Thanks for replying - especially the last paragraph...gives me a lot of
hope
as I thnk i'm in the disc-ectomy category. Anyone I've asked has said "go
for it" so I am going to...just waiting for the date now.
Karen
"Jenn Ridley" <jridley@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:ndj834h97ivce57dm1aliu20js6k5q78rc@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "Karen" <spoof_address@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>>Normally a lurker, I'm hoping someone here will have had a lower back op
>>to
>>relieve sciatica (oops that doesn't sound right, I wouldn't wish an op
an
>>anyone) or know someone who has had one.
>>
>>I'm facing the 'to op or not to op' decision and would like to hear
about
>>the recovery period and just how long I will be "incapacitated" for.
>
>>The doc says 2 nights in hospital followed by 3 weeks 'recovery' and
then
>>I
>>would be fit to go back to work a desk job...ie sit comfortably again.
Is
>>this realistic?
>
> Depends on exactly where the surgery is, and exactly what it entails.
> Based on those numbers, I'd say he's expecting to do a fairly
> straightforward diskectomy through a small incision. Those estimates
> are probably pretty good for that procedure.
>
> Recovery from a spinal fusion is much longer than recovery from a
> diskectomy. In general, the farther down the spine the surgery is,
> the longer the recovery will be, and spinal fusion involves a much
> larger incision than a diskectomy.
>
> I had double fusion (L4-L5, L5-S1) two and a half years ago. It was
> probably one of the best decisions I ever made. (A diskectomy was not
> an option, as the vertebrae on either side of the ruptured discs were
> already beginning to fuse together.) Two weeks after the surgery, I
> was walking better than I had in a couple of years, and was pretty
> much back to what I considered 'normal' in eight months -- well ahead
> of the surgeon's prediction, but he also said that I was an outlier on
> his patient scales anyway (fitter than most), and he wasn't surprised.
>
> jenn
>
> --
> Jenn Ridley : jridley@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
|
