[Jim M2]

I apologize for being gone so long and not giving status. I had a L5-S1 Charite converted to a fusion in January 2015. It was an anterior replacement of the Charite with a fusion cage. It took a whole 18 months after the surgery to get relief. I strongly suspect that's how long it took the end-stage facets to fuse. After struggling for almost 14 years I finally got decent pain relief. I was living life without too many restrictions, it was fantastic.

New Problem
Suddenly in the past week I have bad pain on the left side. For many years MRIs have shown a bulge on the left side of L4-5 with a small herniation. Now I'm pretty sure L4-5 has more fully ruptured. The pain reminds me of 1981 when I had a bad rupture of L5-S1. It's difficult to put on pants and socks. Walking is difficult. The pain kept me up most of last night. I'm working a few hours here and there. There's a chance the problem could be my left hip, an L5-S1 problem or who knows, but I doubt it.

Now I need to strategize how to deal with this.
- I just got an appointment on 1/29/18 to see the doctor that fused me 3 years ago.
- What are the chances of the herniation re-aborbing for a 64 yo?
- What's the time frame for reabsorbing?
- Is it a minimally invasive outpatient procedure to remove disc material?
- What can I do to survive over the next month or two?
- Does anyone recommend a San Diego surgeon?