Elle’s Spinal Surgery

Many of you may know my partner Elle has been suffering with chronic pain for a number of years, however this pain has become unmanageable due to central canal spinal stenosis that is now effecting her spinal nerves. She desperately needed surgery: a L4/5 spinal microdisectomy. Which took place at the end of March, however in the recovery period she has suffered a complication and was re-admitted to hospital and now requires a second surgery. See the update for full details.

Elle has been advised that there are still massive delays on public wait lists for these type of procedures and she could be waiting 6 months even just for a consult in the public system, most likely years for an actual surgery. Thankfully, Elle does have private health insurance, which covers a large portion of the surgery (which is expected to be $20,000+). However, there is still a large out of pocket cost. The out of pocket costs are $6500 for the neurosurgeon, $1000 for the assistant surgeon and an unknown amount for the anaesthetist. All other payment options and avenues have been exhausted. Any money above the target rate will be used for rehabilitation or physiotherapy costs.

Compression of the spinal nerve in the spinal canal causes a number of debilitating symptoms, including severe pain in the lower back, numbness and tingling down the legs and in severe cases bladder and bowel control may not only be impaired but lost entirely. Her neurosurgeon has advised the sooner surgery is done, the better chance she has at sustaining no long term damage to her spine, leg and bladder. On top of excruciating back pain, she already has numbness and is begging to lose sensation in her left leg, indicating the longer the surgery is put off the higher the likelihood will be of major, long term impacts on her ability to use her left leg, bladder and bowels.

At this stage it is believed the cause of her central canal stenosis is genetic, as it is premature spine degeneration for a 29 year old. Surgery is the best chance she has at both treating her pain, and providing a long term solution for her spine. Her neurosurgeon has advised if the surgery is performed soon, her recovery time will be around two nights in hospital, a few weeks of rehabilitation, six weeks of intermediate recovery and within 12 months she will be fully functional and pain free. 80% of patients who wait longer then 12 weeks to have these procedures have significantly worse pain outcomes, so the matter is urgent.

Any and all support is appreciated during this difficult time.

Dylan x