Hi Kara,
So sorry to hear your not feeling well, my hubby suffered for 19 years with a herniated disc and then in compressed so close to the spin that he was a millimeter of being paralized. Now girl, you need to get your heart checked out? You shouldn;t go under the knife with heart issues, u have time, so at least get and i think its an ECG, heart meds are a pain but sometimes we just have to do it. You will be on powerfull pain killers once recovering from surgery, at whats not say they will cause the same problem?
Is this a orthepedic surgeon that you are seeing? My hubby went (i found him on line Dr.Cory Cundel)to a spinal surgeon, its important with your spine that you see someone whom has dedicated their lifes work to it. If he is an orthepedic i would ask him right out. What happens to my heart when you flood my system with drugs for the surgery, it needs to be STABLE! i KNOW its scary, trust me the last year was hell. All surgerys come with ramifications, my hubby had the L5S1 fused with bone marrow from his hip, while he said there is pain from the surgery, there is none of the brutal sciatica pain that was so sever it ran down both legs. We used acupunture and laser therapy and 3 treatments and he was feeling allot better, so he could walk. I always suggest (and the ladies are going to kill me for this)give your spouse a massage nightly, it helps my honey immensly and it make me feel like i have helped a bit, be percise on what feels good and what doesn't, if u don;t have a spouse, and have a close girl friend ask her. You must be super careful not hurt your self more. I will pray for you!
My hubby is doing very well, well he has plates and pins and screws, the bone harvest spot still hurts like a bugger, but laser therapy is AWESOME, we have very cold winters here in canada, so that is going to be the biggest challenge, he has cut back on the percocet and is on a new med called Tridural 200 mg, its a long acting pain med, seems to help and walking is a must.. well must run for now..god bless you all and stay positive, ask questions u have the right to ask the doctors anything and everything. If your still having problems with pain management, we should ask Dr.OZ! its great to have him to be the voice for americans!! warmest regards from the freezing north Wanda

I am new to this forum and I want to thank everyone for their input. It’s good to know that I'm not alone in this battle.
I had L4-L5-S1 fusion on August 31st,2009. I still suffer with nerve pain down both legs, predominantly the left leg and foot. Along with pain in the lower back, it feels like someone hit me with a 2X4. Most days I'm a 6-7 on a pain scale.
I currently take Percocet daily (the doctor wants me to wean off of this) and Gabapentin (Neurontin) for the nerve pain. My doctor has also recommended Acetaminophen, this does not help. I am also still wearing a back brace.
My doctor has also recommended walking as much as I can tolerate. This is where my question comes in - how do I stretch my leg muscles (ankles, calves, quads and hamstrings) without "bending, stretching or twisting"?

Now a couple things my surgeron was addamit about, not smoking, drinking a min of 8 glasses of water per day. Have you had any physio therapy, because if you have not, u need to. We need a physio therapist on this page!
My hubby does it all there so i can;t help, how ever i will ask him for you tty soon Wanda sorry i couldnt be of more help ww
Also no Nsaids they interfer with the fusion process, know it takes time and try and stay positive

WW,
Thanks for your reply. I gave up cigarettes about 25years ago so thankfully this is not an issue. At 54years of age I am trying to keep a healthy diet and drinking lots of water.
According to my doctor, physical therapy is still about 6weeks out. At this point in the healing process, all the doctor wants me doing is walking. I currently walk 41/2 miles, approximately five days a week. I know I need to stretch before and after a walking session but I can't figure out without bending or twisting my back. I'm still in a lot of pain and don't want to add to it by doing something I shouldn't. Without the stretching I'm having leg cramps and stiffness after walking.
Any help, information or just an understanding ear is greatly appreciated.

The best thing for you to do is speak directly with your spine surgeon about what type of stretching exercises you can do before walking.

It really is a bad idea for any of us to suggest some stretching exercise for you.

Anything we suggest could. potentially, cause a problem for you and not something your spine surgeon would want you to do.

Give you spine surgeon a call and ask what you should do.

Fran

See a physio therapist, as they are the most knowlegable about the body and stretchs, maybe they can e-mail you the information, instead of instructing you over the phone. Where i am from once you have surgery thats it, there is NO involvement of the surgeon, nor do they give you excercises.!

Hello,

I read these forums before my Fusion and I must say I was worried. There seemed to be way more bad experiences than good. I went ahead and had it done and so far it has been the best choice I have ever made.

I had surgery on Sep 24th at Bethesda Hospital in Cincinnati via Dr. Borden. After the surgery I was sore but the leg pain was history. I actually walked the halls on and off that afternoon. I even asked if i could go home that day because I felt so good, but they declined. I went home the next day and walked at the park with my wife. I wore my back brace constantly and noticed when I would sit for longer than 20 minutes my back stiffened up. I made sure I was always up and moving around. I continued to walk and by the 10th day I no longer needed the percocet. I went back to work on the 11th day out of surgery. I wore the brace and made sure I didnt lift anything over 8lbs. I had my first visit back to Dr. Borden 3 days ago. He said everything looked great. I am a weight lifter and asked how far down the road will I have to wait until lifting again. He stated that i could do it now if I used light weights and machines. I was very surprised. I went to my gym that night and did 30 minutes of lifting and an hour of cardio. That night and the next morning I felt no ill effects and have continued to carefully workout since then. My leg pain is gone and the only back pain I have is occasional morning stiffness(could be my bed, it is about 10 years old, my wife has no back issues and it bothers her). I now have started my physical therapy and am slowly doing everything i couldnt do the last few years

I just wanted to share my experience with everyone who is thinking about this surgery. My previous microdissectomy 2 years ago was a failure but this Fusion of my L4/L5 seemed to work. Just make sure u don't get lazy after surgery, if you have a small dog walk him, walk around the neighborhood, walk the halls at work. I think this is the biggest thing when having this surgery

Hello cincinnati74, That is fabulous for u. Allot of people don't have the best stories, so its great to hear yours. It proves that being in good shape can really help your recovery! I hear you about the walking, i tried to walk with my hubby after wards, but i am 5ft and his 6ft and he wants to cruise when he walks and i can't keep up to him due to sever illnesses, so i said honey just walk with out me.He gets up and walks for about 40 min (his surgery was aug 10/09)and does his strechs. I cannot say enough about a good bed, we change ours every 10 years if possible, or sometimes you can flip them, if they are not pillow tops!I think its great that you posted this positive storie! Keep us informed! I hope your weather is better than mine, its -10 here and snowing!

Thanks wanda, I am still feeling really good. I did notice that I am always cold now. I have always been the type of person who had the window open and fan running in December. Now I am turning the thermostat up to 73. Maybe it's the rods in my back absorbing the cold Cincinnati air, who knows.

Hey cincinnati74,
yes, my hubby says the same thing, we are getting really cold now and he is freezing most of the time. We are going to try one of those back warmers to see if it helps, problem is will they stick on! So hopefully they will offer a solution in -20 weather. take care ww