[Maria]

Anastasia,
Like you I have spent a good part of the last 18 years advising people considering spine surgery to really think about what they are doing and be ready for whatever results might come their way because like Gary I too believe spine surgery is somewhat of a crapshoot even in the hands of the best surgeons.

Spine surgery doesn't really have predictable results. It has desirable results and I'm sure no matter what happened the surgeon intended for you to have those desirable results however afterwards I don't get why you weren't dealt with by the same surgeon although I know I was given the same treatment back in '92 when my percutaneous discectomy failed really horribly and left me with Arachnoiditis like symptoms for a solid 5 years post op and then sort of easing off tho my lumbar spine was a deteriorated mess at 3 levels now instead of one or two.

I remember clearly before my 2nd spine surgery I too started to feel better and I too said to the surgeon "I feel better ~ should I wait?" and he said "no, the pain will only return and it will be worse." Because of my prior experience with back pain at L5S1 being that and surgery at that level being successful I figured something so much less invasive was bound to be successful.

WRONGWRONGWRONG (at least for me this is how I feel since I felt better I think I should have gone with that a bit longer). It was never explained to me what went wrong postop except later on MRI done by other doctors that I had an anular tear at L3 and rebulging discs now at L4 and L5S1 again and scar tissue on the S1 nerve root. So it looks like that was "me".. but I wondered about what the surgeons part in what took place during surgery ~ too much disc sucked out, too big a hole..?? Definately seemed like a pretty immediate collapse and I felt it big time!

It was a long and gruesome haul thru the pain and what it did to my life and career. I had to stop working as well tho at first I made many modifications and tried to hang in there..

I'm not saying not to be mad about what happened to you and not feel that you have been wronged nor to be quiet vs. continuing to use your voice however I will say that at least for me time has given me back a semblence of life that is acceptable to me and the anger and pain I used to feel has been long gone.

Oh yes, I too didn't have children because of what happened with my back. No one was giving out pain meds back in those days to failed backs and even if they did the OB-GYNs frowned on any but medically necessary meds at the time which often may have gotten bumped to high risk pregnancy OB-GYN and care was more expensive. It wasn't even that it was just the fact I was miserably in horrible pain 24/7 so how could I even think about having kids/raising them. I do think things have lightened up re pain meds and pregnancy these days if one can get by this way and has enough support for this endeavor (pregnancy and childrearing).

Again time has given me back an acceptable even enjoyable life albeit with darned pain meds and their side effects though I do hope you will improve and/or at least feel better with time and have a life that is enjoyable even if it's not the same life.

Spine surgery anyone.. think real hard~ be prepared for the worst (which I think from my experience is unimaginable) no matter what the surgeon tells you however hopefully there will be success esp. if you really NEED to have surgery.

In my book need has to do with severe unrelenting pain that won't allow for any quality of life or severely affects one's quality of life, incontinent of bowel and/or bladder, and loss of use of extremities and/or severe numbness tha results in loss of function (loss of tone/function) and things like severe cord compression, severe stenosis.. etc..

I guess I learned the hard way on surgery #2.