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I have been having back pain on and off since 1975 and on x-ray it showed spondylothesis with spondylosis. I have been very active since then. I love to ski, and hike and I have a sailboat a small 27 footer that I sailed on the San Francisco Bay. In 1997 I lifted a suitcase up to the overhead bin on a flight and from then on, I have been in trouble. The spondylothesis was 75% worse almost sitting on the L-5 nerve . I had the usual PT and steroid injections and nothing worked, well maybe for about 2 weeks or so I had some relief. I had the usual fight with the disability companies, thinking that I was a fraud. I belong to a HMO and after a long fight I finally found a wonderful orthopedic surgeon and said I need a lumbar fusion. I couldn't walk 50 feet without pain. SOOOOO in Jan. of 1999 he did a L-5 S-1 with a L-5 bilateral nerve root decompression. He used the usual plates and screws a cadaver bone and some of my bone harvested from my iliac crest. For the first 2 months I wished that I never had the surgery but now I am 5 months post op and I can walk about a mile a day and trying for more ,I can't sail yet but still have my boat and I sit on it and enjoy it very much. I am so much better off than before. I am very grateful . I am a Nurse and my job is very physical so I don't thing I will go back to that, I am 61 and have just been approved for Social Security disability and have long term disability. That was almost as big as trauma as my back. People are just naturally suspect of backs. I have started taking classes and trying to rearrange my life. It has been hard but I feel optimistic. I really am grateful that I can walk as I probably would have ended up in a wheel chair. It feels very good to write about this and I would be happy to talk to anyone that would care to write. Mary Lee Mary Lee has been kind enough to offer anyone interested to e-mail her.. Return to 'Other People's Stories'
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The Surgery:The Week Before * The Day Before * The Day Of * In The Hospital * Going Home * Let's Talk Pain * Home Again! Other Areas:Created and Maintained by Leslie Davidson.
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