I have had probably a dozen or more. They bought me about 3 years but now they only work for about 2-3 weeks so they won’t do them anymore. I have had 3 so far this year.
I have had probably a dozen or more. They bought me about 3 years but now they only work for about 2-3 weeks so they won’t do them anymore. I have had 3 so far this year.
DH had L4-L5 fused. It instantly made him feel much better. He was inpatient for 2 nights. Walking around the ward first thing the next morning. Able to do stairs by the time of discharge. He needed a lot less narcotics immediately after the surgery compared to prior. He had it done about 5 years ago. No residual issues.
His symptoms before the surgery was a massive Charlie horse in his thigh, hip pain and it felt like somebody was gripping his ankle. First thing he noticed after surgery was that the thigh pain was gone.
He used a walker for about 1 week after surgery. We kept the one the hospital gave us downstairs and we rented one for upstairs this way we didn’t have to bring it up/down each time. That also meant I didn’t have to be home if he wanted to go up/down stairs since he would not have been able to get the walker up/down the stairs easily.
TMI alert- he had a catheter the first night and was happy to have it. The first night and the next morning he needed help from another person to get out of bed. It was nice to not have to worry about that in the middle of the night. They put the catheter in while he was in OR so he was knocked out. Just something to consider. Nobody likes catheters but sometimes they are convenient.
That’s good to hear Sonny’sMom. So far everything everyone else has been doom and gloom which sucks. My pain is all in my butt and hip and when it’s really bad goes down to my foot. Further TMI, I always have a Foley for 24 hours after any surgeries as my bladder is very slow to wake up for some reason. Thanks for sharing
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Just bumping this up to add an update of sorts. Am feeling self conscious as I recover from skin cancer surgery on the tip of my nose. As if having a chunk of my nose missing wasn’t bad enough I had a reaction to the adhesive and my nose and cheeks got a bright red blistery rash. Have a family reunion for my husband’s family on Saturday. Boy am I looking forward to seeing them all looking like this. Not!
Anyway I thought I would share something funny/ridiculous from my insurance company. You know the one who has paid for almost a dozen pain doctor appointments for injections and medications over the past 18 months. And over six months of PT twice a week. And acupuncture twice a week for a year. And chiropractor for my entire adult life pretty much etc. Sent us a letter saying my surgery is not approved because we hadn’t documented non surgical attempts to relieve the pain and correct the problem! Uh look at your payouts! So we had to get all the different offices to send in all the things they did before they would approve it.
Insurance can, indeed, be a piece of work at times :rolleyes:
Glad you got that sorted out. Prior to my surgery someone suggested I double check to make sure my insurance had no lifetime cap (it didn’t have one but I guess some healthcare companies do). Glad I knew that as, at one point about a month after surgery, I got a bill from the hospital, obviously sent “automagically” in the middle of the provider/insurance dance as prices and payments were finger wrestled into submission and I about had heart failure at the total amount due. :eek:
Thankfully when all was said and done, only one service wasn’t covered (which I was warned about) and the provider reduced the charges after going three rounds with insurance. I was happy to pay.
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I am home from the hospital. Surgery was a lot more extensive than we thought it would be. I had a laminectomy from L3 to S1. Disc decompression at all those levels and 2 fusions. The pain is ridiculous but hopefully will be worth it. Pretty cool how they explained what th decided to do. Basically they send electrical signals down to your foot and keep freeing stuff up until the signal is clear.
I didn’t get out of bed until Friday morning so 2 days after the surgery and even then it was basically just to go to the bathroom. I really love my bed, it made a huge difference in how I slept last night. My first shower today was great. Just one day after another I guess.
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Sending hugs, and jingles, and hope this all leaves you pain free, and you’re back to 100% quickly.
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@Laurierace forgot to send you my thoughts before surgery.
Sorry it was more extensive than you’d first thought but also sounds good that more was done to address your problems.
Pain should lessen over time… will be thinking good thoughts for you in that direction.
Keep us posted on recovery. Will you be doing any PT as part of recovery? If so, have they told you when it would start?
Jingles for speedy healing and great pain meds! I’m happy for you that the surgery is over, and I hope that each day is better than the previous day!
PT started at the hospital, they are coming to my house tomorrow. I am still pretty miserable but definitely better. Just can’t get comfortable anywhere.
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I hope you feel better and have a good recovery, Laurie!
@Laurierace 
on the pain. But glad that it sounds like the pain is better… are the meds working?
Do they have you in any kind of brace?
Major improvements today, I got booted out of PT because I walked for 2 hours. I couldn’t have done that last week. Yes, I have a brace for 6 weeks.
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Chill out miss Eager Beaver! There’s a fine line between staying active and doing too much 
Glad you’re already seeing improvement!
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I am trying! I was pretty distraught by how much pain I was in the first few days so this is a mental relief as well as a physical one when I started to turn the corner.
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I bet! I can sort of relate with how big the difference was between when I still had all the staples and sutures in after my hysterectomy vs after they came out. As soon as they were out I could move so much better and the pain was vastly reduced. So, naturally, I went to the barn for a few hours. And then didn’t get out of bed for 2 days. Haha!
I imagine your back is that, but ten times worse at least. Even more with how active and stubborn you tend to be normally
I’m so glad you’re improving though!
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