I need surgery due to loss of strength in both legs. The neurosurgeon I contacted plans to remove three pieces of spine (spinous process) and also increase the space around four nerve roots.
[1] What other surgical methods are available to accomplish the same result?
[2] If spinal bone is removed, what is the typical recovery time?
[3] With no bone to connect with back muscles, what are the long-term problems and will there be loss of mobility or strength?
[4] What would you do if you were me?
[5] What should I avoid?
Without question get several other opinions before undergoing any kind of spinal surgery. Do your best to get at least one of the opinions from a sports medicine spinal orthopedic surgeon.
It is my experience that neurosurgeons do more surgery than is usuallly necessary many times.
I had spinal surgery a year ago and had 6 opinions plus my original one from a sports medicine spinal orthopedic surgeon.
2 of the opinions where from neurosurgeons who wanted to do far more surgery and far more complicated surgery than the other 4 surgeons.
I opted for my original sports medicine ortho surgeon, who did the least surgery required and am fine now.
One of the reasons that I returned to my original surgeon is his policy of refusing to do surgery on a patient unless they have had other opinions as well so that the patient can compare info and what is suggested to do.
He made a strong point to me that when surgery is being done on the spine it is vital to have several opinions before consenting to surgery. No matter how minor or major spinal surgery is going to be, anything can go wrong and it is important to have other opinions and feel extremely confident in the spinal surgeon.
I took that advise and never regretted going back to my original spinal surgeon. I also found that going for other opinions built up the security in my mind that I needed the surgery and was making the right decision.
Good luck