Monday 9 September 2019

Spinal fusion update - 2 years on

It's crazy to think it's been over 2 years since I went under the knife to have my spine straightened and re-aligned. I'm fused from T11 to L3 with 8 screws and 2 titanium rods and I feel great!

I've been blessed with a relatively straight-forward recovery since my surgery and thankfully don't struggle much with pain. Don't get me wrong, it's not been plain sailing but when I read about the pain others have to deal with, I count myself as one of the lucky ones.

Occasionally I get an 'aching' pain down my left leg, it's always been my left leg that's taken the brunt of my weight and thus is the one that struggles with the pressure. Back in 2015 (maybe) I had a nerve-blocker epidural to help block the pain I was experiencing in my leg which worked perfectly for a few years but it's recently been making a reappearance!

Other than that, I get the odd twinge in my lower back but that's to be expected and watch what i'm doing at the gym rather than thinking that i'm invisible and a little niggle will just go away.



In terms of my scar, it's 11 inches starting under my bra strap and running down to just past my jeans but it's so neat! Scars aren't something that bother me normally but I did struggle to begin with having a huge scar that was an angry red colour, thankfully my surgeon did a great job at keeping it tight and thanks to him it's healed so well and no longer bothers me!

Despite the above, I can honestly say that I do not regret getting the surgery done, I was given the option to watch and wait with the view to probably have to have the surgery done when I was ~40. I obviously decided to go for it when I was 22 and i'm so glad I did.

For those in the process of making the decision about having fusion done, my advice would be to do your research - find real people (YouTube / blogs) that have been through it and listen to their stories. It really helped me to hear from people that had actually been through it and hear about their real experiences.

p.s. I don't think scars are anything to be ashamed of and no one should be afraid of showing them off, I know that now.

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