my husband had a spinal fusion operation 15 months ago and still has difficulty walking very far before his legs start to go numb and now his back hurts too, which it didn't before. He isn't on any meds because he doesn't want to become addicted to them. He has a metal plate and screws.
wondering if anyone else is in the same boat, or better still if they were and it is now able to walk!! Thanks
Mary, My wife could have written those exact words about me only I had four fused together the day before thanksgiving 2013, 16 months ago. The doctor just wrote it off saying there is no more he could do. I posted my problem last week here and really didn't get a good answere. I am now seeking a second opinion from another neurosurgeon, but that is very slow to get going. Don't know why. Where are you from?
Glad we are not the only ones then! It does affect the whole family when one can't walk too far doesn't it. We are in Essex Be interested in following your post. Good luck. Hubby saw an orthopaedic surgeon not a neurosurgeon?
We live in Idaho. Yes it does affect others. I feel bad because I can't lift anything and the wife has to do all the heavy work. We do have kids that come to visit and help a lot, but the closest one lives 200 miles, 4 hours away and the other two live 425 miles, about 8 hours away.
Sorry didn't realise this was a world wide site. Essex is in UK! My husband can lift stuff fortunately. Maybe that's why you refer to a neurosurgeon.
Hi Mary
did your husband have PLIF?
What is PLIF? Sorry
Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion Surgery
I had my four lower lumbar fused. They were deteriorated to almost nothing.
sorry, this thing is all run together. The site could use more work.
Hi Mary. Nice to meet you. Like Phuneeguy, I too, live in the US. I was a RN working Orthopaedic/Trauma Surgery Unit in a university Trauma
Center until I retired 05/2014. I am also 4.5 months post Posterior
L4-L5 Decompression Laminectomy and Spinal Fusion w/graft 11/2014.
Fortunately, I have done well and have followed my post-op instructions
to the letter. The hospital I was employed was a teaxhing hospital with one of this nation's better Orthopaedic Departments. We also can say the same concerning their Neuro Science and Neurosurgical Departments.
While Orthopaedic surgeons are capable of performing spinal fusions,
their specialty is that which encompasses the bone structures of the
human body. A Neurosurgeon specializes in disorders of the brain and
the spine. In the States, surgeons have come under so much scrutiny
that they generally stay within their surgical specialty. Our medical
care is financed through insurance companies and/or gov agencies.
I hope that I have been able to answer your ortho -vs- neuro questions.
This site is a forum and you can bounce questions, concerns, ideas, or
triumphs here and receive some much needed moral support if nothing
else. I wish both you and your husband well.
I also followed my post oop innstructions the letter, but tthings are not well with me. MMy biggest concern is thatt the suurgeon wwouldd not take thee time to ddiscuss ssome other options aafter surgery. HHe just threw up his hands and said there was nothing more he could do. He woulld not ask some one else for help or even discuss it.
Phuneeguy, what specialty surgeon did your surgery? Neuro or Ortho? Was it a private pracice or group or a teaching hospital?
The results seem to vary depending on the answer. You are a citizen of the United States, therefore you have a voice. Your surgeon hopefully is i. Apractice that he is not the head hauncho. Make complaints to the person who owns the practice. It's board of directors, etc. And, if you should have been so fortunate as to have had your surgery at a teaching hospital, go to the Chief of surgical services And make your case there. Wherever you go, you have rights. If nothing else, most TV news programs will take up your crusade and can generally go places that John Doe cannot. I hope this has helped. Good luck.
Patricia
Private practice Neuro did my surgery. He was recomended to me as a great surgeon but not to good of a personality. As far as I am concerned, the jury is still out on both. I'm finding out that most surgeries of this kind are not good.
