This is the 4th surgery on my lumbar spine and 5th spine surgery overall.

That's why a bit of the lumbar spine near the bottom is fully fused into a single, large vertebrae than cannot move independently anymore. Surgeon took out the original rods and screws there to replace then with 8" rods.

In 6 months to a year, the newly fused sections will look the same, rods and screws still there, but the crushed bone and cement hardened into new bone.

Our bodies continue making new bones all the time, which is why people get bony hooks and growths along their vertebrae that cause trouble. It is fortunate for people like me because those areas will harden up quite nicely. Fusion prevents a lot of movement but it stabilizes a f***ed up spine like mine where disc's were crushed, vertebrae broken, and some sliding forward or backwards out of place.