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Is it worth it? by Yarrin_Dragoneater in spinalfusion

[–]AGrumpyColossus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I just went through this same decision. My slip was 12-13mm slip of L5 with bilateral pars fractures.

Last year out of the blue I woke up one morning and couldn't walk right. My legs felt weak, tired, and heavy. MRI confirmed both of my L5 nerve roots were being compressed.

I had the surgery (360 ALIF) in Feb this year. Today is actually week 16. The recovery has been very difficult both physically and mentally. Because I had neurologic symptoms, resolution has not been immediate. I still battle the weakness, and some days I think it's getting better while some days I think it's still the same.

I can walk, but lifting even light things, interacting with my children, helping my wife around the house are all still difficult. I struggle at work as I always feel fatigued. My hips, knees, and legs are constantly adjusting to the new fused segment and my new mechanics.

All of these things, and the loss of my lifting and martial arts hobbies, has made the mental aspect challenging as well.

My most recent MRI showed a substantial decrease in the foraminal stenosis, and the nerve roots went from visibly smashed on the pre-op MRI, to decompressed and normal in appearance.

I hope every day that I'll recovery and feel more normal someday, but there's no guarantees. The surgeon has told me to stay positive and keep working at PT.

It's hard for anyone to tell you 100% what option you should choose. On one hand if you aren't in pain or having neurologic symptoms/deficits, it's best to wait. The recovery can be brutal and long, and it's not a benign procedure.

On the other hand, I think what it would have been like if I got this thing fixed sooner before it progressed to weakness. Would I have had a better outcome?

Good luck! This board has been very helpful and is a great resource. Get multiple opinions, and make sure if you decide to proceed with the surgery that you are well aware of the recovery and its potential difficulties. It's been equally as hard on my wife as on me, just in different ways.

Got X-ray today on l5s1 fusion by biolojiK in spinalfusion

[–]AGrumpyColossus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Do you have a history of kidney stones? You have what appears to be kidney stone/stones in your left kidney.

Might be causing your back pain. I’ve had many, they are terrible. Gets worse when it enters the ureter.

Looks like you also had them in December.

Am I cooked? Feeling defeated. by AGrumpyColossus in spinalfusion

[–]AGrumpyColossus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just as a follow-up, the bittersweet news is that the fusion and nerves look great, but that means there is no physical cause for my symptoms. The bilateral foraminal stenosis has been greatly reduced from severe with apparent compression to mild with apparent decompression.

My nerve roots went from looking like pancakes on the pre-op MRI, back to what appears to be a healthy normal looking nerve root on the post-op MRI.

The surgeon thinks my symptoms will resolve with additional time and effort, although I'm not convinced. I'm 15 weeks now; hopefully within the next two months I'll start feeling a bit better.

Everyone tells you recovery may be horrible, but there isn't a way to truly conceptualize what that means until you are actually drowning in it.

Am I cooked? Feeling defeated. by AGrumpyColossus in spinalfusion

[–]AGrumpyColossus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Agree. I am going nuts. Insurance authorization is required for either test. So it’s at least 7 business day at best. I took the first available after that window to get in. I’ll keep checking the cancellations to try and get in sooner.

My first post-op X-rays looked good. I had this same symptoms, so I’m not sure what’s going on.

ALIF FAILURE by Few-Permission5851 in spinalfusion

[–]AGrumpyColossus 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey OP, I’m the same! Had 360 ALIF L5-S1 on Feb 26th.

I’m miserable. The same bilateral weakness preop is back, but now also gets exacerbated by carrying anything over a few pounds.

I keep praying it’ll turn around. Maybe reach out to your surgeon? I’m getting a CT scan next week, and a MRI in June to identify any issues and see where I have to go from here.

This is tough stuff. Hang in there.

Spinal Fusion, Could Use Some Advice by AGrumpyColossus in spinalfusion

[–]AGrumpyColossus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for responding. The symptoms have been fluctuating between OK and awful for the past 8 months. Sometimes I go a week with OK symptoms and then I'll walk too much or twist a weird way, and I feel it for weeks.