Respectfully, I am going to disagree on that point. Assuming that the surgery is done correctly, and the patient follows their
restrictions, as well as incorporates an alternate lifestyle that
may or may not be anything like what it was prior to surgery, there is really no reason why this operation should fail. Bone structure can always play a part in failure; severe arthritis, osteoporosis, as well as many disease processes that die tly effect bone structure. In my case, the Resident on morning rounds the next day, made the following statement, " your surgery went very well...now, we are in a race for time before it fails." When I saw the neurosurgeon @2 wks and repeated this to him, he was really surprised. He said that it was a modified procedure that takes less of an opening and therefore less muscle, ligament and tendon involvement....that He was pleased with my response and there is no reason I should not have 80% function back at the end of 1 yr. And since I am now 67 yrs, I figured that if I could return to a life without that God awful pain, not fall flat on my face with no warning in the middle of WalMart, clean my own house and do a little gardening in the yard, it was worth a year. It was a different story with my neck. Same neurosurgeon told me my cervical stenosis and the amount of spurs present dictate fusion from C3-C7. Knowing full well that I would then lose the range of motion in my neck and the ramifications of, I told him that I was not ready to give up my nursing career quite this soon (2011). His next words to me were, " Let me know If you change your mind, until then there is nothing more I can do for you." I had lost 3 1/2 months of work, been through 3x weekly PT consisting of electrical stim, cervical traction, warm pack and then deep tissue massage. There was also one Epidural Steroid Injection that did absolutely nothing for the pain. At the end of treatment with PT, I was able to return to work. 2 yrs later the pain began in my lower back. Age related? Career related? Your guess is as good as mine. All I know is we all forget from time to time. I have caught myself reaching or lifting things that are way too heavy. Yesterday I caught myself reaching down for a 20lb bag of mulch while bent at the waist. Not exa tly a smart thing to do. Fortunately I live alone so I can talk to myself w/o looking like a fool to anyone else. I asked myself, "now what in the world are you getting ready to do? Not a wise idea, girl." The result was that I punched a hole in the bag and spread it a little at a time. Just take it slow. Stay away from group pra tices and private practices. I'm not saying you are not going to find excellent surgeons there, but the best of the best is teaching the newbies how to be a good neurosurgeon. Look into your closest Level 1 Trauma Center, or u iversity Medical Center...it never hurts to explore your options. Hope you have a great day.
Patricia
Patricia, befoere my surgery, I never had any pain until I walked. The pain in my butt was so bad, I had to stop and sometimes I just had to sit wherever I could. It would go away after a few minutes but came right back when I started to walk again. That was the only pain I had. I will say however that a pain in my ass saved my life because durring xrays and such, they found an aneurysm 8.1cm in my abdomon. Anyway, after two years of seeing the doctors, we, the neurosurgeon and I decided to have the operation. He did tell me that it was at best a 50-50 chance of success. That was good enough for me because I wanted to be normal again and was willing to take the chance. Now after the surgery, I have not had any one, except you to tell me they felt better after that kind of surgery. Now I still have pain in my butt as well as having numbness in my theigh, my back hurts almost all the time, and I also have neuropathy in my feet that make them burn all the time and at time it feels like someone is driving nails in my feet. (Feels like my past life a little over 2000 years ago.). By the way, I did all the exercises that I was told to do from the very start. As a mater of fact, all the pains I described has gotten worse as time goes on. I still do all the things I was told to do. I finally found out yesterday that another neurosurgeon is willing to see me. I am 79yo and have a lot more years to go and I want to live out the rest of my life as free of pain as I can. Gotta go exercise. have a great one.
Hi again Phuneeguy (are you really hilarious or just plain funny?)
