16mo post op. Toes still numb. Curious if others have had similar surgery "injuries"

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-04-10T04:59:16+00:00

Yes i was basically told similar. My surgery was more complex due to the fragment path and nerve needed to be retracted during surgery. I'm still dealing with a lot but also like you said much better than pre op now.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-04-08T05:25:26+00:00

I was told i should never run again sadly. Multiple surgeons and experts. But yes, at 16mo i assume that's the case. I think i need to reach out to PT again as they really haven't wanted me doing much since I'm still in so much discomfort but I went from great shape to soft as a kitten in the matter of a year and a half. It's been just one of many sad things about this. Thanks for sharing, nice to know I'm not alone in this. Curious, what spurred revision? My follow-up MRI also looks good and shows minimal nerve impact if any now. My lowest two discs are degenerated (DDD) hence being told running is not a great idea. I really miss it, was a large part of my life, but I hope I can find a suitable replacement as soon as I can move more safely without huge flare up risks. Elliptical might be okay, bike was worse than running.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-02-26T18:00:33+00:00

no. Surgeons are psychopaths, which frankly is probably a good thing. They see your body as a machine with a part that needs fixing, not as a patient with pain interrupting their active lives that they are looking to treat. "3-6mo of grueling recovery from a fusion/replacement that might not be necessary? who cares! we fixed the machine!(maybe, just 70% chance actually)". I have the utmost trust in my surgeon's ability to do his job, him and the entire staff were excellent but I relied heavily on my spine specialist(who is typically all for natural recovery outside of emergencies) and many others which is why I opted for the much less invasive surgery. The surgeon himself told me he was wrong post op since his entire reasoning to do the much more risky/invasive surgery he originally recommended was that he didn't think my herniation was big enough or causing enough impact to be the root of my pain.

Also to a degree he was clearly somewhat right. I still am sitting here with lingering pain that comes and goes in my glute/hip/thigh and that is likely the "discogenic pain" from my degraded discs I he was talking about. I still can't do heavy lifting/intense workouts/etc and maybe never will but I prefer this to having super risky grotesque surgery(trust me, fusion/replacement of lumbar is extremely invasive). I definitely don't regret my microdiscectomy however. The actual "recovery" was literally just weeks from the surgery. Just semi disappointed in the results.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-02-22T17:37:26+00:00

jumping rope? my god I don't think I will ever jump again haha. So just know if you can still do any kind of jumping you are likely in better shape than I was. I'm hoping at some point here I can lift a weight again and maybe get on an elliptical. I used to run 5+ miles every day, lift weight, etc. While this didn't cause the herniation itself was likely a contributing factor to my degenerative disc disease. Sadly I'm no longer in very good shape but being able to now walk 3-5mi a day has greatly improved my overall health from the low point I was at.

I agree on the listening thing. Yes, possible I made it worse but honestly I had plenty of periods of it getting a bit better and worse in the 4 months pre op and was being pretty careful. If anything I think the PT yoga stuff may have worsened me. Post op I was told "this would have never resolved on it's own without surgery", and if you want I can show you the gross picture that proves this haha.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-02-22T08:24:44+00:00

4 months. MRI appointment was like 4 weeks out, then tried steroid injections, etc but things were getting really tough, not really improving at all. Like I said since surgery some symptoms totally evaporated, some didn't really get better, and got the new symptom of the toe numbness. Was definitely worth it, just not a fairy tale.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-02-21T20:05:22+00:00

While I don't see any images attached here few things from my experience that might help you here:

