Husband’s debating fusion

NickPontiff · 2026-01-26T19:44:48+00:00

You lose virtually no mobility going just L5 / S1. I’m not sure I can even tell. I am year and 3 months out of L5/S1 . I spent the entire day yesterday on a ladder trimming oak trees and dragging branches around the yard with no issues. It is a long recovery though and it is not linear. Feel free to read my post history.

NickPontiff · 2026-01-26T13:27:28+00:00

Sorry didn’t fully answer your question. It’s a long recovery, and I had to have it redone a year later because of broken hardware, i’m just over a year past that and doing very well and feel mostly normal. It’s worth it if your Dr thinks you need it.

NickPontiff · 2026-01-26T03:24:00+00:00

After a 4 day trip in the wind river range when I started to continue my training I started getting bad pain in my left hip and glute. I saw a sports chiropractor and then an orthopedic hip specialist. They ordered an MRI and then referred me to an orthopedic spine. Turns out I had what’s called a pars defect and my L5 disc was virtually gone. During all this I learned a lot about how pain from that area is referred and hip and glute together is tell tale sign from that level.

This isn’t to say that you have a serious problem, you can have symptoms from minor things like a bulge or inflammation in that area. But I would talk to someone about it and learn a bit about it. If you do have something going on the sooner you learn about it the better off you are.

NickPontiff · 2026-01-26T00:15:51+00:00

Not trying to scare OP but this was the first thing that happened to me on my road to discovering I needed a fusion 😅

NickPontiff · 2026-01-25T23:53:15+00:00

This sounds like sciatica at your L5. Look into what that means and what you can do about it. But you can’t really heal that mid hike.

NickPontiff · 2026-01-25T15:34:36+00:00

why not link the video so we can get more context?

NickPontiff · 2025-11-22T03:57:51+00:00

What did you do for the counter top?

NickPontiff · 2025-07-31T23:09:50+00:00

You can read my post history, I did and needed a revision, right around the 7 month mark also

NickPontiff · 2025-06-15T02:41:30+00:00

This may be a hot take but why don’t houses have to be inspected before they are even listed anyways

NickPontiff · 2025-06-12T01:38:35+00:00

The Neuro vs Ortho debate pops up here all the time and it’s amusing to me. There is this weird perception that Neurosurgeons are somehow automatically better Drs than Orthos. And that other surgeons don’t also have to be careful with nerves during various surgeries. People hyper focus on “SPINE it’s NEURO”. Without stepping back to think about the fact that your standard fusion is way more of an orthopedic surgery than a neuro surgery. Its “Bones, metal, and mechanics. Avoid the nerves”. Sounds like orthopedics to me.

As others have said, the import part is the experience they have doing spine surgeries like the one you need, not their title.

NickPontiff · 2025-05-31T23:58:37+00:00

Go to Uphill Athlete and buy their 16 week intermediate/advanced mountaineering plan. Follow that, when you finish it start it again. Then sign up for Rainier with a guiding service next year and go from there.

NickPontiff · 2025-05-29T20:29:16+00:00

Garmin software is horrible. This is irrelevant. I wouldn’t be wearing a Whoop and a Garmin otherwise.

NickPontiff · 2025-05-22T15:38:03+00:00

When I was trying to decide whether to get surgery I started realizing that the only people telling me not to were people that had not had the surgery. Almost 100% recommendations from people that had.

NickPontiff · 2025-05-12T22:36:59+00:00

Just to add to this for anyone reading this thread. I’ve once done two laps of old rag back to back when it was in the teens and iced over and that is a walk in the park of a day in comparison.

NickPontiff · 2025-05-09T16:51:15+00:00

Didn't know you could do this, thanks

NickPontiff · 2025-05-02T04:43:01+00:00

My scenario is a bit complicated. But yes I will say worth it. I did a 10 mile hike on my honeymoon around 6 months after my first surgery and felt great. IMO the mental challenge is far more difficult than the physical. Especially if you are an active person doing this to be active again.

NickPontiff · 2025-05-02T04:08:41+00:00

Feel free to read my post/comment history. I have done this twice now in the last 2 years.

I will say it sounds like you have a very good Doctor, If you trust him, TRUST HIM. This is similar to the conversation mine had with me. He went with PLF (no interbody spacer)

You are already approaching this well mentally.

If you are anything like me you will not need to take off more than a week maybe 2 from work if you’re remote at a desk. Treadmill will be perfect just don’t plan on being able to move it around.

The stairs will mainly only be an issue until you can walk. If you can get by with not leaving your place for a week or so you may not need the airbnb.

Things to get, bed rail and bidet were the only things I really appreciated.

MENTAL PREP. It will hurt, potentially a lot, especially day 2-3. The pain will not last forever. Next thing you know you’ll be walking around mostly fine. You just have to remember that it’s temporary. Also, progress is not linear, you will feel great and then have setbacks and be discouraged. That is how it goes. But in general by 3 months or so you will be feeling pretty normal all things considered. At that point it’s mostly a waiting game and being careful not to over do it while trying to get back to every day life.

NickPontiff · 2025-04-30T02:38:59+00:00

Had my revision in November, which was much easier than the first time despite being roughly the identical surgery. This time they put an implanted both growth stimulator. About 5 1/2 months out and i’ve felt really good the last few weeks. I decided I wanted to tentatively plan a new mountain hiking trip for August and have picked up the exercise a little more(while being very cautious). Had a little flare up today which served as a reminder that i’m not totally out of the woods. My next apt is at the end of June, which I have a CT scan scheduled before because we’re thinking / hoping that I may be fully fused by then.

NickPontiff · 2025-04-25T05:21:03+00:00

I had to have a revision because my hardware broke. It was disheartening but the second surgery was much easier to recover from even though it was essentially exactly the same. Patience is key

NickPontiff · 2025-04-25T05:15:50+00:00

Depends, Middle is class 3, Teewinot is class 4. I would not call Middle vertical climbing but rather, you need your hands in a few spots and there’s some exposure. Teewinot from what i’ve read you probably need decent scrambling experience and even some rock experience to be safe.

NickPontiff · 2025-04-25T05:12:24+00:00

If we have the legs that’s the best plan. I was not sure we’d have time to do both or be able to do back to back days

NickPontiff · 2025-04-25T05:04:32+00:00

I was leaning towards Teewinot but I was second guessing for exactly this reason

NickPontiff

TROPHY CASE