What are people's experiences with spinal fusion surgery?

@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.

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.

I had lumbar spinal fusion L4-L5-S1. It’s been 11 months and I’m back on disability and in the same pain I had before the surgery. I don’t know what to do. It feels like my life is over.

My TLIF -a minimally invasive is still a MAJOR surgery such that I would get a few opinions from another neurosurgeon. IF you go for it, I wouldn't plan on a 3 week break from work, unless you can sit and not move..with very limited walking. Also, if confirmed by another neurodoc it IS smart to seriously consider doing this surgery while your relatively young. Take it from a 3X spine surgical loser, (MRSA complicated) skier, kayaker, runner, now at 81 with post op pain..hoping MRSA is not back but something else...so I can get back on the slopes!

@heatherm My direct experience with spinal fusion surgery is for a fusion at C5/C6. That is an easier recovery than lumbar spine surgery because the lower end of the spine is bearing most of your body weight. It took 3 months for my bone graft to begin fusing and during that time I wore a neck brace all the time. After that, I weaned out of the brace and began physical therapy rehab. After 3 months of non use, muscles get very weak. You do need an expert surgeon with a lot of experience with the type of surgery that you need. After spine surgery, patients need to avoid twisting and bending. This is critical for lumbar surgery. If you have rods and screws placed on the spine, the angle and placement of the screws is critical to the success or failure of the hardware. The screws can pull out if placed at the wrong angles. I don't say that to worry you, but these are questions to ask your surgeon to see if you get a confident informed answer. It is best to get several opinions before you decide on surgery because it is a big decision. Learn everything you can about the procedure. Most surgeons do not promise that spine surgery will relieve pain. My surgeon didn't promise me that, and I don't think they can give you a guarantee. That is why you should get multiple opinions. Successful surgery can leave lasting pain. Physical therapy with myofascial release work to release the surgical scar tissue can help relieve some pain. I did have a lot of pain from spinal cord compression that was all over my body, and my spine surgery relieved all that pain. After surgery, you are left with the pain of the trauma from the surgical path and the healing required.

What surgery does is decompress something. For example if a disc collapses, the vertebrae get closer together and the space between them where the nerve roots exit (foramen) may get compressed if there is already arthritis there. If there is instability, vertebrae can also shift forward of back and increase pressure on the nerve roots or spinal cord. The body tries to stabilize the spine by remodeling the bone and growing bone spurs which causes a lot of nerve or spinal cord compression. I do know a patient who had lumbar spine surgery who has a lot of pain that she lives with. Find the best surgeon that you can. I tried to have my surgery locally, and came to Mayo after 5 surgeons turned me down because my case was unusual. I was very impressed with my care at Mayo and I had a great recovery. It will be a long recovery after a big spine surgery, and you will need a family member as a caregiver and to help with meals and chores. You can also find a good physical therapist who rehabs spine surgery patients and ask what the recovery is like and what kinds of difficulties arise. Make the decision in terms of regaining function or preventing further degeneration. Fusing the lumbar spine will change the body permanently and you will be stiff and move differently. Surgeons really can't guarantee to take away pain, and if they are saying that to you, please get several more opinions. The surgery can improve pain by correcting the source of it, but it is easy to mistake where the pain is coming from because there can be overlapping symptoms for different problems that cause the same pains. Sciatic pain can be caused by a pelvis out of alignment or overly tight hip flexors muscles that pull on the lumbar spine which are not spine problems, but mimic the symptoms of spine nerve root compression. A patient can have these and also a spine problem at the same time, and they all contribute something to the overall pain. These are things that a neurologist tries to separate, and this should be figured out and understood before going through spine surgery to avoid guessing about the outcome. The MRI imaging should be able to be connected to the source of the pain if it is a structural problem in the spine, and the surgeon needs to be able to explain why it causes pain in your specific case, and how their surgery can address it. Myofascial release therapy helped me have an easier surgery because my tissues were easier to move during surgery, and it helped take away pain after I was recovered enough to start PT.

Here are some links that may be of interest.
https://mskneurology.com/identify-treat-lumbar-plexus-compression-syndrome-lpcs/
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/myofascial-release-therapy-mfr-for-treating-compression-and-pain/

What a thorough post.
Thank you for being thoughtful enough to tic a lot of boxes.

