@gbeb - First of all, 16 days post surgery is a pretty short time to draw too many conclusions. The great news is the pain related to your stenosis is mostly mitigated. Congratulations!

I had a four-level lumbar procedure a year ago and a few weeks later I started to experience significant pain in both thighs. Plus I was on hyper-alert for any new pains or post-surgical changes (for the worse) in my body. I asked my neurosurgeon about the thigh pain. That pain was very uncomfortable often waking me at night. He explained that when he "fixed" my stenosis and spondy in the lumbar region, the nerves there began to fire normally after many years of suppressed activity (suppressed by the stenosis, etc). He described it would take a while (with a not very predictable time frame) for those nerves to fully re-awaken. He was right. I am 12 months post now, and the thigh pain has continued to decline but is still lingering. I no longer wake up at night from that.

There are nerve drugs to help manage through that pain if that is what you're experiencing. I stayed away from those and managed with NSAIDs.

Have you talked to your neurosurgeon? And remember - I think 16 days is way too short to draw many permanent conclusions.