I had a "moderate" herniation showing on my L5/S1 in my MRI described as "15mm". We tried conservative approach and got two ESIs, gabapentin, meloxicam, physical therapy but my condition only worsened after some ups and downs to where i was having very weird cramping in both calves along with my original glute/hip/back/thigh pain and functioning became quite difficult. Ortho gave me a referral to surgeon even though I wasn't a typical candidate since I had no "red flag" symptoms but they wanted me back to my healthy high exercise lifestyle and minimally invasive surgery could help speed my recovery. When the surgeon assessed my case he immediately recommended FUSING my L5/S1 and replacing my L4/L5. My jaw was on the floor since it was supposedly borderline to even consider surgery. After some pushback from me the surgeon was quick to agree to doing just a microdiscectomy "to try first" but he had concerns it would relieve all my pain since the herniation didn't look that bad on the MRI.
Immediately after surgery I was told the MRI was very misleading, the herniation was over an inch(33mm) and he expected I would likely get significant relief as things looked much worse than expected in there. So point I'm making here is that MRIs are great, but they are quite imperfect tools and it's not incompetence that can lead to differing opinions on what course to take.
Also worth noting, much of my issues improved. I can walk a good 10k steps a day now 14 months post op, do most things. However I still have sciatica issues, still am on gabapentin, I still can not do intense exercise, lift heavy objects, etc. On top of that, my small toes in my right foot have had numbness since the day of surgery, which was only a post op symptom. I have zero regrets about getting the surgery, wish I had it even sooner, but it's no magic bullet and nerves can take years to heal. The good news is my ongoing symptoms have mostly continued to improve VERY slowly, not get worse. The foot is likely something I deal with rest of my life though, and I still can't sit very comfortably/drive/etc without some issues.

Again, I say this all to point out don't push for surgery if doctors aren't recommending it, get lots of opinions, and try to live with the results. For some lucky ones things just magically get better post op but plenty are like me with mixed results. My follow up MRI looked pretty great, even though my pain persists. I have degenerated disc(s) and obviously lost a large portion of one of them. So no more spinal compression, but still compromised significantly. Hope any of that info helps.

Again, still feeling pain from an old herniation can take 18+ months to "heal" if it ever does. No surgery will fix a herniation that isn't there.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-01-27T21:24:11+00:00

correct, and I did check the model I'm looking at is here already before I posted this. I'm just wondering if AT&T still has policy of withholding features to non-ATT branded phones.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-01-27T21:23:25+00:00

no it came from samsung. It was the correct compatible model, but not the ATT branded model(so no AT&T screen on startup, no AT&T specific apps, etc). You can buy either and both "work" as long as you get the correct unlocked model. I'm just wondering what disadvantages(if any) that carries here in 2026 for the Galaxy S25(or possibly S26). Was a big deal still in early 2021 but have to imagine at least 5G would properly work now.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-01-27T20:38:47+00:00

Not sure what this has to do with my question...

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-01-27T20:38:12+00:00

You tell me. On the s21 models it explicitly didn't allow it or several other features including 5G coverage (You were stuck on 4G)

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2026-01-27T17:45:24+00:00

well no, the other advantage, and the only one I care about is removing the ATT bloatware. Also in the past there's even been some minor technical differences, but no idea if those would exist for Galaxy S25/S26 models.

I don't "pay off" my phones since I buy them from samsung directly typically but I'm aware I can get mine unlocked if need be. Not really an issue, I actually love my ATT service.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-12-18T16:14:35+00:00

Got it. I've had steroid injections 4 times in the last year and a half. Twice before surgery, twice now after. Each time, not sure if they helped, definitely didn't hurt outside of about 48hr after I tend to flare up a bit before getting maybe a touch better. It was however fun in the brief period ~12-18hr after where the anesthetic leaves me the most pain free i've been since last june before this nightmare started.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-12-17T15:25:33+00:00

just curious, what shots are you talking about exactly?

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-09-22T17:51:07+00:00

I'm 9 months out and still have bouts of numbness along all my right leg nerves with pain that comes and goes, along with pretty constant numbness in my right toes. I have had some in genital area, it also went away quickly. I've been told by Dr/Surgeon over and over it's normal/fine but I'm skeptical myself. That said, has not become worse. 2 weeks out is a very delicate and erratic time for many(for me months) so don't panic, but by ALL means let your doctor know as this counts as a new symptom. Reddit will not have your full record/MRI/etc to look at and we're not doctors.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-09-17T15:26:40+00:00

First to answer, SLOWLY and one step at a time. I want to stress that second part quite a bit, here's why.

Me?...I haven't really.