My experience is also Cervical fusion 3-4 through 6-7.
Apparently I had a degenerative disc condition, and in my youth played every contact sport I could. In full disclosure, played one final season of hockey after recovering from a 3 level Cervical fusion. Wasn't the same for sure, but I also allowed a few years to really let the fusion set and kept up with my PT and stretches daily.
Ultimately, the recovery time wasn't worth it (plus the cold nature of the playing surface and locker rooms aggravated the hardware, I believe. Rain and cold seem to bring on the discomfort), but was pretty happy with the fusions until about the 15 year mark.
Then started having ever increasing pain.
4th cervical level got fused (Dr. said fusing something meant to flex put undue stress on the vertebrae next to it), and almost literally a year to the day, was rear ended at a stop light.
Fast forward to '24 and thoracic spine is driving me nuts.
Thinking it's the degenerative disc issue, I see the surgeon again.
The look on his face when he walked in made me expect a Cancer diagnosis.
He said I had an advanced case of DISH syndrome, which is the calcification of soft tissue in the spine and where the ribcage and spine connect.
He also says Ankylosing Spondylitis, a cheery condition where my spine produces spurs that bite and pinch into nerves when I turn or move wrong.
When I ask what we do, he informs me they are autoimmune conditions with no cure and trying to keep range of motion for as long as I can is all I can hope for.

Oh neglected to mention I was 30 at my first fusions and told I had the spine of a 50 -60 year old.

I'm 53 now. Even if thoracic surgery for my spine became necessary, my Dr. says it's so traumatic a recovery, I might be better sticking with the Devil I know.

Bad as it is though, I hear so many bad things about lumbar operations I'm glad I haven't had that come up yet.

I would say research the Dr. extensively. Be realistic about what you expect to get from the surgery, and keep in mind your commitment to your rehab therapy after it's first prescribed is important.

I still stretch my neck 30-45 minutes daily, and am trying to do the same for the rest of my torso as the thoracic is giving me fits.

The technologies are supposed to be a lot better, but nothing is 100%, and slacking in therapy after is only going to affect YOU.

Best of luck out there spine sufferers.

Not everyone gets that every day can feel like an epic campaign. But there are those out there who understand. You are not alone.

What a thorough post.
Thank you for being thoughtful enough to tic a lot of boxes.

My experience is also Cervical fusion 3-4 through 6-7.
Apparently I had a degenerative disc condition, and in my youth played every contact sport I could. In full disclosure, played one final season of hockey after recovering from a 3 level Cervical fusion. Wasn't the same for sure, but I also allowed a few years to really let the fusion set and kept up with my PT and stretches daily.
Ultimately, the recovery time wasn't worth it (plus the cold nature of the playing surface and locker rooms aggravated the hardware, I believe. Rain and cold seem to bring on the discomfort), but was pretty happy with the fusions until about the 15 year mark.
Then started having ever increasing pain.
4th cervical level got fused (Dr. said fusing something meant to flex put undue stress on the vertebrae next to it), and almost literally a year to the day, was rear ended at a stop light.
Fast forward to '24 and thoracic spine is driving me nuts.
Thinking it's the degenerative disc issue, I see the surgeon again.
The look on his face when he walked in made me expect a Cancer diagnosis.
He said I had an advanced case of DISH syndrome, which is the calcification of soft tissue in the spine and where the ribcage and spine connect.
He also says Ankylosing Spondylitis, a cheery condition where my spine produces spurs that bite and pinch into nerves when I turn or move wrong.
When I ask what we do, he informs me they are autoimmune conditions with no cure and trying to keep range of motion for as long as I can is all I can hope for.

Oh neglected to mention I was 30 at my first fusions and told I had the spine of a 50 -60 year old.

I'm 53 now. Even if thoracic surgery for my spine became necessary, my Dr. says it's so traumatic a recovery, I might be better sticking with the Devil I know.

Bad as it is though, I hear so many bad things about lumbar operations I'm glad I haven't had that come up yet.

I would say research the Dr. extensively. Be realistic about what you expect to get from the surgery, and keep in mind your commitment to your rehab therapy after it's first prescribed is important.

I still stretch my neck 30-45 minutes daily, and am trying to do the same for the rest of my torso as the thoracic is giving me fits.

The technologies are supposed to be a lot better, but nothing is 100%, and slacking in therapy after is only going to affect YOU.

Best of luck out there spine sufferers.

Not everyone gets that every day can feel like an epic campaign. But there are those out there who understand. You are not alone.