Very OT: Has anyone here had a lower back op?
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Very OT: Has anyone here had a lower back op? Karen 05-21-2008
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Posted by Karen on May 21, 2008, 9:58 am
Normally a lurker, I'm hoping someone here will have had a lower back op to
relieve sciatica (oops that doesn't sound right, I wouldn't wish an op an
anyone) or know someone who has had one.

I'm facing the 'to op or not to op' decision and would like to hear about
the recovery period and just how long I will be "incapacitated" for.

The doc says 2 nights in hospital followed by 3 weeks 'recovery' and then I
would be fit to go back to work a desk job...ie sit comfortably again. Is
this realistic? I'm in my 40s and am finally at a reasonable weight having
shed 30lbs since Christmas

At the moment i'm relatively pain free as long as I don't have to sit for
more than 5 min! I didn't realise how much of my life was spent on my
posterior!!

I had to cancel a trip of my lifetime to Paducah this year ( from London
:-( ) 'cos of my back (typing this standing)

Sorry for the winge, but you all have been so helpful with advice/sharing
experience to others' queries....

Thanks for reading this far

Karen

Please reply privately to my email as is



Posted by Pogonip on May 21, 2008, 10:36 am
Karen wrote:
> Normally a lurker, I'm hoping someone here will have had a lower back op to
> relieve sciatica (oops that doesn't sound right, I wouldn't wish an op an
> anyone) or know someone who has had one.

Don't have it, don't want it, but you might read this:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sciatica/DS00516/DSECTION=8

Best of luck to you.
--
Joanne
stitches @ singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth.milky-way.com
http://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/

Posted by Jenn Ridley on May 21, 2008, 12:44 pm

>Normally a lurker, I'm hoping someone here will have had a lower back op to
>relieve sciatica (oops that doesn't sound right, I wouldn't wish an op an
>anyone) or know someone who has had one.
>
>I'm facing the 'to op or not to op' decision and would like to hear about
>the recovery period and just how long I will be "incapacitated" for.

>The doc says 2 nights in hospital followed by 3 weeks 'recovery' and then I
>would be fit to go back to work a desk job...ie sit comfortably again. Is
>this realistic?

Depends on exactly where the surgery is, and exactly what it entails.
Based on those numbers, I'd say he's expecting to do a fairly
straightforward diskectomy through a small incision. Those estimates
are probably pretty good for that procedure.

Recovery from a spinal fusion is much longer than recovery from a
diskectomy. In general, the farther down the spine the surgery is,
the longer the recovery will be, and spinal fusion involves a much
larger incision than a diskectomy.

I had double fusion (L4-L5, L5-S1) two and a half years ago. It was
probably one of the best decisions I ever made. (A diskectomy was not
an option, as the vertebrae on either side of the ruptured discs were
already beginning to fuse together.) Two weeks after the surgery, I
was walking better than I had in a couple of years, and was pretty
much back to what I considered 'normal' in eight months -- well ahead
of the surgeon's prediction, but he also said that I was an outlier on
his patient scales anyway (fitter than most), and he wasn't surprised.

jenn

--
Jenn Ridley : jridley@chartermi.net

Posted by Karen on May 22, 2008, 8:51 am
Thanks for replying - especially the last paragraph...gives me a lot of hope
as I thnk i'm in the disc-ectomy category. Anyone I've asked has said "go
for it" so I am going to...just waiting for the date now.

Karen

>
>>Normally a lurker, I'm hoping someone here will have had a lower back op
>>to
>>relieve sciatica (oops that doesn't sound right, I wouldn't wish an op an
>>anyone) or know someone who has had one.
>>
>>I'm facing the 'to op or not to op' decision and would like to hear about
>>the recovery period and just how long I will be "incapacitated" for.
>
>>The doc says 2 nights in hospital followed by 3 weeks 'recovery' and then
>>I
>>would be fit to go back to work a desk job...ie sit comfortably again. Is
>>this realistic?
>
> Depends on exactly where the surgery is, and exactly what it entails.
> Based on those numbers, I'd say he's expecting to do a fairly
> straightforward diskectomy through a small incision. Those estimates
> are probably pretty good for that procedure.
>
> Recovery from a spinal fusion is much longer than recovery from a
> diskectomy. In general, the farther down the spine the surgery is,
> the longer the recovery will be, and spinal fusion involves a much
> larger incision than a diskectomy.
>
> I had double fusion (L4-L5, L5-S1) two and a half years ago. It was
> probably one of the best decisions I ever made. (A diskectomy was not
> an option, as the vertebrae on either side of the ruptured discs were
> already beginning to fuse together.) Two weeks after the surgery, I
> was walking better than I had in a couple of years, and was pretty
> much back to what I considered 'normal' in eight months -- well ahead
> of the surgeon's prediction, but he also said that I was an outlier on
> his patient scales anyway (fitter than most), and he wasn't surprised.
>
> jenn
>
> --
> Jenn Ridley : jridley@chartermi.net




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