first of all i was born with spina bifida occulta- and was in a home for crippled children for a year as a child. i have had back pain problems my whole life- in 1987 i had a percutaneous discectomy to l5-6, 1988 a laminectomy/discectomy and again in
1989, then in 1990 i had a interbody fusion with pedicle screw fixation of l5-6, and in 1994 they removed the hardware due to a nerve got wedged behind the hardware and gave me severe pain. yes, i have 6 lumbar vertabrae to make things a little more complicated. i was pretty much ok for a few years- always had back pain but nothing i could not handle. now it is back with a vengeance-i have pain down both legs to the bottom of my feet with burning, tingling and pressure.i can't walk far without pain and then if i sit down for a few minutes i can walk a little longer. i have had physical therapy, 4 epidural/caudle nerve blocks,3 trigger point injections, i have been on lyrica( which by the way made me gain a lot of weight) , topomax, celebrex,
nothing is helping. recently went to neurosurgeon and he said that my l6-s1 is severely degenerated and he is ordering tests to prepare me for surgery # 6 which is a fustion of l6-s1. my diagnosis is chronic low back pain, failed back syndrome, and severe degenaterive disc disease. won't give me a prognosis yet until all test results are in and he knows exactly what will need to be done. however, he did tell me that it will be highly difficult because he has all the lesions and other surgery
problems to work thru and repair.

i also want you to know that i have worked all these years, inbetween surgeries.
to this day i am working 40 hours a week. but i feel that i have about had it.the
pain and frustration is to much. i have thought about filing disability but you have to be off work a year before you can get anything and how will i live due to the fact that i have not been able to find a company to give me disability insurance all these years-- they ran from me as soon as i said born with back problems let alone, the surgeries.

please can anyone give me any positive insight to any of this? i am really losing all hope in any and all of my options at this time. thanks for listening