Your post-operative pain will be totally dependant upon how well the surgery goes and also how well you are treated durring your hospital stay and after you get home.

I had lumbar surgery on december 17th and I am in great shape for this being only a little over 2 weeks after surgery. I still have pain but it is not at all like pre-surgery pain. The nurses and doctors in the hospital were fantastic and my home health care nurses have been fantastic as well.

Physical therepy comes on monday, wednesday, and friday and I work on myself otherwise.

Today they had me on the floor (on all fours) doing leg raises and arm raises and I havent been able to even think about getting on the floor for over a year. Huge increases in my life. You are on very mild meds so you should be in great shape post surgery.

I was on oxycontin 20mg, percocet 10/650, soma, motrin 800mg, nurontin 300mg pre surgery and now I am actually taking about 1/2 as much as before surgery.

Please ask your doctor about the charite artificial disc. It really could help you a ton! :)

Your post-operative pain will be totally dependant upon how well the surgery goes and also how well you are treated durring your hospital stay and after you get home.

I had lumbar surgery on december 17th and I am in great shape for this being only a little over 2 weeks after surgery. I still have pain but it is not at all like pre-surgery pain. The nurses and doctors in the hospital were fantastic and my home health care nurses have been fantastic as well.

Physical therepy comes on monday, wednesday, and friday and I work on myself otherwise.

Today they had me on the floor (on all fours) doing leg raises and arm raises and I havent been able to even think about getting on the floor for over a year. Huge increases in my life. You are on very mild meds so you should be in great shape post surgery.

I was on oxycontin 20mg, percocet 10/650, soma, motrin 800mg, nurontin 300mg pre surgery and now I am actually taking about 1/2 as much as before surgery.

Please ask your doctor about the charite artificial disc. It really could help you a ton! :)

Thanks tamadrummer for your response...How long does the extream surgery pain last and how long did you spend in the hospital...I had lung surgery and they went through three of my main back muscles. I have had two abnomen surgeries, 5 chest tubes, two babies naturally ,kidney infections which landed me in hospital for 10 days, kidney stones and a gull bladder attachs,,none of these came close to having my back cut into with the lung surgery..I am a little bit hesitant to experience that degree of pain again, although am all for the short term if it gets me out of the current pain i'm in...



I am afraid to take stronger drugs as oxy make me throw up...Throwing up right now is not something I am not open to... :? You know what I mean...



Thanks again

Again we are all different in our pain thresholds but for me the most serious pain was the first 2 days with the second night being the worst. Once I was given a sedative (ambien 10mg) for sleep and I actually got 5 straigh hours of pain free sleep, I was a brand new man.

Today I woke up and thought I was going to die from the amount of pain I was in but it was only because I worked so hard on doing my pt and over did it. After my morning dose of pills kicked in I have been perfect and have not had much pain at all.

With all that you have had done to you in the past, this should really be nothing but a small bump in the road for you. If you can have the anterior surgery with disc replacement or even the laproscopic 360 degree fusion where you do not have a huge cut, you will do wonderfully. Even with regular fusion, if you have a doctor that is careful and non-complacent(sp) and really cares about your post-operative care. You should breeze through the pain part. Its a long road but not a road without an end.


Before I had surgery, I felt as though I would never get better and I really wanted to die. I know now that life can be great once again. If you would like to speak to me so that you can ask questions in real time, please email me and I will call you so that you can feel more comfortable about your future. :)