Firey,
Yes, that pain was no fun. The surgical pain I have now is no fun either but I'm getting better every day. I've had some very bad stabbing pains that have been the worst pains I've ever felt. After telling the surgeon's office about it and getting the brush off (that is their MO), I went to the emergency room. I know my body and these were "red flag" pains. Then my surgeon tells me after the emergency room visit that because of the way the dynesys screws are angled out a little bit (see zimmer surgery instructions), he had to split a muscle a little more than he would have normally preferred, to extract the S1 screws. If I had a solid fusion mass there that muscle that has been split would probably been immobolized but my spine is moving again and that muscle that had been split was angry. Those major stabbing pains have subsided. Only time will tell how I'll feel long term but I'm happy to have no major complications considering I've had my back splayed open twice within the last two years.
I didn't have that kind of leg pain before the dynesys. In fact, my surgeon didn't correlate my symptoms with my MRI. He didn't even give me the MRI abstract before doing the surgery. If the surgeon doesn't correlate your symptoms with the MRI, proceed cautiously. In my case, L4/L5 had a bulge on the left that was removed at the same time the dynesys was installed. Before surgery, my leg pains would alternate from leg to leg like it was moving from one side to the other. So what was causing my leg pains on the right? There wasn't any bulge there. My surgeon should have looked into that since my symtoms didn't correlate with the MRI. I've since learned probable causes that have to do with dynamic stenosis. If you are interested in understanding the weaknesses of the dynesys, look at the later generations of dynamic stabalization devices as they look to build on the design of the dynesys but improve on its weaknesses.
Eddie, I like the sense of humor that you keep despite all the crud that you've had to endure. Keep up the good fight. You are an inspiration to us all.
Oh Yeah, I forgot to mention that physician assistant at the ER who initially talked to me has an artificial disc after I asked him if he ever had back problems. I asked him how it was working for him and he sort of shrugged and said he had hoped for a a better resolution of his problems. He was working and standing on a hard floor all day so that says something. He could have been writhing in pain on a gurney like me
John