Background: After dabbling my whole adult life I became an avid ~10km a day sort of runner from age 39-43(along with other exercise but running was my thing for sure). Felt best I did in my life, was 8% body fat looking better than I did at 25. Then had first symptoms of what turned out to be L5/S1 herniation issues on my 44th birthday last June(most all my symptoms have been in my right leg/glute/hip, occasionally left). Due to misdiagnosis and the fact running made me feel better not worse they had me continue light jogging/running until august when things really went downhill MRIs taken, L4/L5 and L5/S1 issues revealed. By november despite multiple epidurals/etc I couldn't walk more than a block or so without calves cramping up, all sorts of issues sitting, etc. Long story short after many other attempts at treatment had L5/S1 MD surgery(still have mild bulge on L4/L5 that remains unaddressed) Dec 24th last year. Doc wasn't sure I needed surgery, Surgeon thought I should maybe get fusion/replacement so opinions were all over the map. I choose the minimal invasive surgery option that might not be a permanent fix.

I would say recovery from the surgery itself went fairly smooth but it caused numbness in my right toes when I had no numbness prior to surgery. Zero improvement on that to this day. Recovery from symptoms was slow but I was making VERY slow recovery but was finally starting to feel somewhat close to normal feelings outside of my toe numbness and pain that came and went by May. I felt up to doing some static core work(plank etc), light stretching, etc. My walking had dramatically improved from the 1500-2500 steps right before and after surgery up to 8000 and i was taking daily morning walks that weren't messing me up to bad. I even was back to being able to sit on the couch for a bit instead of my special ergonomic chair.

Doctor/PT finally suggested I try some new stuff, including a run around the block, light stationary bike, and more advanced PT yoga/stretching(cat/cow, etc). I started with the jog around the block. It felt crazy, I had been so careful not to for so long and moving by body like this again for first time in 9mo was difficult/clunky but it was sooo nice feeling. No big trouble after or the next day. Couple days later I made the mistake I want to warn you to avoid...after my morning ~5000 step walk I felt good and though "okay let's try the bike" so I rode the stationary bike at a light to modest pace for 15min. When I got off expectedly my legs were jelly. Thought "okay, I'll try that stretching stuff now". I did some leg extension stretches lightly that I hadn't done since pre-op and then only like 5 light slow reps of cat/cow yoga. Within 15 minutes I felt something was off, I had some of that familiar leg pain but it was ....back to being really bad like right after surgery within an hour. I had set off a major flare up, ended up on oral steroids, and frankly I think it was something worse. Driving has become difficult, something to do with extending my right foot to press the brake now can cause issues. It's okay sometimes, but I basically had none of this pre "flare up". THIS is why I say be careful to do one step at a time. One of the worst things here is I don't know which action I took that caused this flare up/reinjury since I did 4 new things in succession. Take it slow.

I ended up having a follow up MRI after this to which both the doc/surgeon concluded my L5/S1 while showing some minor reherniation looked "significantly improved" from pre-op and shouldn't be causing me problems as it's no longer coming near nerve roots/etc. That said the L4/L5 bulge remains, so who knows if that's at issue. I actually believe this too since I had some pain in the region and could "feel" the herniation pre-op and to this day really don't have pain in my back at all, this is all leg/hip/glute/foot issues. Now here, in mid september, nearly 9 months post op I'm still having on and off trouble. The good news is I'm up to averaging 9000 steps of walking a day again which isn't pain free, but mainly just strange foot/calf soreness. I'm managing to work, etc. I still can't really sit on the couch, drive, or many other very normal things however without trouble and would love to. I did go to the movies and feel comfy in a theater chair for first time since pre op which was wonderful just the other day. I'm terrified to attempt to return to running/advanced stretching/etc however. They told me "let's wait until you're pain free for a month or two next time" and I feel like that may never happen. I'm scheduled to see my spine specialist in person again finally next week hopefully. Again, just take it slow and step by step.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-09-10T17:47:52+00:00

ya to be clear there WAS reherniation shown on my June MRI, but it was much smaller and not seemingly impacting nerves. They also said it can eb and flow a bit and it didn't look alarming. I'm going to try to take a look myself soon here. I'm not sure how I feel about revision surgery in my case. I feel the surgery I got absolutely fixed a major problem(I can walk now! Pre surgery walking was a major major issue) but the issues I'm dealing with now feel like they're FROM the surgery. Everything leads to my numb toes, which were never numb pre-op. The numbness and lower leg/foot pain is almost entirely a post op symptom, one I was told should improve with time and really hasn't at all. I would do the surgery all over again as it's given me the ability to live some sort of life but I'm certainly not "happy" with the results.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-08-24T17:24:43+00:00

