@annie1 My surgery was very successful. I am very happy with my results. I had moderate spinal cord compression and severe foraminal stenosis. I had a lot of nerve pain mostly in my left leg but it was also getting started in my right leg by the time I had the surgery, I also had a lot of low back pain from the DDD and herniated discs. The final straw was in 2025 when I herniated L4-5 just standing up from sitting on the couch. Yes, I do have osteopenia and it has progressed to osteoporosis in my femoral heads. My surgeon felt that my spine was in good enough shape to hold all the hardware without a problem. I am in Michigan and my spine surgeon is Bradley Ahlgren, M.D., FAAOS. He did an excellent job on my lumbar spine and he is also going to do my cervical surgery (C3-C7) next spring. I am confident that I will have another excellent outcome. I asked every medical person I know about Dr. Ahlgren's reputation in this area and they all gave him an excellent recommendation. He operates at Troy Beaumont (Corewell) Hospital in Troy, MI . I had excellent care at this hospital. Are you sure you want to travel out of state for your surgery? The trip home might be somewhat uncomfortable because of the healing incision. Good luck finding a surgeon, I know it is hard.