Hello Catherine, my name is Howard, I am 54 years old. Been working construction since I was 16 years old. I recently had the same surgery T11 thru S1 fusion. I hope this finds that you are doing better. I am 3 weeks out of surgery and not doing well. But this is not my first surgery. Hoping it will be my last. I started this journey in 2017, with my first fusion, T5-S1. This one did miracles for me. Then in 2019 I had my second one. They added my T4 to the fusion. I was told at that time that I should think about slowing down and maybe changing career to something a little less physical. But because of my education, 9th grade, this was all but impossible. Fast forward a few years, June 2024, I had a workplace incident that hurt my back once again. It took 10 months to get surgery approved through workers comp. Finally, the time came. Now my Neurosurgeon is talking about SSD, at first, I found this absurd. Now I am believing what he is saying. Lifting, Twisting, and Bending is almost impossible. One of the hardest things is the isolation of it all. Yes, I am married, but she works and has a pretty busy life. Now that I am almost completely self-sufficient, she can go back to her other commitments. I do find it quite lonely, and depressing. I find it most depressing that I will not be able to go back to the only job I've ever known. Building houses has been the only thing I've ever done. Now I can no longer do it. What do I do now? I hope this note finds that you are doing better, and more active now. We are not alone, I have found the more I reach out, the more people I find have had the same issues as me, you, us. I am hoping to get back to somewhat of a normal life again. Or as noemal as it can be with 19 inches of rods in my back. Keep positive thoughts.