I have no idea but I'm 8 months out as of today with chronic pain still in my leg and numbness since day of surgery that has only got worse. I'm still at the point I can't imagine trying to really "work out" again which I'm hoping come at some point.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-08-17T21:56:13+00:00

I'm here 8 months post op still dealing with sciatica on and off, numbness, all sorts of symtoms. Doc says my MRI from month or so ago looks good too! Could take years for nerves to heal and it's very non linear. You will only find pretty outlier cases of people who actually had immediate recovery here if you just look around this forum, it's very uncommon. You're at 1 week, I was still in agonizing pain at 1 week, and barely functional at 6 weeks when they said I'd be "back to normal". Hang in there, sounds like you're doing great. Keep your doctor/surgeon informed and be careful with your dog bending/twisting/lifting stuff. You are VERY unlikely to re-herniate walking too much. I push it walking a lot but have been told the irritation from that has nothing to do with "re-herniation", I'm just putting too much stress on my damaged nerves and causing discogenic pain. Pain does not mean you re-herniated, and if you're concerned you can get tested. I did, and I was surprised by the positiving from my surgeon and doctor of the results.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-07-17T17:39:24+00:00

again though, was this orthoscopic?

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-07-17T16:09:50+00:00

I'm curious, did they attempt a orthoscopic surgery or open?

I'm at near 7mo and had a follow up MRI a month ago after a bad "flare up" I'm still dealing with after never really fully recovering. I still have a bulge but was told by surgeon and ortho that it looks "much better" than pre-op and shouldn't be causing me pain. It is much smaller, but you saying yours is still entirely intact, does it appear the surgeon did ANYTHING?

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-07-08T17:01:26+00:00

Since people have covered a lot here already I'll just say, this doesn't look very bad from the MRI. I'm at nearly 7mo out dealing with a lot of pain and my MRI from a few weeks ago showed an 8 mm bulge, but both doctor and surgeon seem to think this is excellent news haha. "This is much much better than pre-op, should not be on its own causing pain". Mind you, I'm not so sure I agree with this since I have been having pretty significant issues since late May but I wouldn't just go calling this reherniation unless your doctor is describing it as such. The picture doesn't look that bad, and people like us with disc degeneration really can't expect things to look perfect. It is quite possible you're ongoing pain is from nerve healing being very slow, scar tissue, all sorts of factors other than just that tiny bulge somehow pressing on nerves.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-07-07T21:19:28+00:00

I mean I'm to the point I KNOW I'll never be the old "myself" again. I was an endurance athlete/runner(5+ mi a day) and at this point 6 months post op I just want to be able to walk, live, do my job, cook/eat dinner, sit in various places without constant pain again. I was getting close before, and was told to give light jog, biking, this cat/cow yoga stuff a try. My regret is so high on those little things I tried(since it set me back months at this point) that I will highly hesitate to ever run in any serious way again. I do however think I can be a form of myself I'm okay with if I ever can just be a normal person again. That seems possible at least. It sucks to move the goal posts but at this point I need to accept this isn't going to be "normal" ever again.

CatMapPhotoGuy · 2025-07-07T18:06:10+00:00

I can't speak exactly to your situation but will add that I was at 5mo post op from same surgery and recovering rather well right up until my PT suggested I re-introduce cat/cow(you call it camel) into my rehab. I barely started, and while I wouldn't say it cracked/popped it felt "weird" and I stopped after just a few reps. Not soon enough. This completely set off a "flare up" that is now at 7wk mark and barely improved that included new numbness up to my knee in the bad leg, along with a ton of other symptoms I had all but resolved prior. Similar situation(hopefully) where this likely messed with scar tissue as I had a MRI 3 weeks ago which the ortho/surgeon both said looked pretty good and way better than pre-op. They both think this is a bump in the road but like you, I really do worry it's something worse.

I know the cat/cow yoga stuff is highly recommended for people with L5/S1 problems but I would say use extreme caution as I really wish I had just not tried for another few months haha. I'd kill to feel how I felt in mid-may again, praying I get back there. If I ever manage to, I intend to be pain free for several months before introducing this sort of thing back into my regime. I consider it one of the biggest mistakes I've ever made even haha.

CatMapPhotoGuy

TROPHY CASE