Very interesting, I wish it was an option when it mattered the most. Thank you, as always for the info
@Ghoul. It's awesome you had such a good experience / result from it.
There are options now and they are so so much better. When I had to do mine I was early to getting it done with a neurosurgeon and robot. They did a bunch of imaging, I drank or got injected with dies for some of it. "Right l5-s1 transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion with bilateral posterior instrumentation and posterolateral fusion l4-s2" is what I concented to on paper. They spent extra time from my drugged induced state i recall "picking old bone fragments out and cleaning up damaged tissues" and cut a window into my upper spine and did the same treatment. They spent an extra 6 hours in the operating room with me. I cannot remember how long total but my mom thought the worst it was terrible for her. I was in my early 20s still.
Long shitty after care story part short I was supposed to be walking within 24 hours and sent home, it took 48hrs and better aftercare support.
But the surgeon im only grateful for her! At the time my alternative was a line of sight surgery done by a pain clinic more or less, with no real chance or expectation of improving long term. Just "maintaining a manageable level of pain" was being lucky by the standard then.