Anterior/Posterior Lumbar Fusion (post op)

This is not a question, but a need to share.  I had unknown to me broken one of my vertebrae about 10 years ago.  It healed, by caused my spine to be misaligned.  This in turn caused disk bulged -- S1, L4 and L5.  Horrible pain in my back, down my legs, along with numbness in my calves and feet.  There were times I could not move.  I lost weight, started working out trying to make my core strong to help support my back.  Went to PT, had cortisone shots, acupuncture, chiropractor, you name it I did it.  Eventually an MRI showed my disks had degenerated to a point that only surgery would take care of it.
Then I started to read about this Anterior/Posterior Lumbar Fusion surgery.  Wow nothing but horror stories.  Well I am here to say mine was a great success.  I have two cages inserted in place of disks, two screws in the front and six screws in the back and a couple or rod looking things.  The first two weeks were pretty bad, could barely move along with being terrified to move.  At just two weeks I developed unbearable pain in my legs.  It was so bad I screamed out loud.  I went to emergency and was readmitted for pain management.  I asked to be put in a coma or for someone to call Michael Jackson’s doctor to put me out of misery.  That didn’t happen.  I was given some really cool shots that made me feel warm and took the pain away.  The next morning my doctor injected my back with cortisone.  That seemed to have done the trick.  Back home the next day.  
This is a really long story…..anyway….I went back to work after 3 months, still not real stable and still in some pain.  Now I stopped taking all pain meds after 4 months completely.  I was really afraid of becoming dependent.  After 5 months I was working out some.  Elliptical and light weights, but no weight on my spine.  Now it has been 6 months after surgery.  I have NO pain I can do all the non impact exercises I want with no pain, I do crunches and have a really strong core.  
I am very glad I had the surgery and can’t wait to be fully recovered.  I am a 54 year old woman, otherwise healthy.  I think part of the success was because I do work out and do moderate strength training.  There IS life after surgery after all.

[angiebee]

Thank you for sharing, I had a similar experience, reading all negative and very few positive stories.