[dzydvl]

Good Morning Everyone,

I'm new to the forum, but after my Dr Appointment yesterday I will be hanging around a lot more.

So where do I start, I guess the beginning would be as good a place as any.

This all started 2-14-1997, I was 20 working at McDonalds. I was unloading a truck carrying 2 cases of bag in the box soda. Unfortunately someone had spilled some water on the stairs, and failed to clean it up, and I stepped in it. The liquid all shifted, which caused me to ultimately twist and fall and in the process I injured L3-4, L4-5, L5-S1. Fast forward to December 23rd, 2004, after multiple failed treatments, and special approval from the FDA, I had a 3 level disc replacement at Texas Back Institute, my surgeon was Dr Zack E Ziegler. Surgery was uneventful, it took a little under 4 hours, and honestly I felt great, but I’m sad to say that didn’t last as long as I had hoped.
I started having issues in 2008, but it wasn’t the same type of pain, it turns out the generation of disc that I have can cause “Too much” motion (which will really confuse you and me in the next paragraph). As a result my new pain is being caused by the facet joints. (This is common knowledge now, but back when I had the surgery, not so much)

So in terms of treatment we went with facet injections, and eventually RFA, which seemed to help, so once again I was happy and chugging along.
Over time the pain slowly started creeping back in, which I wasn’t too surprised about, since we know over time nerves will heal themselves, and the process of RFA will have to be done again, which isn’t too bad. Unfortunately a new symptom was also developing. This really strange click in my lower back, it wasn’t painful all the time, but it wasn’t right. I saw a DR in WI, and they didn’t see much, so we kept on the same course of treatment, and had the RFA, but this time it did nothing. No relief, not even a little. I ended up back on the pain meds and back into depression. I had really hoped I wouldn’t be in this position again, but I was.

During this time, I ended up getting a new job, which transferred me from WI to TX, so I decided to make an apt with Dr Ziegler, maybe he would have some ideas. I showed up for my appt. and we did the typical set of x-rays, but what we saw still has me confused beyond belief. It seems as though my spine decided to take its own path, and the surgery that was meant to preserve my ROM may have caused the opposite. As of this point it appears that only L3-4 is fused, but the levels below are now out of alignment and most likely causing my pain. The sad thing we don’t know what we are going to do. The plan right now is to try facet injections at a higher level and see if that might help, but I’m not sure if I have much hope. My fear is, if these things are already fusing themselves are we better off fusing the levels below them, to make sure they are fused and aligned?

Now that I’m back and researching it seems other people are having similar issues, but as far as treatment there doesn’t seem to be a standard course of treatment.
I’m hoping some people here may have some experience with something similar and have some ideas. I’m open to ideas so feel free to give me your thoughts. I’m sorry for the wall of text, but I appreciate you taking the time to read by story.