Well I have had pain in my legs and butt and hip for over a year. It was getting painful driving the cobra at the end of the season and the longer I drove the worse it would get. I had tried all of the conservative measures including Chiopractic, Physical Therapy, Pain specialist, and spinal steroid injections.
Finally saw a nuerosurgeon who did a new MRI and Bone Scan on me and said that the Arthritis in my facet joints in L4/L5 had made the joints twice the size they should be! His reccomendation was fusion of the L4/L5 joint.
I finally decided this was the last straw and did it two weeks ago on Tuesday. As soon as surgery was complete I could tell the butt and leg pains appeared to be gone!
Now it is just the slow physical theropy and rebuilding of the muscles that get stretched and damaged during the surgery. They basically put two Titanium screws into L$ and two into L5 and ran rods between them to support the spine where the facet joints were removed. Then they remove part of the disc material in front of the spinal cord and insert a Titanium cage with my ground up bone in the middle of it in it's place. This bone then grows to the bones above and below fusing that part of the spine.
Well right now it was the best thing I could have ever done! I am feeling great and almost all of the surgical pain is gone. Now I just have to build up my enurance for being on my feet for longer periods of time.
Can't wait for spring to get in the car and drive!
Happy Holidays folks
Kirk V
