I had a lumbar fusion done on my L5 S1 with instrumentation. I am in constant pain on a daily basis. I tell my doctor all the time. He has me on Tramadol and Percocet. I am so tired of taking medication. He ordered a CAT Scan. I had it done and he gave me the results yesterday. We had talked about taking the hardware out because he thinks that's whats bothering me. Keep in mind, I'm 25 and weigh 118 pounds. I am very small. He says I'm very thin and that's why I'm in so much pain. He told me the CAT scan looked fine, the report was fine. The only thing was that he couldn't take the hardware out because I haven't fused yet. Shouldn't I have fused by now? Anyways, he also told me my other option was having surgery through my stomach to place these "discs" to hold my spine in place. And after I would heal, he would cut my back open and take out the hardware. I don't know what to do. This is hard news. Can someone give me some feedback on this? I just don't want to be in pain anymore. I'm so young and have 3 little ones that I can barely pick up.View Thread