February 6 I will be 2 weeks out of a 2-level fusion. I had a 360 fusion which is rods and screws in back and cages through the front. No bone graft. He used BMP (the bone protein stuff Jay mentions above) and PEEK cages. At this point I consider myself to be the same as I was before the surgery. To be fair though I was not in as bad of shape as you describe yourself as being. Right now I'm kind off disappointed but shouldn't be as I know I am still fairly early in the recovery stage. I returned to work after 6 weeks. That may have been a couple of weeks too early. Sitting for a long period of time is the issue here.
Did he get into what type of fusion he was suggesting. There are quite a few variations on a theme so to speak. For example, there are 2 incisions on my back that are about 2.5 inches long. Some doctors for the same thing will make a much longer single incision which is old school. Well at least for the 360. I think that it is unavoidable if it is a TLIF or PLIF as everything is done from the back. In my opinion you want to avoid an auto bone graft if possible. I have heard from folks that the harvest site stays painful for quite a while.
Good luck to you.
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