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Spondylolisthesis: Spinal Fusion at L-4-L5
Spine Health | Last Active: Jul 18 7:36am | Replies (29)Comment receiving replies
@upstatephil,
Thank you for your reply. Just to clarify, post surgery your bladder/bowel issues, and most of tingling sensations are repaired/corrected? What about other abdominal discomfort, did you experience that too?
Your surgeon opted for plate vs fusion with grafts? Did you have spondy through the lumbar spine that had surgery?
As I indicated, I have retrolisthesis L1 through S1 other than the MRI readout says spondy L4/5 which the surgeon says is level 1. She wasn't concerned about the retrolisthesis in the lumbar only the spondy at L4/5 being unstable. But I'm not convinced about that. And the other surgeon said fusion at L4/5 wouldn't help and could make the other areas unstable, at least above and below the fused area.
My wife has gone with me to the visits, and we ask all of the questions we can, but still go away with uncertainty and sometimes more questions. Then the other difficulty is getting in to a follow up visit or to see another Dr. for another opinion in a timely manner.
I have some tingling, but not the extent you talk about. But the area at L4/5, I'm assuming, is getting more painful. I'm doing the exercises suggested for spondy in the lower lumbar and it's not helping much. Ice, heat, Tylenol only do so much. I go for short walks and eliptical machine, and can tolerate that. Seems like my symptoms are progressing, and I'll be making a surgical decision in the future, but what extent to do is my most difficult decision and I need the Dr. input for that, and repeat imaging.
Thanks again.
Replies to "@upstatephil, Thank you for your reply. Just to clarify, post surgery your bladder/bowel issues, and most..."
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@kremer1 - Good morning. Let me have at your questions.
Yes - all presurgery bowel, bladder issues plus other sensations are 100% gone. As said, I still have some residual (but improving) tingling in my right thigh. I don't recall any other abdominal discomforts pre-surgery.
Yes, I had spondy in the lumbar region with stenosis throughout my spine. After much discussion, the surgeon and I decided on a three-part process: Cervical ACDF followed three months later by a two-part lumbar surgery using new titanium disks and titanium plates to properly secure the repaired spinal sections. We considered a "bigger" lumbar surgery from T10 - S1 but I felt that was too much for me to tolerate. We elected to do L2-5 and I'm rolling the dice on the surrounding spinal areas that show significant degeneration but were not surgically addressed.
There was never a discussion of titanium implants vs grafts. At some point, once I spent enough time with the surgeon gauging both his overall approach and strategy suggestions - I chose to just trust him and accept his surgical recommendations. I think my current condition suggests that was an acceptable strategy on my part.
I understand your dilemma. All spinal patients are faced with a very difficult decision! I saw that fork in the road as a personal risk management decision. What's riskier? Deferring surgery where I might delay to the point of developing permanent and irreversible nerve damage? Or actually having the surgery where there can be no certainty of outcome? You can ask a million questions yet still lack the perfect answer. At some point, you just have to chose and move forward.
You describe "some tingling" and you seem still quite active on exercise equipment. Those are all good signs that your issues are being managed successfully for now.