I had surgery StALIF L5/S1 Activ-L L4/L5 Zeegers, Alphaklinik

[Tim]

Fuzzy
Great to hear your doing so well!
Apologies for hijacking your thread but I just want to pick up on Marks comments regarding autologous bone graft vs BMP.

Mark
I know we spoke briefly about this recently but I just want to ask a quick question following on from your comment that "There is motiviation not to use BMP, growth factors and other fusion accelerators in hybrid procedures because you don't want to risk causing fusion at the ADR level".
Do you feel then that the use of BMP is positively contraindicated in any hybrid surgery be that a combined ADR + fusion primary surgery or a later secondary fusion surgery above or below an existing adjacent ADR? As you know this is an issue I am currently very much trying to understand.

Again Fuzzy apologies for utilizing your thread. In my humble opinion a combined procedure with fusion at L5/S1 and ADR at the more mobile L4/5 sounds like a great combination which should give you years of hopefully pain free activity. I look forward to hearing of your recovery going from strength to strength.

All the best
Tim

[sharman]

Thanks, Mark, that makes sense. I have read that autologous bone has a higher chance of success than allograft, and certainly can understand why BMP might be a risk in a hybrid.

The hybrid sounds like an excellent approach to an L4 - S1 two-level. Apparently a more difficult recovery, but good long-term prospects. Wish you luck with it, and look forward to reading about your progress, Fuzz.

[fuzzy]

Now at 4 weeks.

Everything has improved a little. Left leg pain is becoming more of a good ache but my right foot is still anoying at times. It does the ice cold number the moment I stop moving and now it sizzles....but I sat in the car for a good part of the day today. The bone graft donor site does not hurt except sometimes there is a twitchy neve at the incision site that gets iritated by wearing the brace and or the band of the pants. My walking endurance is improving and my back stays painless longer now then last week before I need that 15 minute rest, and it seems that left leg is causing me more problems now then anything in my back.

I met Dr. Zeegers today for a 4 week check up and the xrays show the implants to be in their original locations still, no subsidence into my soft bone. I am relieved. So is Dr. Z. who looked downright emotional to see me walking and in good spirits today. I will surely be back in 3 to 4 month for a personal checkup as its well worth the airline ticket if I can handle coach class which I am pretty sure I can by that time.

[mmglobal]

AHHHH... I missed you... I was there. Are you staying in Munich? I'm here till at least Sunday....

I'll have to come back for the questions... grueling trip... gotta run.

Mark

[fuzzy]

Yes, I am here till sunday.

[Maria]

Fuzzy,
Sounds like you're having pretty amazing progress! The pain at the donor site sounds pretty familiar from other's posts I've read over the years. The OSS I've been seeing for the longest time has said in the past he would not want to harvest a bone graft from my hip. Said I was too slim. It may have been to do with my bone density levels as well though he did not say this.

I'm happy that you're able to walk for such extended periods of time. I love to walk and on low level Methadone (and Neurontin) I find that walking is easy for me in the last few years and actually makes my back feel better and often I can stay on my feet the whole day with very little down time.

It is the projected sitting that you think you may be able to do that really impresses me (based on where you're at now). If I could sit to fly in one coach seat again vs. 3~ wow, that'd be most amazing. Oh to travel again, go to movies, sit in a library for hours on end, take a train and actually sit in one seat vs. draping myself across two.. on and on ad nauseum...

BTW, your beard appears to be a tad longer than Mark's beard. Somehow I can't see him sporting a beard of that length in the OR tho I like that ZZ Top look!

[fuzzy]

Hello Maria, I have read about you buying 3 seats to travel by air. I have tried that and it was simply not enough. I need to lie totally flat, legs straightened out to get relief and refuel for more. That is still that way but I recover much faster. 15 minutes flat really gives relief to make it some longer in a sitting position. Impossible before, needed 1 hour then lasted 30 min.. So luckily I got business class (frequent flyer miles)for this flight over and back and can confirm again I am so glad I managed to to that rather then buying 4 (in the middle !!) seats. By turning the seat all the way back and then padding the foot rest and then laying my legs *on top* of the foot rest with my feet hanging over the end of the foot rest I managed faily well coming over as I was basically flat. Still I am worried a little about that flight back in 2 days but I think I will be fine but I am so glad I did not have to make the return trip at 2 week!

The bone graft. I am very skinny and my bone values are not so good at T-2. It seems Zeegers had no concerns with that and actually the upper hip area turned out to be pretty good density wise. By feeling along the top of the hip bone I can clearly feel a hole in it, where the bone was taken but the pain at this site is very low now, just need to keep pressure of it sometimes.
My back pain is 0, nil there is only the leg troubles whcih seem to be improving and I am not stiff at all, unlike before. I have to be downright careful. Before when standing the pain would rise fast and my back would get really stiff to move to a new position weather to sit or worse getting up. These problems are much less now.

I don't remember if I wrote this but I drove a car for 1.5 hours. This was impossible before. Now the pain was stable and not increasing and my feet were much better with the strong pain in my right leg gone. Quite a bit of discomfort (main be pain 3 to 4) in my lowerback but manageable. After the drive I had to get out very carefully but was moving fine with no after effects after 5 minutes, pain in low back went away right away after getting out of the car! This was on NO painkillers, at 4 weeks post surger.

I really do feel lucky this is turning out so well and Dr Zeegers is a magician.