That's great news. I'm glad you were finally able to find a surgeon who helped you and that everything is going well.

If I may, I'd just like to point out to anyone on the board who might be contemplating surgery that you are still very early in your recovery. You have a long way to go before your bones will have knitted together completely and are as strong as other bones.

I hope you are still being careful and avoiding activities and movements that will aggravate the site of the fusion. I know it is difficult with small children, but you want the bone to grow as strong as possible so in a couple years you truly will be able to do anything.

Just don't be in a hurry. The body has its own pace for recovery and you really can't do much to hurry it along. It sounds like you're making great progress. Just be mindful that there still is a ways to go....

http://www.spine-health.com/forum/back-surgery-and-neck-surgery/plif-suc...

Oh I see. On Jan 30, you wrote that your surgery was 2 1/2 months ago. 2 days later, you are five months. I didn't look closely at the date of your surgery.

There is quite a bit of difference between the two in terms of recovery.

im new on the forums,haveing the exact same surgery as you had in a few weeks same everything you had wrong i also have, anything you can tell me about the surgery would be welcomed. im scared to death as i know your were also. my neurosurgeon does not use the back brace he says. makes the back muscles weak but mine are already super weak from so so many years of severe pain and mostly laying in my recliner for the past 4 or 5 months because its got that bad. this worries me i think the brace would cause a good heal and no accidental moves.

Hi. All member. I'm from Asia country. I'm also facing my spine problem. At my L5-S1 disk herniated. My surgeon informed that i need go for TLIF surgery. He had explained to me many of the risk that i need to think & prepare it. Including of blood transfer, bone & nerve problem. I'm very scare on it. This is my second operation for my spine. I had my first surgery on last December on Percudyn method. But, still not recover. I always fine a lot of information on the net because i feel unconfidence.

Please kindly give me more information on you all surgery. May i know how you get the preparation & how you take care after operation. The process of the surgery. How long i should off for my work. How long for the recovery etc.

Thank you.

Emma

______________

Degenerative Disc Disease & Herniated Disc
Percudyn Surgery on Dec'09
TLIF Surgery coming up

I love to hear success stories on here! THanks so much to "allbetter" for posting again and letting everyone know that there is hope! I think the more people do that the better we all will be and won't be so scared to contemplate things that could help us.
THanks again to allbetter!

As above, my PLIF is next week. We have 2 children (4,and 1) and they need constant attention...which usually means lots of BLT. Although my wife is going to be around, the rehab and post op restrictions seems like a lot.

And welcome to S.H. forums. I wish you all the success there is. And this is a good place for all of the info. The sooner you do it and the younger you are. The better your chances are for success.
Good luck, Jim

Well, yes, the restrictions seem like a lot but once you're home, I think you'll understand them. A PLIF is not a walk in the park, it's a very serious spine surgery and thus the serious restrictions post-op.

Some of the biggest problems we face after spine surgery is when we start to feel better - then you'll have a day where you think you can do something you shouldn't because you feel well enough and then you'll pay for it for the next day or two or three. It still happens to me one year out from my TLIF.

So please take the restrictions seriously and follow them to a "T". They really are there for a reason and you don't want to risk having your surgery fail because you didn't follow doctor's orders. It's also important to take your medications on schedule the first few weeks to stay ahead of the pain. Once the pain gets too bad, it's very hard to get it back under control.

But like I said, I think you'll understand more after your surgery when you're home. It's a long recovery and you just need to be patient and judge your improvement in weeks, not days.

Take care,
Cathie

I wanted to supplement AllBetter's experience with that of my own which was also a tremendous success.

I herniated my L5-S1 disc pulling a stump when I was 26... felt it go. Subsequently had what I called "episodes" about 2x each year in which I unexpectedly felt something like a zipper in lower back followed by a hand grenade. I would be layed up for 2-4 days each time. I never went to the doctor about this because back problems ran in my family and I was always just taught to put ice on it and suck up the pain till it went away.

By the time I reached the age of 46 it was happening too frequently. The last straw was terrifying my young kids by collapsing on the kitchen floor grimacing and shuddering in pain... they thought I was having a heart attack. I did a lot of research about options then, after seeking many references, I found a great surgeon. After looking at my MRI she asked why I had waited so long to address this! I asked about all the less drastic options but was told that I was waaaay past any of those. She told me that the herniation, degeneration, and arthritis was not life threatening in any way but was rather just a "quality of life" issue, ie if I wanted to continue living in the manner I had been for the past several years--- it had gotten to the point where everything I did included a backup plan for if/when I had another "episode", it was simply impacting my life too much.

So, I had the PLIF. I won't lie to you here, the immediate post-op pain was incredible... even with the morphine drip, any kind of movement was terrible. The surgeon had me stand up less than 24 hours after the procedure and, I'm sorry to tell you, it was the worst pain I've ever experienced... but I got thru it.

Went home after 4 nights at the hospital, recuperating over the next 6-8 weeks on short term disability. Lots of walking, at first with a walker then a cane then nothing. Lots of Vicoden (which never made me high or sick or anything). I had (and still have) great insurance such that I returned to work doing half days for another 4 weeks before resuming full time.

I'd say it took me a full year before I finally got as good as I think I'm ever going to get. I got about 80% of everything I had hoped for from the surgery (ie, complete relief and return to pre-injury condition--- yeah, I knew this to be unrealistic but, hey, hope for the best (and plan for the worst)). I'm a bit stiffer than I was pre-op but this hasn't affected me in any way. The fantastic part, however, is that I have not experienced even a single "episode" since having the surgery.

So, looking back after these 6 years since my "modification", I'd say my procedure was a tremendous success and has very greatly improved the quality of my life. At 52 now, I'm very, very thankful for my surgeon and sent her a bunch of roses on my 5 year anniversary--- she said that success stories like my own were what kept her going.

Its alright to be scared of back surgery... after all, it is somewhat of a roll of the dice. But the benefits can be tremendous, myself having been there. Find yourself a good surgeon, do everything that he/she tells you to do, and the odds are very much in your favor that things will improve for you as well. Btw, I'm happy to answer any questions that folks might have.