Doc recommends spinal fusion from T12 - S1.

Wow.... I meet with my 2nd opinion next week. As a few have pointed out, eventually, my scoliosis could affect heart, but I am not at the severe category, now. Keep us posted and I hope the pain continues to fade away! Any reprieve is welcomed!!

Wow, tough decisions!! I'm 76 yo male and had L4/L5 fusion last year. Surgeon damaged my L5 nerve root with the L5 pedicle screw. Don't know if I'll ever be able to walk unassisted again. My only advice, plan for the worst, hope for the best..

Again, that is a huge surgery with a long recovery. You know that from having a previous fusion of just one level. Try the suggestions of the second doctor and seek out a third opinion for your comfort level. Also perhaps go back to or try PT to strengthen core muscles. Surgery is always a last resort and a good neuro or Ortho spine surgeon won’t push that on you if not necessary. Having had just one fusion myself I cannot imagine having the whole lumbar column fused.

This is the very problem with this area of medicine, there is often no universally accepted or agreed on treatment method, there is always debate over when to go for surgery and what the surgery should be. It is highly imprecise because it is an unsophisticated area of medicine, they have very little in the way of new procedures or minimally invasive ones that are proven and everybody has a different physical situation so there is little consistency in what works for one or the other. It seems like a crapshoot and so many just do the most conservative route for as long as possible (although that may not have been the best solution either since a situation may degenerate).

How did you find out the doctor damaged your L5 nerve root with the L5 pedicle screw. My husband had a back surgery that didn't go well he was still in severe pain. He had it reoperated by another doctor who fused more levels and now he cannot walk without the use of a crutch and not more than maybe 100-150 ft. The doctor that did the last surgery recommended he fuse the ENTIRE back which my husband won't do as he said each surgery left him worse than the last. I'm wondering if he could have something like you did with a screw that hit a nerve. How did you find out?

@solom174 Please understand that my response is general in nature meant for everyone who reads this thread. In the US, spine surgery devices must be approved for use in patients by the FDA and there are hundreds of studies listed at clinicaltrials.gov. Approval comes after a period of testing with clinical trials. There are many companies manufacturing various devices for spine and other surgeries and research going on all the time on how to improve outcomes and design new components. This gives surgeons many choices in what to use in their surgeries. Often there are different surgical procedures to solve a problem, and the surgeon decides what is best for that patient in their opinion. That answer often is different when you get several opinions from other surgeons. That may be a bit confusing for patients, and it is worth asking about what other choices would apply to their situation as well as the compromises or risks associated with them. All patients are different, and any other health conditions they have come into play in making a decision to go forward with spine surgery. The issues with the spine are complex and there is little capacity for the spinal cord or for spinal discs to heal once they are damaged. Surgery seeks to minimize further damage or functional loss and stabilize the remaining functional ability. Surgery is about choices and compromises. Sometimes these are hard choices. The best situation is not needing surgery. The second best is to balance the benefit of surgery against the consequences or possible negative outcomes of surgery and hopefully the benefit is greater than the outcome would be without surgery. All of that has statistics recorded in studies that surgeons consider when assessing the risk to a particular patient. Surgeons are not trained in every possible implant device that exists. Medicine is always evolving. There may be choices made by the medical center in what is offered as these devices are ordered in advance and held in inventory until needed for surgery and emergency surgery.

I did not state there is no testing of devices for surgery so I do not see why you are stating the obvious. By the way it is not only in the US that such testing occurs it is in Canada too which has its own health agency independent of the FDA. Sometimes the FDA approves something that Health Canada does not. Regardless of this and everything else in the post, this response does not appreciate the point made of the challenge that this area of medicine poses for people who are trying to figure out what is going on for their own health - there is not clarity that is needed for patients and they are left struggling without accountability.

I had some of my lumbar spine fused and decompressed in 2011.
I just had the rest of my lumbar spine decompressed where applicable and fused the remainder of it including S1. So my L spine is fused L1-S1. My neck is partially surgically fused (2011) and now imaging shows the rest has “autofused” itself! 😳 So my body beat the surgeon to it…
I have chronic neck pain. My back feels great. 🤞

Yes, I am now realizing how this full lumbar fusion will restrict my life, with no guarantees of no pain but possibly different pain. I am in the waiting room of my 2nd surgeon and have a third scheduled for end of January. I have done a slew of tests and several rounds of PT over the past few years.

For me the question will be do I change my life to accommodate for pain while standing and walking. Simple daily activities are painful or do I adapt my life post surgery and hope to be pain free.

May I ask how does the fusion you have restrict your life. Do you still have pain? I understand the numbness may not leave.

Thanks
T

Has anyone tried medical marijuana for pain? Massage or nerve flossing.