@vicscats
I like your name! How many cats do you have? I am a foster and have 8 cats of my own and fostering a mother and her 3 kittens (8 days old) now.

At 54, I also have balance issues and cramping/stiffness in my hips and left calf in addition to pain, weakness, numbness in my lower back, hips, arms/legs, and hands/feet. My ACDF surgery on C5C6 in 2022 helped relieve some symptoms (bladder control, not feeling like walking with cement boots on, dropping things I would pick up, etc.) but my L2-S1 is causing me all sorts of problems. The injections help with pain but I am concerned about getting too many injections and long term impact on joints/cartilage. I am also afraid of getting surgery because I would need fusion to stabilize my lumbar spine which would restrict movement. Like Joe, I should work really hard to recover some core strength to help support my spine better. I just need to work through the pain, fatigue and depression which is a daily battle. It is hard for me to sit, stand, walk for long and hard to get up from bed, seated position or going up/down stairs. My knees are also “joining the pain party,” lucky me! 🙂

When was the last time you had MRIs of your cervical and lumbar spine? Do you know if your cervical spine is stable and not flattening or compressing/injuring your spinal cord? What does your lumbar spine show? Do you have new pressure on lumbar spine/S1 peripheral nerves since your surgery?

@vicscats Hello and welcome to Connect. I am a cervical surgical patient for stenosis. We’ve also got a lot of discussions in the Spine Group you may be interested in. I like your name and I’ve 3 cats of my own bouncing around over here.

Have you followed up with your doctor about your current symptoms? Has stenosis become worse since your spine surgeries?