[Eddie G]

If you have had fusion from both sides, kindly help me. I already have had disk replacement at L4-L5 with my incision in the front. My latest discogram shows an annular tear at L5-S1. Dr. Goldstein has scheduled me for fusion surgery, operating anterior for graft placement and posterior for pedicle screw placement.
My 1,000,000.000 question is; how bad will my stomach pain be as compared to disk replacement?
My stomach didn't wake up for 3 days after my disk replacement and hurt for months after.
Should I expect the same horrible pain from the anterior fusion?
Dr. Goldstein said they will just use the bottom of my existing stomach scar to enter my body so I think the hole will be smaller than the original hole. It is possible to install the graft through the posterior, but he said the pain would be worse as he is lifting the back muscles out of the way to fit the graft through. I am leaning toward the belly operation but would like to know more about the pain involved from other fusion patients.

Anybody have any thoughts?