Update

One thing I struggled with the last few days was if I really needed a spinal fusion. At times, it seemed like having the surgery was a bit dramatic.  I was moving better overall with little pain in my back and could notice the start of tingling in my feet, which was something new. Tingling was a better sensation than complete numbness. One thing that continued to not improve, dispite all my hard work in PT, was foot drop. Days leading up to surgery, I would try and test my strength just to make sure I was still weak and not making it up in my head.

I went into surgery not expecting it to work. I didn't want to get my hopes up and be disappointed later if it didn't. My PT and doctors warned me that nerve damage is a funny thing. It could come back eventually, but it may be months or even years before I saw full function, but really there was no guarantee. I am not very patient, so months and years as a timeline is frustrating. I asked R. for affirmation regarding the surgery. "Is this the right thing to do?" His response was that he didn't know. It was the best decision at the time, but he wasn't sure it was the "right" decision.

I am happy to say that the surgery went well and was the right decision. The surgeon actually said my back was worse than what he anticipated. As it turns out, I had a second fracture on my right side as well as my left. From my understanding, my front and back L5 vertebrae didn't connect at all. I had enough core strength to compensate, but surgery was a must. As well, he said the space where my nerve comes out on the left side was a pancake. There was literally no room for it. Remarkably, my left leg already has a lot of strength back and I can walk around slowly. My sweet corset looks like it is out of the Victorian times and as I love it. (That may just be the muscle relaxers and pain meds talking).