Hello - this post was regarding our mother and what recovery will look like. Her surgery is a week from Wednesday (August 23).

To expand a bit (and I am finding context is everything): I am 76 and formerly very active with walking up hills, 3-4 times per week Pilates classes, foam rolling/stretching every night. I had 3 bouts of radiculopathy of one or both legs over the past 2 years; each worse and more persistent. MRI showed scoliosis, degeneration of L4 and L5, hypertrophied ligament um flavin at that level, and essentially no normal disc. Spinal cord and nerve roots are citing that level showed no space at all. Severe arthritis of facet joints. All explained why I could only walk while flexing my lumbar spine (the shopping cart gait). For the first six months of this year I went from walking pretty well and doing a half hour daily of rehab exercises (after a steroid injection) to my shopping cart gait to a point in June where I had no “safety” position to get some pain relief. The right leg pain was extensive and breath taking in severity. I went back to my physiatrist to check on a possible second shot. He suggested exploring options with a surgeon which I promptly did. My husband and I spent 90 minutes with the Spine Center’s surgical team and, later, almost 5 hours pre-op with nurses, pAs and surgical fellow who would be doing the fusion with bone graft. Surgery was July 18. July 19 I was out of bed and walking with only a lower backache. No leg pain!! July 20 I had CT, Xrays, and passed the stair climbing test. Went home at noon and went slowly and carefully up 2 flights of stairs to our guest room. I had my 3 week follow-up Aug 11. Pain score zero, only Tylenol at night since day 10 (I used oxycodone freely at night before that to assure sleep). My docs do not prescribe rehab except for walking ( they want 30 minutes a day by week 3). Why have I been so fortunate in having such a fast recovery? 1) I was a highly selected patient for the procedure having only radiculopathy and little or no back pain. 2) 6 years of Pilates and an active lifestyle before that have given me very good hip flexibility and body awareness so that I could /can lift my feet to my waist to dress and bend from the hip (to get out of bed or chair). 3). I was on a large dose of Gabapentin (tapering off now) and pain meds work for me (I guess they don’t for everyone). 4) I had a total shoulder replacement on Nov 2021. My surgeon and his PA both said “if you made it through that, this surgery has a far less painful recovery and you will find it easier.” So my expectations were maybe in a good place. Here are some things I sort of expected but was not fully prepared for: 1) the fatigue level. I complained Friday at my follow up and they explained this is major surgery and it is normal. Don’t fight it but expect it will end. 2) the prolonged anorexia and flu-like feeling. I didn’t enjoy any meal until the 3 week mark. 3) How thirsty I would be; 4) the anxiety especially the first week due, in part, to the following 5) nerve impulses down both legs for several days, 6) how stiff and sore the front of my body was for over a week. This was due to going from weeks of bent over posture to being flattened prone for more than 5 hours of surgery and surgical prep (placing electrodes all over me and positioning CT scanner). I felt like I had been running hurdles! Heat helped. The surgical team executed a ballet of finely tuned maneuvers. I attribute my low pain to their skill and attention to detail. Sometime between 3 months and six months I will be cleared for any reasonable activity I wish. I enjoyed the 30-minute core strengthening regimen I followed after my injection and will slowly return to parts of that, then all of it as my graft fills in. Of interest, my surgeons do not recommend physical therapy for me. I guess they concur with my plan. This forum was very helpful to me and I hope some of my hacks for post-op life will be helpful to others. My final recommendation is to do everything to avoid falling. Knowing and respecting limitations are key. I am pretty mobile again but still take hold of handrails and pay attention to where I place my feet. I will never again take for granted the blessing and freedom of pain-free walking.