I completely understand your frustrations. That being said, I must revert to my nursing in that aging bones break down and heal slower than someone younger might. As I have tried to tell everyone one this site, I too feel that my more or less uneventful recovery is expected but often not experienced. I was fortunate in that all of the right pieces fit into all of the right places Post operatively. That is not to say that I don't have my painful days too. If I
overdo it, I hurt too. I take my Motrin and I thank my God above that all I have to complain about is a lain caused by over doing
my activity. As mentioned earlier, I needed to get my gardens weeded, mulched and put down some weed preventer...?.tonight I
am paying for my efforts, but each time that I experience this discomfort I find that it is resolved btby the next morning. Why is my recovery a better outcome than most? I am sorry but I can't answer that. As I said early on in this forum, I was always a
Physically active person Who had neck problems since a teen hit me from behind at 60mph while I was stopped for a red light on my way to work one night in 1982, but never had lower back pain until I herniated a disc in 2013. I was 32 when that traffic accident happened and 64 when the lumbar disc herniated. I have experienced neck pain off and on since 1982 but was pretty much able to get by with PT and a TENS unit. It worked for me. I must admit...I have a really high tolerance for pain. This bilateral Sciatic pain almost did me in. I think that I am heralding my fabulous outcome bc I was in the frame of mind that ANYTHING was better than that. I do not mean to imply that I am ever pain free. I just don't have the dymptoms and pain post op that I lived 13 months
with pre-op.This is me. It may not be you And sounds like it probably isn't.
Thank God for your pain, Phuneeguy...an Aortic Aneurysm can be and often is fatal.That being said...the painful dymptoms you are experiencing can be attributed to 1) something conti ui g to press on and irritate the Sciatic Nerve, 2) there was nerve damage that is an on going thing causing this pain. I am sorry. I wish that I could offer you more. The exercises you are doing is irritating your Sciatic Nerve And since the Sciatic nerve exits the spine both to the left and to the right, whatever you are doing in your PT or inyour daily activities is irritating the Sciatic nerve. Let me adk...when you sit on the sofa, do you tend to plant your feet and lean forward? This relieves pressure and irritation to the L4-L5. S1 involvement produces pain upon sitting down no matter what. Leaning forward wnen walking or sitting forward is a dead giveaway. I had the same start and stop from pain when I walked too.
The feeling of pins and needles, burning in your feet at this point is more than likely neuropathies. Just a stab at an answer right now, but it sounds like you have stenosis at at least level L3-L4 and L4-L5. Until the narrowing of the distal spine is resolved, you will not be able to ambulate w/o pain any time soon.
As with all others Phuneeguy...I am only on tnis site with good intentions in my heart. I truly hope you find your way to relief. DOn't give up.
Patricia
I don't really consider either myself hilarious or funny.. II just try to have a good sense of humor. II got the name Phuneeeguy a long time aago when I was on a a chat room with a bunch of people, I would gget jokes from someone and tthen I would pass them on to others. II live in a small townhere in Idaho and the onle swim pool is at a motel. I just got word I could use the pool. A doctor recommended that I go to a pool and walk back and forth in the water. HHopfully that will make me feel better all over than any place else. TThanks for your input. II will not give up.. aas a matter of fact, I'm gonna go golfing tomorrow. I figure that I might as well have something to make me hurt than not knowing. YYou say you are in the U.S. North south east or west?
Good Evening Phuneeguy. I am located West of Richmond, VA. Small town? They are getting ready to close the Post Office, mine is so small. I joined the Y in a neighboring town...12 miles down the road a piece. Haha....I was born in NJ, but we moved to NC as I was just entering Jr High. That is where "down the road a piece" came from. Let me know how your golf game went and how you make out with walking in a poll. That sounds similar to the treading water that I am using to ease into this slowly. Not too awfully bad thus far. We shall see.
Hope you and your wife have a good weekend.
Patricia
Hi Patricia, Grangeville Idaho is a town around 3000 people. They do have a couple exercise places here. We go 5 days a week to the one called "The Gym". I was born and raised in southwest Ohio 30 miles east of Cincinnati. The golf game went well. I played 12 holes and no pain even later on into the evening. Haven't started the pool thing yet. We are big fans of Gonzaga basketball and watchd them beat UCLA last night and tonight it's the womens turn. Hope they do as good as the men but they are playing a tough team. I know what you mean about "up the road a piece". I lived on a farm and it was always "up to Fayetteville, down to Cincinnati, over to Blanchester, but when we went to Batavia", it was just to Batavia. By the way, when yyou type in this thing, does it add letters and omit some letters? I have a hell of a time with that as well as a long delay sometimess when I am typing. Very frustrating for someone that doesn't type very well any way.
You have a great evening as well.
Jim