Hello vraesolo68,
I’m assuming your initial spine surgery in Oct ‘23 was a microdiscectomy/laminectomy. When that didn’t release enough pressure on the nerve your surgeon moved on to a fusion in Feb ‘24? Those steps seem totally appropriate although I’m sure you wish the fusion had come sooner. I had a very similar experience with l5/s1 in Feb ‘15 and Oct ‘15. Post fusion surgery the medication that was most helpful to me was gabapentin (in addition to muscle relaxers). I know there are mixed opinions about gabapentin but my experience with it has been favorable. Another friend has had success with using GABA. You may want to talk with your pain doc about those options. I have had many injections with limited success. In 2017, I herniated the disc above, so L4/L5, and started with the smaller surgery in Nov followed by a fusion in Feb ‘18. In the meantime I had a great PT who did a lot of manual work on me in addition to exercises. Do you have a good PT? If not I’d keep searching for a one.
My X-rays and mri’s showed that the bones had properly fused, so I chose to have my ortho doctor surgically remove the hardware. I first did a series of injections with my pain doc to indicate if the hardware was causing lingering pain.
All that time, I had heard about spinal cord stimulators but I wanted to try everything else first. The sciatic pain persisted enough that I had a spinal cord stimulator test with pain doc followed by surgical placement of a Boston Scientific one by ortho doctor. You will see many threads debating SCS’s but it has been so helpful to me. I am faithful about seeing my physical therapist and doing the stretches and exercises she gives me. I find exercising in the pool is best for my body.
Hope any of my experience is helpful. Best of health to you!