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@pljauthor
Not having discs cushion your vertebrae and if any disc material compresses your spinal cord/nerves will not improve without surgery. Injections will be a temporary way to delay surgery (what I was doing) but injections do not work for everyone. I am a 55 year old female and single parent of a teen son. My quality of life was getting so bad that I didn’t want to delay surgery anymore. My neurologist suggested getting surgery while younger to not only improve quality of life but also make recovery easier. I am glad I did not delay surgery until I was older. The surgery was extremely painful and getting around the first week was extremely difficult but got a little better 2nd week. When I went for my post op appointment (yesterday 8/15/2024), I was told I am doing really well, incision healed well, and I am off narcotics (after 1st week). He said I was the best post op appointment he ever had because I am doing so well at 2 weeks post surgery! 🙂
See attached pictures of my L3-L5 decompression/fusion.
Replies to "@pljauthor Not having discs cushion your vertebrae and if any disc material compresses your spinal cord/nerves..."
This information was so helpful! Thank you!
@dlydailyhope I'm glad that you are doing so well since your very recent surgery! I hope you are getting enough rest for healing too. It sounds like you did your homework, found your best path to better spine health and made the right choice. I also went several years and saw 6 surgeons to get a correct diagnosis for my cervical issues. Shared patient experience is very valuable. Thank you for sharing your journey. I am a true believer that a patient has power in their recovery that comes from their knowledge of their condition and advocacy.
Jennifer
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@pljauthor
You may want to consider surgery sooner rather than later because not having discs to cushion and control movement of your vertebrae may make pain level higher. Spine injections are limited/temporary in pain relief and don’t work for everyone.
They used some of my own bone from decompression to use for fusion material between L3-L4 and L4-L5.