Dave,
From my daughter's experience I have found that the drs want to be sure they have tried everything prior to surgery. Her dr didn't even mention surgery until after one year of non-surgical interventions like rest, no sports and pt. She has spondylolisthesis and stenosis. Her pain was in her lower back, hamstrings and tingly feet.
We went for a second opinion at U of Mich and even this pediatric ortho wanted to try one more thing prior to having surgery. As I stated before we stayed with her original doc who was closer to home. So with our experience neither dr jumped right into surgery.
My daughter had a two level fusion from L4 - S1, laminectomy and discectomy at the age of 15. She has had great success, but she did quickly because of her age. Her drs used screws, rods, spacers and mixed donor bone with her own bone. They didn't use bmp I think because of her age. She's living the live of a normal 17 year old now. She was allowed to play tennis this past year on her school team. So her surgery was a success. She says if she has any pain at all it has only gone to a 2 during the past 20 months post op.
I find it very odd your doctor doesn't have you trying PT or somthing ? Just waiting on the next flare up ? What is your diagnosis ?
I also believe Dr.'s have to try all the above before surgery due to insurance companies complaining that all surgeon's just want to operate so they get a healthy check , so I think it's pretty standard unless you are so severe they have to do it right away.
