Hi. I am a 62-year-old male living on Long Island, NY. I have currently been having in pain in my lower lumbar, groin & hips for months and it has escalated to the point I can hardly walk my dog. Had an X ray taken and sent to my doc. He said my Sacroiliac (SI) Joints are no good. I had 3 ESI’s & then RFA, none of which worked at all. Followed by another series of 3 more ESI’s. These did not help at all. My surgeon called me in for a chat to discuss surgery. I have finally scheduled Bilateral SI Joint Fusion using the Posterior Midline Approach. This is an open surgery, evidently this is a seldom used surgery as Minimally Invasive Surgery is the procedure of choice. If anyone has had SI Joint surgery, please let me know about the surgery, postop, rehab & if it helped.
My History - I suffered a fracture & spondylolisthesis @ L5/S1 in a trauma in 1998 & had fusion in 1999. After the surgery the pain never went away & at times was worse. I started pain management in 2001. They gave me different meds that didn't work until I was on the maximum dose of both Oxycontin & Oxycodone. When that wasn't helping, they added Fentanyl patches until I was maxed out on that. Lived like that until 2008. In 2006 I had a spinal cord stimulator (SCS) implanted. I lived this way until 2008 when my family decided I couldn't live like this anymore. Went to The Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in June 2008. They did an exploratory. They discovered that the fusion failed, even though numerous surgeons told me all was fine. My exploratory turned into a 6-hour PLIF. Ten days later I had ALIF. They also removed the SCS. It was discovered that I suffer from a severe case of osteoporosis (-3.2). Rehab was tough. Felt better but not great. Was still on all the meds. I retired from my job on disability as I could no longer work. In April 2011, I started having severe pain. Back to HSS. An MRI was done and the diagnosis was a fracture @ L4/L5. Back in the OR & another fusion. In November 2011, the pain was worse. It was discovered that the fusion failed so I had a revision. Fifteen days later I experienced the worst pain so far. It was a cyst @ L4/L5. Emergency surgery. In January 2013, it was discovered the fusion @ L4/L5 failed again. Another revision. Did relatively well but still lots of pain until November 2014 when L3/L4 went. Had a good 2015 but in February 2016 L1/L2/L3 went. They fused T12 to L3. In December 2016, guess what, L1/L2 failed and another revision. Moving on to September 2018 when C3 to C7 went. Had 4 level Anterior Cervical Discectomy (ACDF). In addition, I have had 2 heart attacks and a mini stroke which is why I need to be able to walk every day. I have a Service Dog, Bentley, to help pick up the numerous things I drop (due to cervical fractures I have neuropathy), retrieve things and the best part, he keeps me smiling.
Thanks. 😊
PS – I got off all of meds at the end 2017 when I fell & broke my nose.