@artscaping @nellie52starr @nanny23

That was a lovely introduction, Chris. I am a Mayo spine surgery patient. It took me a couple years of seeking help for my spine issues before I came to Mayo, and during that time, I read lots of medical information on spine surgery. I had a C5/C6 fusion for cervical stenosis.

Nellie, I would ask you if you have had any recent imaging of your lumbar spine and pelvis? That is the first step to find out what is wrong or if something has changed because you can sense something is different. I see that you had L4/L5 fusion and are getting steroid injections in the lumbar spine. Those injections carry risks and if done incorrectly, they can cause permanent problems. I had only one epidural injection done as a diagnostic procedure, but it caused me to have sharp burning nerve pain in my hand that lasted a few months. I think that I was having an inflammatory reaction to something in the injection or the pressure it caused because the fluid had nowhere to go. I had a compressed spinal cord prior to spine surgery. Are you seeing a spine specialist now or just a pain management doctor? Access to proper care can be more difficult when an injury is work related. You also mentioned a DVT, and when you are less mobile because of a spine problem and can't walk well, that puts you at higher risk of clots. My mom has had them repeatedly because she can hardly walk and she takes Eloquis for this.

Nanny, good for you for exercising! That is so important for the spine to maintain core strength to support the spine with good posture to prevent problems or try to keep them from getting worse. My spine surgeon said that was the best way to not need his help in the future. What helps me with this is riding my horse. I just trail ride and mostly walk which makes my back compensate for his walking motion. It's the same motion my pelvis would have if I was walking, but in bigger movements. I make sure to sit up straight with good posture, and the more I do this the better my back feels and the less effort I have. When you use good posture to stack your spine correctly, it takes so much less effort than slouching, and you put a lot less stress on your spine. Uneven stress can promote disc bulges if there is some weakness in the disc wall, and uneven pressure on the vertebrae can cause growth of bone spurs. Bones are very much affected by pressure. If a person also had something like osteoporosis, compression fractures can happen that cause a kink in the spine. That happened to my mom and she now has a permanent 43 degree curve at the level that happened in her lumbar spine.

You both may be interested in some articles at this website that cover in detail physical issues related to many conditions. This is the collection for the lower back and pelvis.
https://mskneurology.com/category/low-back-pelvis/
Nanny, have you had any second opinions about spine surgery? The recovery from lumbar surgery is harder because it bears most of your body weight, and surgery can make you better, but it can also make you worse. Not all surgeons are equally gifted. Often with lumbar surgery, there can be hardware placed, and sometimes rods to stabilize the spine held in by screws. The correct placement of the screws is important and has to have the correct angle, and depth, or screws can break or pull out from pressure. The surgeon has to assess the forces that will be applied to the spine because of the surgery and also the loss of normal motion because of the surgery. Bone quality is very important too as you may imagine. You have one chance to get it right, so make sure you get enough presurgical opinions to make an informed choice and hire the very best surgeon for the job. When you have spinal cord compression, surgery should be considered before permanent damage happens to the spinal cord. If the spinal cord remains compressed with increasing pressure from arthritic bone growth or bulging spine ligaments, the pressure can cause the nerve axons in the spinal cord to die resulting in loss of function to what it serves in the body below that level. You can also have stenosis or compression at the nerve roots that exit the spine between vertebrae.

Are you writing down a list of questions that you would like to ask your specialists?