Yes, I can highly recommend having everything done at once. I can't imagine putting my body through two sessions of anesthetic if it isn't absolutely necessary, and while I had three incisions, only one, the ALIF was anything to really complain about.
Well, not complain really, but it definitely was a bigger deal and took longer to heal being twice as big as the other two. (A two inch XLIF incision on my left hip and a frontal horizontal incision on the left-ish side of my neck in a natural fold for the C5/6 NeoDisc ADR).
While we really enjoyed learning the culture in Sao Paulo, I don't think I'd want to do it twice while healing from major surgery
Seriously, you would be basically doubling your costs and putting your body through so much more. The healing rate and pain from the separate incisions...three for me...were not in the least bit similar. If I had just had the XLIF or the ADR, it would have been much easier.
As I have been pushing ever since my surgery, I am sure that having an epidural both during and the day following surgery was instrumental in controlling my pain and the subsequent recovery. Those who have had similar surgeries without the epidural seem to suffer a fair bit more....and I am not stoic in the least and have significant problems with the pain medications not working on me.
But as everyone says, to each his/her own....