TheRook46

My father has degenerative disk disease or something like that. He has had multiple fusions in his lower back. The first or second worked really well and relieving the nerve pain in his legs. It was somewhere around a year or so after that he began to experience the same pains that gradually ended up leading to worse pain. Apparently he scars up really bad which caused more pressure on nerves or something like that. The last fusion surgery on the next vertebrae up from the previous fusion did not help at all. If anything he says he is worse.

He has told me he regrets ever having surgery and won't ever have another. He swears that the scarring is one of the biggest issues.

He had a knee replacement after his last fusion and days it worked great for 6 montha before his range of motion went away. Again he swears it the scarring.

Is excessive scarring a common issue in spinal (or any type) of surgery?

He went through the spinal cord stimulation process and it was a mess for him. Apparently his is wired differently and it took them forever to track the correct nerves to stimulate. He had it removed after a few days. Pain management has been quite the mess as well. It was daily doses of morphine and nerve blockers. It helped for a while but slowly stopped being as effective even with higher dosages. Long story short, no surgery would likely have been the best approach for him. Too bad time travel isn't a thing!