Been diagnosed with burst disk between s1 and l5. They want to go in from from and rear to put screws in one side and anchored in the other side. Right now I get shooting pains down my back of legs like a knife being stuck in and twisted of I walk without crutches and pills. Has any one else had this type of surgery if so how was your healing and how is the pain after healed. Thanks.

 

13 years ago, I had massive hearniation of l4 and l5 that dropped me to the ground and left me unable to walk, I could lay down, but if I tried to sit or stand it was like a knife being slammed into my back and left me on the ground.

The abulances came and I had emergency surgery ( a full lamindectomy of l4 and l5 (means they cut you open , remove some bone from there and trim the disks.) Fully recovered in about 5 weeks and got on with my life for the past 13 years.

The past 2 years , my back kept going out and I would get shooting pain in my left leg, several weeks ago, it went from pain to partial paralysis in left leg and left foot. Went to the docs, had the testing and the MRI.

My choices were to live with it and more than likely it would get worse or become permenant. I'm 46 and while I am no professional athlete, I love to ride, play with my kids, romp in the sack with my wife of 20 years, camp, atv ride and enjoy my life. So, I sucked it up and made the decision to move forward and take the chance to get my life back.

Went under the knife 2 weeks ago, they had to remove massive scaring around l4 and l5 and trim the disk for l3. Just got my staples out yesterday, had my strength tests completed and can move forward with no pain, full use of my leg and foot and am cleared for light PT and to drive and ride again.

I'm not going to lie. Both times the first few days of the recovery I was hooked up to a morphine drip and I felt like I literally had the **** beat out of me. Everything, including my ****in toes hurt bad.

My advice is to find a practice that specializes in orthepedic surgery with a specific practice that has a great reputation for spine surgery and go spend the time to talk with them and understand the surgery, the risks, the recovery and what goals you can reasonably expect.

I wish you all the very best my good man and hope you heal and ride in the wind again soon !

My first ride will be this Sunday. It'll be a small ride and 2 of my closest buddies are going with me, really looking forward to it.

 

I had a spinal Fusion Back in 2009 with L5 when i was 39, I now have 4 rods and eight screws. They also had to carve out my nerve chanel because my disc ruptured and wrapped itself around the nerve. I spent an entire summer popping pills like they were candy until I went under. They eneded up removing full halfs of 2 vertbra...lonng story short for the first year i thought it was the best thing ever and relieved most my pain....now 3 years later nothing but issues, back is consitently sore and leg pains coming back...I think I made the wrong choice. My recommendation would be see a specialist dealing with synthetic disc repllacement. Good Luck with it all.

 

Had the exact same thing. They my neurosurgeon did a discectomy. Just cutting away the herniated part of the disc. No bolts of screws and no fusing. That was back in 2006. So far so good. Pain wasn't too bad. I was in the hospital for 4 days total and went back to work after about 2 weeks. Got back on my dirt bike after about 6 weeks. I can tell you that losing weight and strengthening your stomach will help support your back and take pressure off of it. As far as I am concerned, it was the best thing I could have done. I was hunched over walking around for over a year before I had surgery. Good luck!!

 

In 2001 I had s1l5andl4 fused. 6 screws and 2rods and a chunk of my hip bone cut out and made into A plaster to pack around the hardware.I still am without pain 12 years later but I sure know when the weather is going to change. Good luck......yes I feel like a lottery winner!

 

Having the same proceedure as RoadKing2438 this Monday. Doc says I should be riding in 8 weeks. If I do nothing I'll never be 100% and I am not in good shape last 6 months--hunched, can't sit for long, etc.

Get two opinions from spine surgeon specialist and pick one. good luck

 

Had L5-S1 fused in 2006 with 3 screws and 1 plate using a frontal approach. I was off for about a month, but gave me a pain free back ever since. Same surgeon fused my C5-7 in August 2011 with 6 screws and 2 plates also from the front. This was also a complete success and was working and riding again in 3 weeks. Best of Luck

 

Thanks for all the replies and it's good to see positive results from the surgeries. They are going to do and anterior lumbar interbody fusion and a posterior spinal fusion. I'm glad my wife was there to listen to what they are going to do as I was squirrlley on meds. Thanks for encouraging words.

 

While I didn't have that exact surgery. I am about 18 months post op from a 11 level fusion. Fused from T3 to L2. I had an anterior release with posterior fusion, 1 rib removed for the fusion material. 16 screws and two 18inch titanium rods.

I was off work for 6 months, I still have issues with the back but the reason for the surgery, that pain is gone. My issues to be honest are just dealing with healing. Mine was a very big surgery and just takes time. Was back riding about a year after surgery.

Good luck with your surgery!

 

It will be exactly two years on March 21st when I had my L5-S1 fused. All the pain I was having was gone when I woke up from the surgery and is still gone. The only issue I have is my lower back muscles and right hip get very tight. I have a hard time trying to keep the relaxed. The surgeon cut through most of my lower back muscles so my recovery was about 8 months. I had to wear a full brace around my mid section for 6 months. The best thing you can do to strengthen your lower back after the surgery is walk. Good luck with the surgery and remember it is for the long term and do not focus on the short term recovery challenges. Here is what my lower back looks like now.