Ugh, I feel her pain, (not meant to be a pun). I hope it brings her some relief, I've had that done years ago when it was a fairly new procedure, it bought me four years of relief but then it slowly came back as the bone spurs grew and the disks collapsed more. Now I'm facing more drastic surgery, grinding spurs away and fusing disks.
I didn't loose my leg because of the damage from the fall, they pieced my foot together with cadaver bone and hardware, I healed better then they hoped. But then a year later I went in to have screws removed and was left with a staph infection that went right into the marrow of the bones killing them, that's what cost me my leg. Now I refuse to be operated on unless it's life or death, staph infection from neck surgery, if it was anything like in my foot, probably wouldn't be something one would survive and wouldn't be a pleasant way to go. So I'm holding out as long as I can, as bad as some days are, I'm not ready to be cut yet.
Mike, make sure she takes it very easy and follows exactly what the doctors told her, it would be a shame not to get full advantage of the procedure now that its done. Tell her not to be like me and think it's OK to get back in the grove early..... Here's the thing they don't tell you unless you ask, well at least most doctors won't tell you, it's not a permanent fix, there is no such thing, expect more spine problems down the road and choose wisely before letting them repeatedly operate, these doctors like to get you on the table and count the coin. I know many who were quick to jump on having 2nd, 3rd, ect. spine operations and each time when the pain came back it was worse then before. Get the best damn doctor you can find and get at least a 2nd opinion before going under the knife, there is a lot they can do better today then a year ago and will procedures will improve in the future, so go slowly when deciding what's best today. Good luck to her, best wishes for her.
