scheduled lumbar laminectomy no fusion really scared to do it

I can’t say that my husband (83) has been suffering from the same things that you have but he has suffered from a combination of vascular and neurogenic claudication that has made walking and standing extremely difficult for years. In July he had L4-L5 laminectomy which has enabled him to walk short distances again. The pain is greatly relieved but he still has numbness in his feet which we were warned would take a long time (if ever) to improve since nerve healing is involved.
But he felt well enough to undertake a trip to Norway this Christmas .. our first travel anywhere in five years .. and so far so good! 😉
So perhaps this might reassure you a bit. Best wishes!

@hondaman
I had L3-L5 decompression and fusion with hardware in August 2024. I am 55 and female. I had similar pain, burning, numbness and weakness due to sciatica, severe spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease and neurogenic claudication. My surgery was open and very painful but I do not think your laminectomy without fusion/hardware won’t be as bad for you since it sounds like they are removing some lamina bone at the levels you listed to relieve some pressure on your spinal cord. You will have pain due to the incision and moving things around a bit to get to your vertebrae and cut away bone. Make sure to ask all of your questions in advance and make sure you have a realistic picture of recovery time and what to expect so you can fully prepare yourself and your home environment. They told me I couldn’t drive for a couple weeks but my body really wasn’t ready for a month or so and it took 3 months to fuse. They did not tell me that it really takes a full year to feel the full effects from surgery and postoperative healing. I am 4 months postoperative and still dealing with hip/hip flexor nerve pain/weakness and my spinal cord/cauda equine nerve bundle may take a while to fully heal from long term compression injury from severe stenosis.

Good luck to you in getting some pain relief.

At age 70 I woke one morning to debilitating pain in both legs/feet. An MRI resulted in a diagnosis of severe lumbar stenosis. Over the next year I tried steroid pills, spinal injections, physical therapy, and pain meds like Lyrica and Gabapentin. Both of the drugs caused issues for me and didn't really help the pain. After about a year I could hardly make it out to my mailbox each day and I chose to have a laminectomy after consulting with several different surgeons. I had the laminectomy, L5 to S1, in November 2022. The surgery was MUCH less painful than I imagined and I only spent one night in the hospital. The morning after surgery when the PT came to help me stand and walk a bit, I was astounded that all the pain was gone in my hips/legs/feet. I still have some residual numbness and tingling in my feet and I'm still working on improving my balance, but I am so glad that I had the laminectomy. It gave me back my ability to walk!! My wife and I spent two months in France last spring to celebrate our anniversary (she is French) and I managed the traveling and walking with little problem. I did have a cane to use whenever we went out in cities like Paris. I don't think I will ever return to 100% of what I was before the stenosis diagnosis, but I am 90% improved and mobile again. After 3 weeks I was able to drive again. Obviously, I have to be careful about lifting and bending, but the surgery (for ME) was a great relief! I wish you all the best! Mike

@hondaman My 80 year old cousin had this laminectomy surgery on his lumbar spine and it helped him a lot. It wasn't a bad recovery for him, he felt pretty good after 2 weeks. I think he was told no twisting or bending. He was walking after 1 week and off the pain meds. He does walk a lot for exercise, so I'm sure that it helped get him in shape for this surgery. Your results may be different.

I had it no problems. I like it better than my cervical fusion. Fusions have to be redone every 10-12 years.