Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Back Surgery

Since there have been a few posts questioning back surgery, thought I'd share my latest experience. I am writing this from the Sierra Suite at the Physicians Hospital in Redding, Ca. I checked in at 8:00 on Tuesday for a scheduled 11:00 surgery.

Four years ago I had a L4/L5 discectomy to relieve sever pain in my left leg. That surgery was a total success.

About two months ago I started having pain in both legs starting high in my butt. I soon was unable to stand strait, and walking bent over was painful. An MRI showed I was suffering for Spinal Stenosis, bone spurs, and a suspect L3/L4 disc. The surgery lasted three hours for a bilateral laminectomy, discectomy, and removal of three bone spurs.

I am 70 years old, in pretty good shape from a lot of hiking and taking care of 20 acres. Today is day two and stood strait without any pain. I took several walks down the halls without pain, but a little unsteady in the left leg. The fourth walk was much stronger than the first. The surgeon said he had to move a nerve which was most likely causing the uneasiness in the left leg. A walk tonight felt almost normal. The only pain is from the incision and dressing when I move in bed as the stitches pull a bit.

From my perspective there is no reason to not take steps to alleviate sever back pain. My only caution is to select a skilled Neurosurgeon, follow his/her instructions and do the follow up rehab.

I am going home in the AM. Dinner was excellent, NY Steak with prawns with great sauce, red potatoes with veggies, pudding for desert. Breakfast is eggs benedict. Not Bad.

Sounds like you were in good hands. Here's to a continued quick recovery!

Wish I had your results. If anything, I have more problems after surgery than when I went in.

though my surgery doesnt sound like it was as involved as yours as i just had a bulge removed from L5-S1 but my experiance was the same.....went into the OR in huge amounts of pain, woke up in recovery in no pain at all.....infact the only reason i took the pain pills and muscle relaxers afterward was cause the surgeon drilled into my head that in order to get to the disk they had to remove the back muscles from the bone and they needed to stay nice and relaxed while they reattached to the bone...i sure didnt need them cause i was in any pain....

ive had 3 minor knee surgeries and all of them were far more painful which i dont get cause they had to unhook muscle off the bone and grind away bone on my back to even get to the disk but there was nearly no pain associated with the back surgery....

Well rattler, I am glad your surgery worked well. I am home this AM and my only complaint is the stitches pulling a bit when I eased into my "favorite recliner". My surgery was a bit long so a catheter was used. Hate them things as "my control" has slipped but was assured by the head nurse that things will return to normal in a few days. Oh and that crap about "I am removing the catheter now, this will not hurt" &^&%$^&*##? is just that. Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Levrluvr, sorry you did not get the results you were looking for. We are all different. I had a cousin 20 years younger that took 3 years to get right after a discectomy.

I can not say enough good things about my surgeon. He is very old school, is 63 and still performs a heavy schedule of micro surgery. The best thing is we communicate well, he is a hunter and steelhead guy, his son is also a surgeon who spends a month in Zim doing corrective work on children. He popped in last night to see how I was doing, apologized because he was hurrying to take the grand kids trick or treating.

Catheters suck! had a 1SG that if you couldn't pee within the 1st 4 hours of a urinalysis, you ent to the aide station and got cathed. Thank God I always drank an abundance of coffee in the morning.

Jim, glad the surgery went well, praying for a speedy recovery for you.

sounds familiar.....i had one aswell and that definitely was the worst part of the whole ordeal.....actually that was the only bad part and it really [bleep] sucked....

Glad your surgery went well.

I'm happy to hear you are doing well.

Who did your surgery?

Dr. Labosky did mine, he is in Chico, CA

I had L4 and L5 worked on, I now have rods, screws and a cage.

Wish you well.

Dr. James Tate

PRAYERS TO YOU FOR A FULL RECOVERY,I had my L3,4 and 5 fused 25 years ago and with GODS BLESSINGS I'm still pain free.

I had a L4/L5 discectomy back in 1996. Went in at 10am, walked out at 4pm happy as a lark. Missed just 7 days of work, mostly due to not being able to ride in a car.
Played my first round of golf 30 days after surgery and never looked back. I still get a twinge every now and then.They said might happen due to scar tissue. I take a couple of alieve and keep on going.

Most likely the lawyers talking, but I was told not to drive for 6 weeks.