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What are people's experiences with spinal fusion surgery?

Posted by heatherm @heatherm, Oct 27, 2020

After trying pretty much everything, with little pain relief, my surgeon has put me on his priorty elective list for fusion of my L3/4/5, and maybe S1. I've heard both positive and negative experiences with this surgery. What are people's experiences, with this? ,

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mlbobcat | @mlbobcat | Jun 30 1:24pm
In reply to @dlydailyhope "@mlbobcat Most surgeons do not want to touch a spine if there are any issues with..." + (show)
@dlydailyhope

@mlbobcat
Most surgeons do not want to touch a spine if there are any issues with a surgery and post op healing. I think they are afraid of taking on legal risk. I have been holding off doing L3-S1 laminectomy and fusion because I am afraid of my pain being worse if something goes wrong. I have been getting spinal injections to help manage pain but they don’t work so well anymore. I will be trying PT again to try to strengthen muscle because I now have bilateral gluteal tendinopathy and bilateral hamstring partial tears. Not sure when and how this happened.

If you would like to copy/paste your recent MRIs (minus your personal information) for us to take a look to see what stands out, I am happy to review (I have a knack for reading MRIs in detail and have spotted things people may not be aware of such as fusions that did not heal but the surgeon to the person everything was “healed” and brushed off even though he was in worse condition than before the surgery. That may raise flags that you need to get an attorney involved, especially if you can’t get other surgeons to touch your case to “fix” anything.

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Hi, @dlydailyhope. I appreciate your offer to look at my imaging. I’m pretty desperate at this point and could use any input.

Are you interested in the written report or the images themselves? If it’s the images, I’m not sure how I’d share them, as they’re large digital files which I have on CDs. I have both CT and MRI scans.

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dlydailyhope | @dlydailyhope | Jun 30 3:25pm
In reply to @mlbobcat "Hi, @dlydailyhope. I appreciate your offer to look at my imaging. I’m pretty desperate at this..." + (show)
@mlbobcat

Hi, @dlydailyhope. I appreciate your offer to look at my imaging. I’m pretty desperate at this point and could use any input.

Are you interested in the written report or the images themselves? If it’s the images, I’m not sure how I’d share them, as they’re large digital files which I have on CDs. I have both CT and MRI scans.

Jump to this post

Hi, @mlbobcat

I also responded to your private message. Are you able to take a picture of your MRI and CT reports before and after surgery without including your personal details? If so, you can attach them to your response here or I can send you my number in private message to text them (if you have a smart phone).

Have you seen a neurologist to get EMGs? Have you seen any new orthopedic or neurosurgery specialists recently? Have you ever been sent to a pain specialist to help you manage pain?

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