sarah
I know this is totally different but i had a spinal fusion for scoliosis, the full length of my spine leaving just three vertebrae at top and three at bottom. I had it at age 13 so also quite different and beforehand had no back pain. I just wanted to say that the fusion didnt really have such a negative impact on my life, there was the obvious surgery (horrific pain but morphine helps!) pain and time in hospital but now admittedly a few years on I have a barely noticeable scar, its really skinny and can do pretty much anything i could do before, some things just have to be done differently, like getting up from lying down on one of those dentist beds where your head is down lower than your feet i have to turn on to stomach first, am also more likely to get a sore back when i stand for too long, basically what would give someone else a sore back would give it to me in half of the time. In my rather unlearned opinion don't put it off, the quicker you can get it done the quicker you can get onto enjoying life so thats bout it.