Do you regret your having your surgery? Help

[lberg]

I have only an 30t and 41L I am 43 and have had my 2nd appt with an ortho who has said that I need surgery anytime, I could wait up to 5 years if I could handle the pain. My problem is herniated bulging disks in lower lumbar ddd, bone spurs and osteoarthritis.
He says he can stop the progression of the disease but can't figure out why I have numbness buzzing in my feet and hands and can not be sure if my pain will go away. I get sciatic pain and freeze up after a 3-4 hour day of standing and walking and later after a day of movement I suffer all night long. Do you regret now after possibly more surgeries and revisions your original decision to do the 1st one? Is your quality of life improved? Does the hardware cause more pain and trouble than dealing with the disease? Thanks for your replies.

[Theresa]

I don't regret the decision to have the surgery. But, as you can see my curves were getting pretty bad. My sternum wasn't in the center of my chest anymore, it had been pulled over to the right. Considering that I was only 48 at the time of surgery, I wanted to give myself every chance to live a full long life. Sometimes with all the twisting and turning that our bodies have done over the years it may take a few surgeries to try to get everything right. You know how it goes, you fix one part and something else pops up that you had know idea it was there. I also had DDD and osteroarthritis. Write things down with a pros and cons column on having surgery and not having surgery. Have you had any other testing done yet? Maybe that will show something else and then again maybe not. My hemi-vertrebra was not seen on any of the x-rays or MRI. It can be a hard decision to make, but you have plenty of time to make it. You just need to decide what kind of life you want later on. Feel free to ask anything else.

[dawney]

I am almost 6 months post op and I am back to work full time and already my quality of life is better than before the surgery. I had to take 2 or 3 vicotin a day just to get through work. The sciatic pain was terrible and now it is gone. I can't say my back feels normal but then again I don't really know what a normal back feels like. I still get tired very easily but I know that I am still recovering from a major surgery.
I tried a lot of things before I had the surgery and none of them worked. I wish you luck with your decision. It is a big one to make.

[LindaRacine]

Hi...

Although my curves were a little worse than yours, I had surgery because I had a lot of pain that was impacting my life. It wasn't obvious in the early post op period, but once I recovered from the surgical pain, I was really glad I had undergone surgery.

Have you checked with your primary care physician about the numbness and buzzing in your hands and feet? I wonder if it is something that has nothing to do with your spine.

Regards,
Linda

[lberg]

help

Thanks for all your replies, I am going to GP to ask about numbness and tingling, MS was a thought but later ruled out as a possibility. My mom has fibro so maybe I should check for that. The other puzzling question is the fact that my progression has only been 2 degrees in 5 years but because I am over 40 degrees the Dr. thinks it may progress more rapidly now. I did the pro con however it was a draw! Typical- My luck ! Thanks again. L.

[Shari]

Hi Iberg,

We all have different experiences with this condition, and I don't think any one of us can give you anything but a personal opinion.

My recovery from the surgery was rough, but I'm glad I did it!!! I don't have the same pain that I had before. For me, the biggest benefit from the whole thing was to actually be able to lay down without pain!!!

Shari