How much is lost ?

@Anothermrsockmonkey I had my L-4/L-5/S-1 fused at age 29 in 2005 and it lasted for almost 18 years until I broke it and now I need to have it removed and replaced with a fusion from T-9/T-10/T-11/T-12/L-1/L-2/L-3/L-4/L-5/S-1 and possibly T-8/T-9 could be a disc replacement if I have the bone density. I have no more discs in those levels and my original fusion is not functioning as designed for the past 3+ years which I could feel by the increase in my standard chronic pain that became so severe that I couldn’t even drive to grocery store and yet the winter before I could put in over 100 days on snow both at ski resorts and in the backcountry. Once my fusion was broken I could barely walk to the lifts and Splitboarding was impossible. Now I’m back to being nearly bedridden 100% of time. My neurosurgeon proposed a multilevel fusion solution that would need to be installed through a small opening below my navel after the original fusion is removed.
I will no longer be able to bend at my waist. No more cycling on a conventional bike no more snow sports and possibly no more driving let alone riding in a car comfortably. I would need a hospital bed that would allow me to pull myself up with a hanging triangular or T shaped handle and everything that I do such as putting on socks and shoes pants etc I will need to have assistance devices etc. And with all that I will guaranteed lose I have no guarantee that my pain will decrease. I have no idea how I’m supposed to voluntarily schedule a surgery like this and so life has been ticking by and it’s been 2+ years since my diagnosis and my pain management has only decreased In effectiveness as my active life dwindles to almost nothing. I’m more lost by the day. I wish I had no choice in the matter but that’s not the case.
I’m sorry that you had to experience a fusion I haven’t forgotten how difficult that was for me too. I was in the prime of my athletic career and it was only supposed to take me 1 year to recover not 2 years as was the norm for most people my age but I had my fitness on my side. However my surgery left me in more pain than before I was fused and so it was deemed a failure and after 3 different physical therapy attempts I was told to take a break and let my body regain some sort of balance. I ended up formulating my own physical therapy plan and it took about 2 years but I was able to finally get back to my active and semi normal life albeit in a significant amount of pain but I was able to cycle and snowboard well enough that unless I told someone that I had chronic pain syndrome they wouldn’t even notice it. So I had about 7-8 years of fun and then somehow I broke that fusion and I pulverized the discs between my L-3/L-4 and my T-9/T-10 and just like the first time I had exploded the discs and there’s nothing left of them and I have no idea what I did wrong and what caused it but it was sudden not gradual and the only silver lining is that I did it (again) having as much fun as possible in the mountains where I enjoy being most and where I hope to spend eternity when the time comes.