So you can better understand and see what they did to me.

There are 6 levels now fused at the base of my spine. My entire lumbar region down into my sacrum. Each area you see with screws is a separate vertebrae. All of the damaged discs have been removed and replaced with some of my crushed bone, crushed cadaver bone, medical cement and secured in place with rods ans screws. Some required spacers too. Those are the squarish things.

The only photo I have of the 8 -9 inch incision is too disturbing and gross to post. It was taken by surgeons on day one as they were gluing the skin shut. Now, the resulting scar is quite long, red, and looks pretty angry.

It is a huge surgery, which followed a lesser surgical correction 6 days prior that simply didnt do the job well enough. Neurosurgeon was trying least invasive corrections but after the fact, it kinda blew the whole area up so she had to do the more extensive surgery.

I lost so much blood (again) that I had to get a bunch of transfusions during and after the surgery. I also had 2 quite large dura tears (the covering of the spine itself) that required blood patches to close and 24 hours each flat on my back.

In moving all of the stuff in the way (muscles, blood vessels, nerves, skin layers) to get to the spine itself, one nerve got slightly stretched and it is the cause of the horrific pain I've been experiencing as it attempts to heal. Major nerves are the worst things to injure. The degree of pain they cause is indescribable.

I hope this helps.

One is a direct view looking at my back and the other (curved) is the side view.