It was all very confusing when the foot drop happened. The pain was the worst part and it happened rather suddenly. The pain radiated from my back all the way to my ankle. Leg weakness made me drag one leg when I walked. The pain and leg weakness mostly stopped when I took a large dose of prednisone. I noticed that I had right foot drop after the pain stopped.

This is what happened after the acute onset of pain in 2016:
MRI results:
Indication: Radicular right leg pain with right foot drop, leg
weakness and loss of patellar reflex

Comparison: None

A level by level analysis is as follows:
T12-L1: There is no significant disc disease or stenosis.
L1-L2: Large posterior disc osteophyte complex and mild bilateral
facet hypertrophy causing moderate canal narrowing. Mild bilateral
neural foraminal narrowing.
L2-L3: There is no significant disc disease or stenosis. Mild
bilateral facet hypertrophy.
L3-L4: There is no significant disc disease or stenosis. Mild
bilateral facet hypertrophy.
L4-L5: Mild broad-based disc bulge and severe bilateral facet and
ligamentum flavum hypertrophy causing severe canal stenosis. Mild left
and severe right neuroforaminal narrowing.
L5-S1: There is no significant disc disease or stenosis.

RESULTS REVIEWED:
MRI reveals significant femoral stenosis at L4-5, with degenerative spondylolisthesis at that level.

ASSESSMENT:
Degenerative spondylolisthesis with severe foraminal stenosis. At this point, I discussed potential surgery, which would be decompression with fusion at L4-5. Discussed there would be no guarantee his nerve function would return; however, it would be more likely to return with surgery. In addition, I would like to obtain an EMG to help further characterize the amount of nerve damage present.

2 WEEKS LATER:
Staff Physician Comments
Return patient follows up for EMG results. He has right foot drop, which is consistent with some intrinsic neuropathy and peroneal nerve compression. He has known severe stenosis at L4-L5, with radiating right hip pain. I have indicated him for an L4-L5 decompression and fusion at some date in the future. The patient will continue nonoperative treatment and return to clinic when he feels like his symptoms are significant enough where he would like to proceed with surgical intervention.
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This all happened in 2016. I still don't think my symptoms are so significant that I want surgery. The foot drop didn't improve that much. The spinal stenosis got worse. Surgery is still pending. The surgeon said it isn't about the pain anymore and the foot drop won't get better.

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