Hi folks,
my name is Lasse, 38 years old, coming from Hamburg, Germany. I had an ADR surgery at L4/5 (Spinal Kinetics M6-L, 10mm/6°) one week ago and left hospital yesterday.
Compared to my condition before the surgery, I feel very good so far. All the horrible leg pain and dumbness has gone immediately after surgery and all the abdominal and lumbar post surgery pain is getting better every day and can be held in control with some good meds as far as possible.
If someone had told me I could stand and sit almost pain free just one week after surgery, I would have said he was crazy
Nevertheless, all the movement like walking, standing up, turning around or changing my sleeping position in bed is done very cautious at the moment and is (in some situations or during specific movements) accompanied by some pain hitting in the lower back. Apart from that, I felt some constant lumbar pain, slightly radiating in the buttocks after the first day of increased movement.
I was told that this is normal and that it´s mostly coming from the facet joints that firstly did not like the hard stretching during surgery and secondly have to get used to the new biomechanics and statics, since the implant causes a different angulation and alignment, especially of my vertebrae L4 and L5.
Since this is my first (and hopefully my last) ADR, I´m curious what I can expect regarding recovery and convalescence. It seems that my surgeon did a good job (the control x-ray showed a perfect fitted implant), but unfortunately he was not the kind of surgeon with lots of empathy or with much time to talk. The hospital´s physiotherapist was a real disappointment. After some first mobilisation 2 days after surgery I haven´t seen him again. So I don´t know anything about the upcoming period of time and how I should ideally feel, let´s say, after 1, 3 or 6 weeks post surgery when everything is going fine and normal.
Even though this is truly not my first bigger issue with the lower back / lumbar spine, I am feeling a bit lost at the moment and it´s a really strange feeling with this foreign object in my spine. It feels like going on cotton wool... or ... to be more precise.. I am moving like C3PO or Robocop – on the one hand because I totally lost confidence in my body or the feeling for it, on the other hand it´s the fear of any new pain, I guess
Is it normal that it feels like immediately breaking into two halfs when trying to bend?
So, how should I proceed? All I know is that all sport activities are forbidden for at least 6 weeks. So when to have the first slight physiotherapy, for example? What can I do and what should I avoid? Do you have any special tips for what to do to help my facet joints and the lumbar muscles getting familiar with my pimped high-tech spine? From what techniques, activities or things do or did YOU benefit the most?
And the most important question to all of you fellow sufferers (especially those, who had the exact same surgery): How long did it take till you had the feeling that you are fully back to life?
Your answers are highly appreciated
Best regards,
Lasse
P.S.: my english is a bit rusty, I am sorry for that!
