Minimally invasive tlif

Tossing and turning in your sleep might be an indication that your are in pain or at least uncomfortable and that may change significantly after your procedure. During your recovery, you will become keenly aware of not twisting and bending, even while sleeping. For several months there will be daily reminders that you’ve had surgery. I don’t mean pain, rather you will just know something is different as you heal. It becomes such a habit not to bend or twist that after I was released to move again, it was a bit difficult to give myself permission to move. Your surgeon will also remind you that the appliance is firmly held in place to protect against an occasional twist or bend in case you forget.
You will do well with recovery. I am 8 years out since my minimally invasive tilf and no regrets.

Thank you so much. I hope I do well. My surgeon did say not to worry about twisting but didn't say why.

I had 2 level TLIF 4/18. I am a side sleeper. I would turn in different directions inch by once until I fit d the least painful position. I had no problem sleeping on my back post surgery. I have started sleeping in my side again with a pillow between my legs as instructed by pt. Like the previous response, you will just know not to bend or twist. Btw has my follow up yesterday and all is great and I feel great!

Thank you.

I might have this procedure in the near future. I'm really interested in success stories, or how things turned out (or didn't) post surgery . . .

Does anyone know about endoscopic lumbar forminotomy ? I know I'm spelling it wrong. I already had minimally invasive laminotomy at L 3-4 which only worked for a couple of months after the surgery then the twitching and throbbing in my legs started back again when I became more active, walking on sand etc. Because that surgery didn't work out so well I'm reticent to get another one but if it was minimally invasive again I guess I would do it although I'm hearing that minimally invasive doesn't always workout. I'm supposed to get an epidural injection so maybe that will help temporarily at least. I have to begin researching which surgeons to go to because I don't really want to go back to the guy who did my first surgery since it didn't work out so well and I can't stand his nurse practitioner she's very nasty and unsupportive and I would have to go through her if I had the surgery with him again unfortunately. She's the gatekeeper he never answers any messages she does.

Yes, if your insurance allows, see as many surgeons as you can (I'm going back to see the 6th surgeon I spoke to about my issue). I saw some in person, others were video appointments including Johns Hopkins and Stanford. I learned a little bit more in each appointment. The biggest lesson I learned is you can ask 10 spine surgeons what to do about your situation and get 8 different answers. Not reassuring, but at least you can begin to build a consensus, and then start looking for the best doc for what you want.

@rstark I also had 6 spine surgery consultations. The first 5 misunderstood the diagnosis because they didn't recognize unusual symptoms for what they thought they knew. The 6th and only correct diagnosis was at Mayo where I had my surgery. It is easy for doctors to miss things, and surgeons sometimes cherry pick their cases so they can boost their performance success statistics. Get as many opinions as you need because you need to be able to make an informed choice. I also read research papers, clinic trials, and looked up manufacturer's websites for spine hardware. I kind of decided I didn't want hardware, so that was a question I began to ask. My surgery was a single level fusion with only a donor bone disc and no hardware. That was a good choice for me because my body reacts to foreign materials like metals. Surgeons should expect and address patient questions. If they won't, do you really want them operating on you?