back surgery, medication advice, experiences horder centre. please help :-)

[Sapphire]

Hi, this is all very new for m, its so nice to find somewhere where hopefully I cant have peoples advice, talk to people that are in the same situation as me ect.
I may babble on so I do apologise. Im 23 and this is my story any replies will me much appreciated.
2007 after a year and a half of leg pain no back pain, an mri and a referral to a consultant is appeared I had a slipped disc that needed to be operated on or I would end up in a wheel chair. I also had degeneration of the disc and there were two other discs that were buldging but only slightly. After my operation I was free from pain in my legs for a few months. When the disc was removed they only took the right side of the disc out. A few months later I had another mri scan as I now had back pain and the leg pain had returned tthe other part of the disc was now also buldging. I did not have a very good experience in the hospital I had my back operation and my consultant who had done the firdt operation wanted to open me back up again and fuse my spine.
I was rrecommended to go to the horder centre in crowborough and to see a consultant called Mr Guy Selmon. It was nice to meet a consultant who was honest with me and didnt want to rush into surgery. Over the past couple of years my back pain and leg pain has noww become chronic and I am unable to live a normal life like my friends and how I would like to. Mr selmon performed spinal probes and epidural without much success. I have been to see mr selmon today and over the time we have talked about surgery and it has now come to the point that I can no longer cope with the poor quality of life.
He has spoke about place shock absorbers to support my back but is anxious If it will be a success and with my age. Mr selmon has said he wont fuse my spine because of my age.
I am having a mri done in a couple of weeks to compare. I really do not want to have surgery but I have such a poor quality of life and really struggle. I also fed up of taking morphine.Im sorry if I have babbled. Thankyou for taking the time to read my story. If you have any advice to give meor anything to suggest I could try and your stories. Also if you are from the south east of england and can suggest any good consultants preferably nhs would be much appreciated.

[mmglobal]

Have you discussed non-fusion surgical options? If artificial disc replacement (ADR) is an option for you, that would likely be preferable to fusion. It is nice that he wants to protect you from having a fusion at your age, but does he have anything else to offer?

What are the shock absorbers he's talking about?

I'm sorry that you find yourself in this situation. I hope you'll find helpful info here.

All the best,

Mark

[Sapphire]

Hi Mark,
Thanks for your message.
the option he has offered as he wont do the fusion is a stabilizing surgery. He explained briefly about it the surgey would be placing screws in the disc and then placing ashock absorber round the discs so it protects them from damage.
Havent gone into much detail about it yet as i dont want to go down the sugery route and it completley ruin my life. So when i go next he is going to show me exactly what he is going to do and show me models of the equipment he will use. I have done a bit of research already on replacement disc so will speak to him about that aswell.
Thanks again for your message. Kind regards.
Lucy

[Sapphire]

Its great to read your story aswell, thankyou for sharing your story

[Keano16]

As I can see, your are from UK?

Why don't you visit Martin Knight at The Spinal Foundation?

Regards

[cherylstewart67]

If you have found a doctor that does not want to jump right into surgery or fusion and is trying to be conservative; keep that doctor. They are looking out for your best interest rather than making money. It sounds as though this doctor is one of the few good ones. I agree that you are very young to be having fusoin unless last resort.

[Sapphire]

Keano thanks for the info on martin knight i have looked on the spinal foundation website and looking in to arranging a referral. Thankyou much appreciated.

[Sapphire]

Dear cherylstewart thankyou for the advice its much appreciated. Im going to get a second opinion just to see what is said. If i have the operation i will probably have it done with my current consultant as im sure he will look after me. Thanku again for the advice.
i wish you all the luck.
its not nice for us to be in these situations but its nice i can finally talk to some people that understand pain how much backs affect us. I hope we can all be cured soon x

[Keano16]

Originally Posted by Sapphire

Keano thanks for the info on martin knight i have looked on the spinal foundation website and looking in to arranging a referral. Thankyou much appreciated.

He is really something special.

hope you can get the referral, i hear many people have problems in getting one

[Sapphire]

Is there any reason that you get loads of people viewing yourr post and hardly anyone writing to you. Any info i appreciate. Do people like to read posts like a magazine. Peoples lives not entertainment.

[Maria]

Sapphire,
Sorry to hear you are so young with this debilitating kind of pain that may necessitate surgical intervention. I hope that your MRI will provide some clearer indication on what might be needed and any other diagnostic testing that could be done.

I just wanted to add that sometimes people view the posts and intend to write something but don't or just don't have the right thing to say even welcome to the forum or hello. There are people that are called "lurkers" who will read posts/threads and not decide to actually post for quite some time later. Don't take it all too personally as it happens to us all.

Good luck with this situation and I hope whatever option or course decided upon will be that helps the quality of your life greatly. Maria