Hello. On Friday 10/31 Halloween 🎃. I had the following.
PROCEDURES PERFORMED:
1. lumbar decompression including central canal and bilateral medial facetectomy at L4-L5.
2. Lumbar decompression including central canal and bilateral medial facetectomy at L5-S1
3. Microdissection

I copied the above directly from my surgeon notes. He was able to do this without doing a fusion. I am an ACTIVE 65 yo woman with a brand new grandson. Our first. Prior to surgery last week I was UNABLE to stand or walk for more than a minute without severe nerve pain in my left glute, thigh, calf, ankle, top of my foot and no feeling in my big toe. I couldn’t sleep at night due to the pain. My skin would become sensitive to the touch on my glute and especially on the top of my foot. My understanding is that the top of the foot is from nerve impingement of the nerve exiting at S1 and my foraminal stenosis was probably causing this and it usually involves a fusion to take care of. This came on quickly for me 4 months ago. It started with both glutes/legs and I couldn’t walk at all. Had to crawl to the bathroom. Prior to that I had been exercising (walking Or biking) every day. After a couple of weeks the right side improved tremendously but the left side continued to get worse. After my PT told me there was no more she could do for me (and she never says that) and a neurosurgeon friend in CA thought I needed surgery, I felt like I had explored all of my options and this was really effecting my husbands and my quality of life. So we reluctantly agreed to the surgery. I am now on day 5 post surgery and I just walked half way down my street, which I could NOT do last week! I know it is really too soon to tell. But I feel optimistic. I still have some numbness in my foot/toes. And the foot/calf area is still a bit painful at night BUT it is a 100 times better than it was. I hope that helps with what you are trying to decide what to do.