Neil Brennan

OCCUPATION: Entrepreneur, Amateur Boxer & Bad Backs Forum Champion

CONDITION: Triple Spinal Fusion

He told me that at some stage in my life I had broken two fossette bones in my back. These bones are used to keep the vertebrae in position. Once they are broken this allows the vertebrae to drift forward (spondylolisthesis), wrecking the discs as it does. I had even begun to lose feeling in my left leg.

The only way to fix this in his opinion was a triple spinal fusion (L3 – L5). I was horrified at the thought of surgery. I went to a second surgeon for his opinion and he fully agreed with the first guy.

Cutting a long story short, I had the operation at The Avenue Hospital (Windsor, Victoria, Australia) on September 11, 2003 (not a lucky date, but trust me, that was the last thing on my mind at the time!).

All went well. I regained all the feeling in my leg and the crippling pain in my lower back was no more!

I went home after 10 days and was recovering well, walking for an hour each day. I was pain free, other than the healing pain of the surgery.

Five weeks post op, I started experiencing terrible pain to the left side of my spine. So it was back for more X ray’s and off to see the surgeon again.

Looking at the X ray he told me that one of the screws had come out of the vertebrae and he would have to go back in and fix it…can you imagine my horror!?!

My 2nd operation was on November 4, 2003 at the Avenue Hospital again. All went well, but the surgeon said that there were 5 other screws ready to fall out and that there was a problem with the calcium in my bones.

He said that the chances of this fusion holding was poor because of the quality of the bones that they had screwed into, and that they would need to operate through my stomach and place fusion cages between my vertebrae’s.

Off to the Epworth Hospital (Richmond, Victoria, Australia) and the operation was done on November 14th, 2003 – my third major surgery in as many weeks.

All went well and a week later I was at home recovering. The whole thing has been a bumpy ride but well worth it, as I feel about 95% well now.

I have always been very sports minded and I think this helped me recover so well from what has been quite an ordeal. I boxed as a young man in the UK, and continued to do so here in Australia – winning the Victorian Amateur Boxing title in 1984. In 1985, representing Australia, I was a silver medallist in the Oceania Games. After boxing I played local footy well into my 30’s until my back became a big problem.

I came across Bad Backs from a Google search. At the time I searched through the Discussion Forum and found many stories that were full of the frustration and depression I was experiencing. There seemed to be no-one who had been through what I had been through, although I did get lots of support from fellow back pain sufferers, it made me reluctant to post at first. I just wanted some advice, support and maybe an idea of what to expect – although I know the experience and outcome is different for everyone – you need only look through the forum to see that!

Now I use the forum and contribute quite frequently. I hope I can provide others what I so desperately was in need of when I began my traumatic back surgery operation(s). I continue to receive dozens and dozens of personal emails and phonecalls from Discussion Forum members – answering lots of questions, and also in support of my recovery to find out my secret! I am more than happy to help. I hope that the support I provide means that no-one else goes through what I went through alone. A sense of humour always helps too – as you’ll see from my posts, and sharing funny stories of my recovery can help raise a smile, and that doesn’t hurt one bit.

I recognise that I am very lucky to be where I am today.

Through my input on Bad Backs’ Discussion Forum I hope I can help others achieve this too – or at least, make the process leading up to it that bit easier. A little support goes a long way – thank you Bad Backs for providing this unique place on the web.