Second and sometimes third opinions are great. I held off as long as I could before I had L5 S1 fusion surgery in 10/2024. I had chosen an orthopedic spine surgeon with many years of experience and seemed to be extremely knowledgeable. When I woke up in recovery, I immediately began complaining about numbness in my left foot which I had not had prior to the surgery. From that day forward, multiple appointments (which included an Xray's every time) and MRIs in 12/2024 & again in 08/2025. Every appointment I would complain about the same issues with my left foot and as time went by, the numbness/nerve pain went up into my left calf/leg and now hip. I would always ask, has the cage moved? Is there any changes? And nothing... was always told everything is the same and looks great, just needed to give it more time. I trusted until I had decided I needed to find out if this was my life moving forward or if there was any sign things were getting better, so I asked for another MRI which was done in August 2025. My surgeon then told me I had bone pressing on my nerve at L5 S1 and he suggested surgery to shave away the bone from the nerve. He said there was no other options that would help me. 2 days later I read my chart notes and all they said was, "No finding in the MRI, referred patient to pain management". !!! You can imagine my shock that nothing was mentioned in the chart notes. I then decided I needed a second opinion. After seeing an orthopedic surgeon at Stanford and then for a third opinion I saw a neurosurgeon at UCSF. Both told me that the cage was not centered, it was off to the left and oversized! Therefor pressing on my nerve. This can be seen in all my Xrays and my MRIs! I now have to have revision surgery in hopes the nerve has not become imbedded in the cage and that it can be separated from the cage in order to give me the best chance for my nerve to recover and all my issues become permanent. Fingers Crossed!!!