re fusing
Laura,
I don't know really what level of pain you live with since my level of activity is so much less than yours and with medication I fare pretty well most of the time while not working, not sitting much, and not doing anything too strenous, really just walking for exercise tho good distances "for me."
Ok, to fuse 2 levels or not.. I know the way I'm going I may find myself at a 3 level fusion since I keep putting off surgery and maybe damaging surrounding structures but my fear with fusing several levels is this:
1) will that predispose L3 to problems even tho it's symptom free now
2) will you have SI joint probs once you've a 2 level fusion at L4-5 and L5-S1
I only know the reservations I have for myself with multilevel fusion is the same as this and even worried with just addressing L5S1 with fusion and L4-5 with ADR (leaving my disrupted but per 2 discograms symptom free L3 alone).
You see I feel the pain meds are worth it in terms of being able to function more comfortably. I certainly didn't expect to even reach this level of ease with the same level of pain meds and no recent ESI since last October.
This is after 6 years on same dose meds and ESIs that were given every 3-4 months up until the last one.
Waiting game or multilevel fusion/surgery... probably I'm not the one to ask as I'm so avoidant..
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