There is quite a bit of information out there about what a spinal fusion operation is, and there are many different ways to do it depending on your physician's opinion and preferences.
In a nutshell, here is what Bolted Bionic Surgeon told me: he will be in the operating room with a vascular surgeon and two other general surgeons that will assist. The vascular surgeon will create an incision in my lower belly area, move my lower abdominal organs onto a tray to clear the lumbar spine area, and seal off any arteries and veins that were opened and bleeding.
At that point, my spine surgeon will come in and begin the anterior entry portion of the surgery: he will remove what is left of the two discs, and insert synthetic bone where the discs were. After that, he provides a support system for the vertebrae using bolts and screws (I think he may have purchased them at Lowes the night before). Once that is complete, the general surgeon puts my organs back into their original locations and sews me up. Then they flip me over and the real fun begins.
At this point the posterior segment of the surgery begins. The spine surgeon makes an incision in my lumbar area and drills bolts and screws into the back of my vertebrae. these bolts and screws support a kind of "cage" that holds up L3-L4-L5. He then sews me up and the rehabilitation begins.
Why the two incisions front and back? Well, according to my surgeon, there is less blood loss and thus less blood tranfusion required by doing it this way. After this description of the surgery, which sounds abominable and extremely painful, I am sure interested to see what I learn from Dr. X in Utah next week during the second opinion.
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