3 months post-op, ALIF L5/S1
The list of prior posts was getting long, so here's a link to my 2 month post-op post with other previous posts linked:
https://www.reddit.com/r/spinalfusion/comments/1sqox9g/2_months_postop_alif_l5s1/
Slowly but surely, my pain levels and function are improving. As I sit here today, I can say I'm pretty much where I was at prior to the surgery. That sounds better than it is, though, because before the surgery, I was in pain and my disability level was pretty high. For the 6-7 months prior to the surgery, my pain level fluctuated up and down and my ability to do things also changed with my level of pain pretty wildly, even hour by hour sometimes. I have made very slow, yet pretty steady progress over the past few months since the surgery and have had no major setbacks. It's difficult to tell day by day if I'm improving, but week by week I can notice small, overall positive changes.
I had my second follow-up on May 7th. They took X-rays again. There were no signs of loose or broken hardware, and no subsidance of the cage. I asked if they could see signs of bone growth and I was told they would need to do a CT scan to determine that. I'm not currently experiencing any "red flags", so there is no current plan to do a CT scan. So I guess there's just no way of knowing for sure if the bone is growing/fusing unless they do a CT scan? For reference, I just had an anterior approach with a titanium plate affixed to the front of my spine in addition to the titanium cage (see my two week post-op post for x-ray photos). Not sure if anyone else has experienced this, where they just assume nothing is wrong if there are no serious symptoms of pain. I was pretty vocal about how I wasn't very happy with how I was recovering, and the amount of pain I was still in. I was told I was within the normal range of experience that patients usually have with this procedure, and it could be several more months before I felt "normal".
I asked about activity levels and exercises. I was cleared to slowly increase steps throughout the day and overall activity levels. I was also cleared to begin doing some PT exercises I did in the past, but not to do a bunch at the same time so I can pin-point if doing a certain exercise hurts me. So far, I've been able to do that with some success and movement absolutely makes me feel better as long as I don't overdo it.
I was also told to take OTC NSAIDs for pain, as I've been avoiding doing so out of fear of non-union. So now I'm taking Aleve and muscle relaxers. Hard to say if that has moved the needle much or if I would have continued to recover had I not started taking them. I know that's a pretty heavily debated topic on this subreddit. I'm going to continue to take them until I feel the need not to at this point.
I returned to work in a limited capacity on Monday. That was pretty brutal, as my main drivers of pain are my sitting and standing tolerances, which are still garbage. I'm very deconditioned still from months of being almost bedridden, so I hope that as I continue to get better and more active, it'll become a positive feedback loop where the more I move and get stronger, the less pain I am in, which will allow me to move more and get stronger, etc.
This was a long one. As always, I'll answer any question anyone has. Best of luck to whoever is considering this surgery. This has easily been the hardest thing I've gone through, but I'm finally starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel.