Spine surgery L5/S1 cage wedge / L3-5 screws & rods to align

I had FOUR opinions. The orthopedic spine surgeon was my guy (not a neuro spine surgeon.)
I am 100% behind the surgery but you will need to gauge that with the help of your doctors and loved ones (if you have some). I am almost 70 and will be going back for my 4th spine surgery. My lumbar spine surgery was done all at once. The cervical didn't work so they had to go back for another bite of the apple.
If you are the kind of person who likes to stay active and will make the effort to recover than go for it if you have a trusted surgeon who looked at your Parkinson's and is still recommending surgery. Its no walk in the park but I am GRATEFUL and will do another when the time comes. Good luck.

5 weeks ago I had a very similar surgery involving laminectomies and fusions at L3-S1. Mine was all done from the back in one surgery. My L4-5 was done a little differently than the others because it was in the worst shape with a lot of nerve compression. From what I could discern from the operative report what remained of my disc was cleaned out and a cage was used only at that level. The other levels were fused using autografts and allografts. All levels were stabilized using pedicle screws and rods. The nerve pain in my left leg seems to be resolving itself already so I think this is going to be successful. I will know more at my 6 week checkup next week. I am 78 with a lot of other health problem It was not an easy decision for me to go ahead and have this surgery but something had to be done about the amount of nerve compression I had as it was only going to get worse. Good luck trying to arrive at a reasonable decision for yourself.

@llander1966
Congratulations on the surgery so far it sounds positive.
I'm still riding the fence so nice to hear good outcomes.
How long timewise was your surgery?
How is your recovery going?

It's definitely a hard decision, two 4 hour surgeries back to back is a big surgery.

My wife has been through 6 and I am looking at a 3 level lumbar and am still deciding what I am open to.
My quality of life sucks right now but is doable, Would love to get some back but the risk of getting worse would be devastating

Best I can say is keep researching for yourself.
I have found a lot of good info at https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
"spine fusion" brings up almost 9K results

Good luck

@llander1966

Thank you for sharing your experience, I appreciate it.

Would you be so kind to let me know what Surgeon performed your procedure and did you get a second opinion and who was the surgeon.

@loriesco
Thank you so much for your encouragement!

Would you please share with me with Surgeon you selected and the three you passed on.

@jlssurplus My surgery was 4 hours long. My recovery seems to be going well so far. My back pain is better each week and I have had no trouble walking and moving around. I think the fact that my husband and I walk our golden retriever all year long helped me have the strength to come back quickly. The physical therapist that came to the house after I was discharged from the hospital was really impressed by how well I was doing. I won't kid you this was not an easy surgery and there have been a few glitches along the way. I will have a better idea of how my spine is healing next week after I go for my 6 week checkup. I was on the fence for a long time too, in fact I postponed this surgery twice. I know how hard it is to make the decision to go ahead. I am glad the worst is behind me. The thing that swayed me was the extent of nerve compression I had and the surgeon found even more than he expected to find so I am now glad I did it. Best of luck to you in making your decision, there are a lot of things to consider. I had an excellent surgeon and I was not at all worried about his abilities and that helped a lot.

@tld56 I thought long and hard about whether or not to get a second opinion and in the end I decided, in this case, that it was not necessary. I have a lot of health problems and see a lot of doctors. I asked everyone of them about their opinion of my orthopedic spine surgeon's work and every single one of them gave him top marks. I also felt confident about him because I have had a lot of other orthopedic surgeries and his exam and protocols for everything in the presurgical period were very thorough and complete. I am probably the exception in that I did not need a second opinion for this surgery. If you have any doubts at all get that second or third opinion. I am currently in need of a very important hand surgery (I am a musician) and I will be seeking a 4th opinion on that in the near future. You have to weigh EVERYTHING before deciding what to do. None of this is easy. I live in Michigan and if you want my spine surgeon's name please send me a pm.

@tld56 and he has the spine surgeons at UCSD in the orthopedic department are great. My surgeon is Dr. Zlomislic. I am sorry, but I can’t mention the ones I passed on because I don’t want someone claiming I liable them, but I could tell you that one of the surgeons I didn’t go with had a lawsuit against him that’s a fact freely available online, and his name was Dr. Moazzez.

Did you consider any Orthopedic surgeons at Mayo Rochester?