by BrettLinde » Sun Aug 23, 2009 3:58 pm
Hi Craig,
Interesting you post this as I sit in the Hospital with my wife after her recent Fusion surgery. After 21 years of back pain, 2 discectomys, increasing sciatic pain, left foot 2 numb toes, degeneration of multiple discs, my wife decided on AxiaLif for L5/S1 fusion L4 discectomy as well. (she is 41 yr old nurse and postponed fusion as long as possible) AxiaLif is one of the least invasive options available. A trans-sacral approach to lumbar surgery. We were all expecting one night stay at hospital, maybe 2 and walking comfortably after surgery. Unfortunately our expectations were not in check. She could not feel her legs immediately after surgery from just above the knees down, bilaterally. The doc was frantic with some immediate MRIs and brain scan for fear of stroke too. He said textbook surgery, all hardware/alignment in place, she did not have the extra screws for added support, just the screw through the middle of S1L5. Thankfully, after 12 hours, the numbness receeded to her ankles, and 24 hours later she can feel the tops of her feet, bilaterally. But very weak legs and no nerve flexion in both ankles still and it is day 6 since surgery. Only thing that showed up on the MRI was a hematoma near the area of surgery but not something that was compressing on nerves so they did not go in her abdomen to relieve any pressure this may have been causing. The doc says he has not seen this with any of his previous surgeries, Axialif or otherwise. So we are taking the approach of wait and see how things settle once swelling/trauma goes down. She has walked with leg/calf braces and walker for only short 2-3x day, 10-20 steps. Very difficult. So we are in PT extension in hospital worried that we made a wrong choice. But at the same time life was becoming too difficult with pain management choices so we knew we had to do something. THankfully she is not complaining of previous pain in sacral area/sciatic leg pain or areas of discectomy, just the super weak legs, no ankle flexion/numb on bottoms/sides of feet have us very concerned obviously.
After combing over websites for months and choosing carefully our Dr. and type of surgery, back surgery will ALWAYS have pros and cons. Some people find relief, for some it trades symptoms, for some it will never change.
I would give my back to my wife if I could! I feel for her and all that have to deal with NERVE/SPINE issues.
I hope you are able to find any relief as I have an idea of the pain/problems you deal with day to day.
Let me know if you want to know more about the surgery, or Dr's, or progress.
Brett Linde
part time windsurfer
"The face of a child can say it all, especially the mouth part of the face." Jack Handy