@dreams999 Welcome to Connect. I saw on your profile that you can hardly walk. Do you know why? Is this a spine condition? It is impossible for anyone to guess about your future, but a spine specialist would be the best one to ask these questions. I know a spinal fusion is a scary thing, but if I needed it, I would do it again in a heartbeat. My issue was spinal cord compression in my neck and I was loosing the ability to control my arms. Didn't you say you are an artist? I am too, and the thought of loosing that ability that I trained all my life for was a lot scarier than spine surgery. Cervical surgery is a much easier recovery than lumbar surgery. Given enough time, sometimes a spine with disks collapsing starts to fuse itself, and that likely is not good. There is also a lot of disability that can come from a spine problem, and an offer of surgery can address structural problems and stop the progression.

I did not think cervical spine surgery was bad. It was exhausting, and I accepted the pain caused by the surgical path and incision as healing pain, but the neurological pain I had because of the spine condition was completely gone when I woke up. I chose not to take pain medication and found I could manage just fine. I just gave myself a lot of time to heal and I slept a lot.

Do you know the specifics of your spine condition? Have you had several specialist opinions?