Sciatica surgery in Karachi of my spine
Twenty days ago I went through my Sciatica surgery in Karachi of my Spinal cord at Agha Khan University Hospital. I was expecting to go through it from a long time, but little did I know that I would be having it this early in my life.
How did it (Sciatica) happen?
I have been very active through out my life. I have an obsession for bodybuilding. I got into the sport of bodybuilding when I was 19 years of age and slowly and gradually progressed with the weights. My body got stronger, so did the weights I lifted, and that took its tole on my the disks of my spinal cord. Back in 2010 I was doing a very famous lower back exersize called the T-bar rows when I heard a ‘pop’ in my lower back, but I was young and strong to kept pushing my body without paying much heed to it.
Little did I know that the ‘pop’ that I felt decade ago would push me in the operation theatre at the Agha Khan University hospital for my Lumbar fusion in Karachi of L5-S1. Initially what just was a mere disk slip or a disk bulge, turned into the degenerative disk disease after years of not caring and kept lifting heavy weights in the gym.
Days before my Sciatica surgery in Karachi
Fast forward many years to 2023, and I was working at my company for which I used to manage my daily commute on my motorcycle. Karachi’s roads are infamous for their bumps and unevenness, and they played their part where I started having severe pain in my lower back for which I went to Liaquat National Hospital for Physical therapy, but little did I know that after getting back home from my physical therapy I wouldn’t be able to walk even.
I couldn’t sleep the night I had my therapy and was in excrutiating pain the entire time, in the morning I called my friend and brother Amir Virani to take me to Agha Khan University Hospital where I would get the Epidural Steroid injection in Karachi for Lumbar spine nerve pain. Epidural steroid injections can give a relief from your nerve pain for 3-6-9 months. As I went to the pain management clinic in Agha Khan university hospital the doctor there saw my MRI and said that my case is out of their grasp and sent me to Dr. Akbar Jaleel Zuberi who happens to be an Orthopedic Spine Surgery in Karachi.
My L5S1 Lumbar spinal fusion surgery at AKUH Karachi
After meeting Dr. Akbar Jaleel Zuberi, he left it on me to either get the surgery done, or to manage the pain with the painkillers if I could, but the issue was that I had my left leg numb and had I delayed the surgery more, it would have damaged my L5-S1 nerve even more, so I opted to go for the operation of my lower back pain in Karachi.
I was admitted into the hospital on Friday, got my surgery done on Saturday, stayed in the hospital for Sunday and discharged on Monday. My surgery was painless as I was placed under the general anesthesia and went on for three and a half hours, even after I woke up I didn’t feel much pain because of the heavy pain killers I was on. The doctors made me walk with a walker on the second day of my surgery and Alhumdolillah from the second day of Spinal Fusion, I was walking on my own.
Life after Lumbar Spinal Fusion surgery in Karachi
Today marks the 20th day post-operation, and I am slowly an gradually coming back to life. I am walking for 20-30 minutes everyday slowly and feeling good after my surgery. The only issue being that my left leg is still numb and it might take a couple of months to an year for the nerve to heal as the healing process of the L5S1 nerve is very slow and takes time.
Cost of Sciatica Surgery in Karachi
The cost of Lumbar spinal fusion in Karachi varies differently and is dependant on several different factors. How many vertebras are fused, which hospital are you going to get it operated from, which screws are you opting to go with and etc. I had taken the price of Spinal fusion in Karachi from Medicare hospital which quoted me 4.5 lakh and Agha Khan University hospital, where I got my surgery done costed me a total of 9.5 lakh.
I would’ve checked other hospital’s price of Spinal Fusion in Karachi, but since it was a very delicate surgery of my spinal cord, I wanted to go with the best, that is why I chose Agha Khan Hospital.
Disk replacement surgery vs Spinal fusion surgery
I wanted to get the disk replacement surgery at my L5S1 level rather than Lumbar spinal fusion, but sadly we live in Pakistan and here we don’t have the availability of advanced procedures that are being performed in the developed countries in the field of medical.
Post-op care of Lumbar spinal fusion
Even though I had the minimally invasive spinal fusion, one does need to treat it carefully. Below are the points which I am cautious about after my lower back surgery in Karachi:
- No bending or twisting till the bones get fused.
- No lifting of heavy weights, not even 10 Kgs.
- Praying Salat whilst sitting, no ruku or Sujood.
- No sitting for more than 30 mins one time.
- Using the log-roll technique to come out and go into bed.
- Eating clean, because you can easily gain weight because of no physical activity.
- Taking vitamin D and calcium supplements.
- Taking Paracetamol when I feel a little pain
How to reach out to me?
If you are facing the issue of Sciatica or Arq Un Nisa in Karachi and want to know more about surgery then feel free to reachout out to me on the following: