Anyone had a lumbar fusion?

[etpm]

I'm really happy that your surgery has worked out well so far. When I had my back done, which was more that 15 years ago, the pain relief was immediate. I have never regretted getting those vertebra fused. I think, based on what you have written, you will have the same opinion. Please be careful with your recovery. Don't ruin the repair that was just done. Give your body the proper time to heal and you will be able to enjoy all those pain free days from that part of your back for many years to come. Maybe until you die.
Eric

 

[turbo36]

As of today, I am 10 weeks post-op, L3,4,5 fusion and laminectomy. Feel pretty good most of the time, still have some numbness at the bottom of my left foot. The Doc, says it could be a year before all the nerves grow back. Just started PT three weeks ago, I have no problem walking it I do 3 to 5 miles a day. Still have me on the no BLT regime. (Bending, lifting twisting). Sleeping pretty good now, can't wait to get back on my bicycle.

Hope you continue to do well.

 

[BravoXray]

As of today, I am 10 weeks post-op, L3,4,5 fusion and laminectomy. Feel pretty good most of the time, still have some numbness at the bottom of my left foot. The Doc, says it could be a year before all the nerves grow back. Just started PT three weeks ago, I have no problem walking it I do 3 to 5 miles a day. Still have me on the no BLT regime. (Bending, lifting twisting). Sleeping pretty good now, can't wait to get back on my bicycle.

Hope you continue to do well.

You're 7 weeks ahead of me in recovery, but my Doc said the same thing about fellings coming back to my feet. I only doing a quarter mile walking right now, Doc said that enough for now.
I went in Thursday for my 2 week check, got x-rays, and Doc said everything looks good.
I'm tapering of on the pain meds, only took one this morning at 7:00AM, and am still pretty comfortable with the pain level, but the three previous days I took 3 or 4 a day.

Here's a picture of my newly acquired hardware.

 

[turbo36]

You're 7 weeks ahead of me in recovery, but my Doc said the same thing about fellings coming back to my feet. I only doing a quarter mile walking right now, Doc said that enough for now.
I went in Thursday for my 2 week check, got x-rays, and Doc said everything looks good.
I'm tapering of on the pain meds, only took one this morning at 7:00AM, and am still pretty comfortable with the pain level, but the three previous days I took 3 or 4 a day.

Here's a picture of my newly acquired hardware.

View attachment 783536

Sounds like you are doing good, getting off pain meds as soon as you can is a good goal. I had a friend that went too long and he had some issues that he had to deal with later.
Here’s a picture to give you a better perspective of just how long those “lag bolts” are.

 

[WM75Guy]

Glad everyone is doing good. I am just over 2 weeks postop from a L2-L5 laminectomy and nerve decompression. Off pain meds except for the occasional 2 Tylenols. Doctor told me I could lift anything I wanted after 2 weeks. I unloaded 6 bags of feed and 3 bales of alfalfa yesterday. A little sore in the back today with muscle pain, but no nerve pain lifting or carrying feed. Now I just need to get my back muscles back in shape, so I don't walk hunched over like I have for the last several years.

 

[turbo36]

Glad everyone is doing good. I am just over 2 weeks postop from a L2-L5 laminectomy and nerve decompression. Off pain meds except for the occasional 2 Tylenols. Doctor told me I could lift anything I wanted after 2 weeks. I unloaded 6 bags of feed and 3 bales of alfalfa yesterday. A little sore in the back today with muscle pain, but no nerve pain lifting or carrying feed. Now I just need to get my back muscles back in shape, so I don't walk hunched over like I have for the last several years.

Wow! I am astounded by the doctor allowing you to lift anything you want. even though you didn’t have a fusion it still seems pretty aggressive.

 

[WM75Guy]

Wow! I am astounded by the doctor allowing you to lift anything you want. It is 10 weeks into my recovery and they still have me on a 10 pound weight restriction. I had to wear a back brace for about seven weeks. I did heavy research before I chose the doctor I did and the one thing that I noted was common amongst all physicians and clinical writings was that weight restriction on lifting bending and twisting was critical. Not sure how your operation was so different than mine?

I did not have any fusion or hardware placed, my discs and vertebrae are fine. Just the laminectomy so he could clean out where the nerves were compressed by osteoarthritis.

 

[turbo36]

I did not have any fusion or hardware placed, my discs and vertebrae are fine. Just the laminectomy so he could clean out where the nerves were compressed by osteoarthritis.

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.

 

[jjeff]

Had a non conventional "Dr" try and tell me laser surgery removing pieces of my blown out doughnuts was the way to go. By this time I was done being the lab rat. I've also noticed you can readily read about success stories on these "drs" surgeries but unless you search you don't hear of the failures or nightmares folks have.

 

[MossRoad]

You're 7 weeks ahead of me in recovery, but my Doc said the same thing about fellings coming back to my feet. I only doing a quarter mile walking right now, Doc said that enough for now.
I went in Thursday for my 2 week check, got x-rays, and Doc said everything looks good.
I'm tapering of on the pain meds, only took one this morning at 7:00AM, and am still pretty comfortable with the pain level, but the three previous days I took 3 or 4 a day.

Here's a picture of my newly acquired hardware.

View attachment 783536

You aren't going to find that down at Menard's!