Spinal Fusion for Scoliosis anyone?

[needadvice195]

I am in my 40's and have about a 40degree S curve in my lumbar spine.  It has gotten quite painful lately.  My surgeon said he could straighten and fuse the spine.  I don't have all the details of the surgery yet, like how many vertebrae would be fused - my guess is most.  I was wondering if anyone has had this surgery and were you happy with the results?  What is your range of motion like after spinal fusion and what activities can you do/not do?  Any info would be appreciated.... Thanks.

[needadvice195]

I hope you are healing and feeling better.  I would like to hear more about your progress post-op.  Are you up and walking or do you have to lay still?  Do you need a body brace or anything for a while?  What is your pain like now?  I was told it was a 6 month recovery.
Thank you for the info - this site is hard to use.  I loose my posts and just now saw your reply.  Hope you're feeling better by now.  Take care of yourself!  

[noggie]

I've got a little info for you.  I am 9 days post op with a 5 level lumbar fusion.  I had stenosis, most of my discs were gone and moderate scoliosis at L1-L3.  Before surgery the pain was a 10 out 0f 10.  The pain is different now because of the incision, but my pain level is way down.  A have very little numbness now and I can feel some strength imp;rovement in my right leg.  I did a lot of research on artificial discs in Europe and came very close to going there because I also was very concerned about range of motion. After months of thought and research I decided to stay in the US.  My surgeon convinced me that most of a persons bending comes from their hips and if you were fairly flexible before surgery and really followed your post op therapy  then your range of motion would be pretty good.  It's too early to know for sure but I think my range of motion will be ok.  You might want to look at a combo surgery where they fuse the areas where most of the scolliosis appears and do an artificial disc on maybe L5-S1.  I would have done that here in the US except I don't meet the FDA criteria for even the placement of one artificial disc. I did everything I could do to put off the fusion but it got to the point that I couldn't walk or stand at all.  I'm glad so far that I had the procedure done. Hope this helps and I should know more as I heal.  Good Luck!!!!