Lumbar Fusion L4-L5-S1, 3 weeks Post Surgery

Spinal Lumbar Fusion Surgery for the L4-L5-S1 regions. Double fusion on July 25th, three weeks post op. Recovery and progress.

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People & Blogs

Tags:

• spine
• lumbar fusion
• fusion surgery
• L4-L5
• L4-L5-S1
• old man
• surgery recovery

[s33dless1134]

hey i got my l5-s1 done and its been a couple days past a month and im still in pain pretty bad and cant bend or nothing so how long till u think u can move better? also when did u get surgery? cuz mine was aug 17th so not that long ago but i wanna see how long till ppl r moving better and can bend more

[cgb2000]

@s33dless1134 Sorry about the late reply.  It depends on the amount of nerve decompression you had done. Not a well covered topic by the surgeons. I'm 4 months out and the pain down my legs is gone but have pretty sever lower back pain that I never had before. Off the pains meds and muscle relaxants for about a week, gradually tapered off but still not easy. Try my best not to twist or bend or lift more than the original recommendations, but that's not easy to do. How are you doing now?

[jlo2298]

Do you have any information with respect to sitting?

I haven't been walking outside too much but move around my home a lot during the day. Now that the stitches are out and the weather is better I plan to walk outside.

Thanks for your advice.

[jlo2298]

I have very little pain, although I am taking Tylenol and Alleve during the day as well as an oxycotin when I go to bed for the night. I do this mostly for the antiiflammatory properties these pills provide and my back is better in the morning after a night of sleep if I take the oxycotin.

I do no twisting, bending or lifting.

I am able to sit for very long periods without pain, which I have been doing. I wasn't told anything about sitting.

[jlo2298]

I am still taking Vitamin C but am not taking the Echinecia any longer. I really think that the Vitamin C had a lot to do with my healing, although there certainly is no scientific proof of that.

I too wanted to get off oxycotin as soon as possible and I weaned myself off it at the 10 day period. I just now returned from getting my stitches out. I tried to get them out at the 2 week period, however, the doctor said I had been overdoing it and the incision wasn't healed yet. (will continue

[jlo2298]

Hi

So happy to hear some good information.

I am 3 weeks post surgery L4-L5 fusion with nothing put in between the vertebrae - I have two rods and four screws. Also had a lammi. I spent 48 hours exactly in the hospital from my surgery to my discharge date. On the advice of my pharmacist I took large doses of Vitamin C for one month prior to the surgery as well as 10 days before the surgery I took Echinecia (that was for hospital viruses). (will continue on another post)

[SonofLiberty79]

Thank you for posting this video. I had a discography done and found out that i need a disc replacement at L4-L5 and a fusion at L5-S1. Im not really digging the idea of a fusion, but was told that in the states, a two level replacement is not allowed and since i cant afford to go to Germany, im stuck with the fusion. After seeing your video, i feel a little better about the fusion. Im only 32 and am not excited about losing flexion in my lower back. How are you doing these days?

[jfspratt]

Greetings, I'm a 25yo male who is about to have a Posterior TLIF L4-L5-S1. any words of wisdom, seems everything i watch and research talks about the worst case.

[iesurf]

Sorry, I didn't mean mess, I meant meds.

[iesurf]

Great video. I just had L4-5 done. I'm 4 weeks out and we sound a lot alike. I totally agree with you regarding the mess. I had the same overachieving attitude and I feel that I set myself back a bit. I started taking muscles relaxers at night and that really seemed to get me back on the right track. Thanks for posting. Very informative.

[s33dless1134]

@derbie223 if u still got pain see if u can get nucynta. pain killer that is pretty much like percs and other pain killers but not as bad as em and i had em for a couple months and they worked good till i got use to em but that will happen with any pill ur on after awhile

[s33dless1134]

@cgb2000 well my surgery was on aug 17th and i just saw a pain doc a couple weeks ago that gave me morphine and baclefon i think it was called or something like that and it made me sick and he told me to stop and i still feel sick so havent been on pain med or anything for like a week or lil more now and yea it sucks. i lay down and my back kills and i get no sleep at. im lucky if i get an hour or 2 at night.