New Member, upcoming spine surgery

**KanRunMo** · 06-22-2011, 03:12 PM

I read your account of your back surgery at Bonati Institute. You never really explained what they actually did. You had said the doctor said you had a lot of bone growth in the L4-L5 spine and you said the doctor told you exactly what he was going to do. However, you really never said what he did. Did he just scrape out bone or what? I'm glad it worked out so well for you. Most of the time fusions and ADRs work but they are not for everyone and they may not last a lifetime either. I've talked with many people who have had back surgery and most of them don't really know what they had done.

I really am glad that the procedure at Bonati worked for you and you are feeling good and are active. Whatever works! Great to hear it! We need all the information we can get.

**RetroVirus** · 06-23-2011, 10:31 PM

I'm no doctor, and am no good at medical terminology but here's what I understand.

They used the arthroscopic laser to burn away excess bone "decompressing" around my pinched nerve. Once the nerve is freed, the pain goes away. The advantage of conscious anesthesia is that you can tell the doctor when you feel some leg or back pain, when they are bumping up against the nerve, so they can avoid any nerve damage. This can't happen when you are knocked out during a fusion.

**NancyC** · 07-03-2011, 04:48 AM

Originally Posted by RetroVirus

I'm no doctor, and am no good at medical terminology but here's what I understand.

They used the arthroscopic laser to burn away excess bone "decompressing" around my pinched nerve. Once the nerve is freed, the pain goes away. The advantage of conscious anesthesia is that you can tell the doctor when you feel some leg or back pain, when they are bumping up against the nerve, so they can avoid any nerve damage. This can't happen when you are knocked out during a fusion.

Sure they can! When I had surgery, there were electrodes attached to my head and monitored by a machine so that if they came too close to a nerve, the machine would alert the doctors. Doesn't that sound SO sci-fi???

Glad you are doing so well! Excellent!

- Nancy