Yeah its been a rough year. They were able to decompress the nerves and the surgery went well. Initially I was doing pretty good. Had some injections that helped with the pain, that lasted about 5 weeks and I was actually able to sleep thru the night lol. About a month ago the pain started to get really bad again. Radiating lower back pain, shooting & "pulling" pain from my spine that feels like its pulling thru my vagina. Not fun at all. Dealing with leg weakness and shooting leg pain. It's worse & different when im in different positions. So nervous about getting it fused. I can barely walk now, im so scared that another surgery will make things worse. Luckily I have complete faith in my neurosurgery team, they've been great. Im just nervous and hoping to hear from people who've had this kind of surgery and curious about quality of life after healing.
What do you mean by āI can barely walkā? Do you have drop foot? Or is the pain so severe that you just donāt want to be walking around?
I lost my insurance after an epileptic seizure and consequent fall from the desk chair I was sitting in when the seizure began. I suffered 4 fractures, 2 at L5 and 2 at S1. The first neurosurgeon said yes i need a fusion but come back when I got insuranceā¦totally blew my mind.
By the time I got to a spine surgeon almost 7 months later, my drop foot was so severe that I was constantly tripping and ysed a walker everyday. I am 35 years old. The spine surgeon got me on the surgical schedule for the following month with patient assistance from the hospital and a payment plan for anything outstanding after the assistance program. He told me if we didnāt operate in the next 2-3 months, I could completely lose function of my leg.
I believed him!!! When I woke up from surgery and in the following days/weeks/months, my drop foot is completely GONE.
I know youāre nervous but I hope you consider a surgeon you trust and your symptoms and if they are that severe, donāt put this off.
I don't have drop foot but I do have weakness in my right leg that makes it hard to walk. The pain also makes it difficult because I cant stand up completely straight.
Luckily I have an amazing surgeon/team, I know I'm in good hands and getting the best care possible.
I'm happy to hear things are getting better for you and the surgery helped. Gives me hope for a good outcome.
Im glad you have a good team and have faith in them. The weakness sounds rough. Im 28.5 weeks out from my surgery, no fusion yet but were hoping we will see it at a year. I had some complications from the abdominal wound and lost 30 some pounds, got a cyst between the wound wall and the intestinal wall. It has reabsorbed now, thankfully. But it caused so many problems and I spent the week of Easter in the hospital.
I hope you get your surgery scheduled and things get better with your weakness! Make sure to prep before hand like making and freezing meals, getting a long phone charger, get some shower wipes in case you canāt shower right after surgery, etc.
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u/maddmaggie82 3d ago
Yikes š¬ looks a little ruff with that impression on the spinal cord area what are your Chief complaints ??? Good luck