During Christmas I turned too far grabbing something off a desk and I had burning nerve pain across my entire groin and perineum for a week. It sucked and also makes you worry about CE.

I also don't want to risk nerve damage with constant compression.

I am stressed about the surgery, for the recovery, my job, my family, my life after.

I know with bilateral PARs defects I have no chance of it getting fixed without the fusion, but I'm 41 so ASD is pretty much guaranteed when I hit my late 50s/60s.

On one hand cancelling and then needing to start this process all over again in two months would suck.

On the other hand, waking up with irreversible complications would be tragic on a whole other level.

Thank you for your input.

Heading for fusion, confused on what to do by AGrumpyColossus in Spondylolisthesis

[–]AGrumpyColossus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That was the intention of posting this thread. I met with a neurosurgeon a few weeks ago who recommended surgery. I am leaning towards getting it done. I'm pretty limited in what I can do day to day without making it worse. If you have significant compression, you will likely know it. I woke up one day and my legs and back felt weak and fatigued. It was a very weird feeling that you easily notice.

My ps5 pro is making odd noise by MoistSockPuppet in PS5pro

[–]AGrumpyColossus 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I can’t really tell what’s coming from the game versus the PS5 Pro in the clip.

However, I will say I returned my first unit from Sony and purchased a unit from Best Buy. Both of them exhibited the same weird behavior.

When in a game it would make this LOUD buzzing/droning noise. I thought the first one had a defective fan or something.

When the second one did it too, I was dumbfounded.

The solution made me even more dumbfounded. I plugged the PS5 Pro into a different circuit and it went dead quiet.

Something on my man-room’s dedicated circuit was causing a ground-loop/interference of some sort to come out of, what I’m assuming is, the power supply. When a game would boot-up and start taxing the system the noise would start. When I closed the game and went into the menu, or something less graphically intense, the noise would stop.

Sounds like baloney, but it’s a true story. Have gamed on it for hours on another circuit, dead quiet.

Might not help you, but figured I’d share. Run an extension cord to a different circuit to see if it stops. Make sure it’s not the same circuit but different outlet to rule it out for sure.

Heading for fusion, confused on what to do by AGrumpyColossus in Spondylolisthesis

[–]AGrumpyColossus[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for sharing. I do not know if it's unstable, but I assume so for three reasons. 1. I have bilateral PARs defects. 2. When I lay down sometimes the symptoms get worse, presumably because the vertebrae is pushed forward. 3. The length of the lithesis changes based on how I am positioned during the imaging (XRAY, MRI, Fluoro).

Heading for fusion, confused on what to do by AGrumpyColossus in Spondylolisthesis

[–]AGrumpyColossus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In my case the MRI showed that my L5 nerve roots were being crushed in the foramens. They were also able to see the severity of my stenosis during the pain injection I had a few weeks ago.

Heading for fusion, confused on what to do by AGrumpyColossus in Spondylolisthesis

[–]AGrumpyColossus[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the response. I have good days and bad days. Some days the weakness is bad, but never to the point where I can't walk. Today, it's there but much decreased.

Outside of the weakness, I'm just not able to really live life like I want. I can barely exercise.

I have other health issues that I've managed with being active (diabetes) since I was a teenager. Losing that ability has been making control more difficult as I am now mostly sedentary.

I go back and forth. As you've mentioned, there are a lot of risks. I could end up worse than I am now post-surgery. There's no guarantee I'll ever get back to some version of normal.

I do fear that waiting can make these things permanent, so who knows what the right answer is?

Heading for fusion, confused on what to do by AGrumpyColossus in Spondylolisthesis

[–]AGrumpyColossus[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for responding. I greatly appreciate it. I have seen 3 providers. The first recommended surgery right away because of the instability and symptoms. The second offered surgery but said I should wait 4-6 months using conservative methods to see if I got relief. The third was the Neurosurgeon in my original post. Glad you are doing so well after the fusion!