← Return to Lumbar Spinal Fusion, Post-Op. Should I have these symptoms?

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@heisenberg34

I had fusion of L5-S1 back in 2017. I was told by orthopedic surgeon that my occasional bad days were likely the result of spondylithesis. Fusion would put the vertebrae back in alignment, taking pressure off the affected nerves. I had gotten my pain under decent control with meds after a bad ski fall the year before. I guess I got greedy. But, I was fairly new to the pain game. After all, ortho docs should know best, right? Well, I went ahead with surgery. Took about a month to get out of pain from the surgery. Did a lot of walking. The fusion did nothing to help with those occasional bad days. Before you enter the realm of fusion, Please get a second, even third opinion.

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Replies to "I had fusion of L5-S1 back in 2017. I was told by orthopedic surgeon that my..."

I got four opinions and found my prints and went through lumbar surgery, laminectomy, fusion, and everything else that was thrown in plus had a pulmonary embolism, which kept me in the hospital for two weeks! I wouldn’t take a second of it back. My recovery was grueling and I will say that postoperative pain and swelling can cause problems for the first six or seven weeks. I have had six invasive joint replacement surgeries and it’s all the same for me. I am a slow healer and it definitely takes me a couple months and I can get really depressed right at the end, but then things turn around. I want to encourage you to talk to your doctor and the triage nurse that helps the surgeon and to get into mental health therapy and take advantage of everything that’s available to you. I just had a double cervical spine surgery a year and a half ago and I am still healing from that. And on I go by the grace of God. I am a little concerned to hear about your foot drop after the surgery but if you had that before the surgery and your nerves were crushed to the point where you got the foot drop. Somebody waited too long to give you the surgery, which would’ve fixed that. I am six years out from my lumbar spine surgery and I’m still healing from that. You will need to take an active role in your therapy and healing. Take the medication so you can do the exercise exercises. Make sure to bug your surgeon and your surgeon’s office to get what you need. Squeaky wheel gets the oil good luck.