[annapurna]

It's been a lot of years since Laura had to address this question but she also has a L5S1 Charite ADR and a partially degenerated L4-5 disk. At the time the thought was that a second surgery would be challenging due to scar tissue from the first surgery but not impossible.


In an analogous but not identical situation, her two cervical ADRs were put in in successive surgeries. The first was easily done and recovery was quick. The second took longer to heal from and partially damaged the nerves in the area, leading to limited response of one eye's iris to light and the need for a year or two's worth of training to get her vocal cords to fully operate again. Still better than living in pain with the degenerated disk but your concern is well-founded.


One thing you might wish to investigate is the various stem cell offering for your L4-5. They don't work all that well if the disk is leaking fluid but it sounds like you're not there yet. Laura had autologous chondrocyte discal therapy disk injections, an early form of stem cell treatment, on her L4-5 disk at ProSpine and was able to rehydrate the disk to the point where it's not given her difficulty in the ten years or so since she had the treatment. If you regard the stem cell work as a means to buy time and hold off the need for and ADR or fusion, that should calibrate both your expectations and the money and trouble you'd put into getting it. Maybe you'd be lucky and not need another surgery. Maybe you'd just buy a few years to address your L5S1, heal and regain strength before you need to address the L4-5.