I have had 2 successful lumbar fusions. The first in 2005 and involved L5-S1. Removed bone spurs, widened the spinal column hole and fixed a herniated disc that had bulged into both the hole for the spinal cord and into nerves on the outside edge of the disc. They also had to rebuild the L5 vertebrae. Diagnosed with Degenerative Disc Disease. Went from a pain level of off the scale and only being able to walk extremely short distances before to being able to run and play with the children I looked after (Early Childhood Educator) without having any pain. Was warned that because of the DDD I may have to have more. I had no pain or back issues again until 2011. This time I couldn't even take one step without being in extreme pain. Just standing up hurt. I had to work the next 2 years in a wheelchair because of it while I waited for surgery. This time they fused L3-L5, rebuilt L3 almost completely using a cage and bone grafts, widened the hole going through L4 and rebuilt the outside section of that vertebrae, removed tons of bone spurs from all over that section and built a bridge between L4 and L5 to stabilize those two vertebrae and then added 2 more rods and screws to join L3-L5 to
what they previously had fused in 2005 when they had fused L5-S1 with rods and screws. I went from not being able to stand let alone walk to again being able to run and play with the children I looked after, hike with my girl guide unit with no pain. And I have been pretty much pain free since. I still get a few twinges in the lumbar spine occurring occasionally but they usually only last seconds when I move in a way that my back doesn't like (usually quick Jerky type movement). The 2 years before the fusion in 2013 were hell as all I could use for pain was OTC's(Mainly Tylenol. Had had an ulcer in the early 90's because of nsaids so I wasn't supposed to take Ibuprofen and couldn't use naproxen or Aleve as I reacted badly to them). They had discovered right after the first fusion in 2005 that I am allergic to Morphine and all of its direvitives (natural and man made versions) when they gave me my second dose and I reacted badly to it. Apparently I had had a problem coming up from the anesthesia but they weren't sure what exactly was causing the reaction. Well, they found out that it was the pain killer very quickly with the second dose when I projectile vomited across the room and then came very close to not being able to breathe at all. They spent the next couple of days trying a couple of other opioid and I reacted almost the same way to all of them except for a very low dose of Tramadol (200-300 MG) once a day, any higher and I had the same reaction as above. So the second fusion surgery in 2013 was done without the morphine type pain meds using the highest dose of Tramadol I could handle (300 MG once a day). This makes any general anesthetic problematic as Fentynol is usually used by most anesthesiologists in their general anesthetic mix. But even after that I am still glad I had the fusions done. I just have to keep an eye on the rest of my spine as the DDD is throughout my whole spine, but knock on wood I haven't had to many issues so far with my upper spine that would necessitate another fusion up there.