James,

I can relate well to the L1 fracture after lliving with severe pain from S1 to L3 for many years before my first back surgery. Many times I still have to roll off the bed into the floor and crawl to the bathroom in the middle of the night. During my first surgery to remove the crushed disc and repair the others the doctor noted in the durgery report I had an extremely small spinal canal. He removed pieces of the vertebra to make room for the nerves to go through, then a little over a year later when I had the second surgery he removed one of the fins from the back of the vertebra because the canal had closed back up. I have always felt the removal of the fin and pieces of bone the doctor took out is what slowed my fusion progression down.

From what you are saying I can tell things are going to get better for you as you build your stamina and strenght back up. Stairs and curbs slow me down a bit at the moment also, but for you to be able to start tackling them again you seem to be making good progress. I can imagine how hard the PT has been so far but the rewards we make it well worth the effort.

Hopefully after the do the upper thoracic surgery you will feel like a new man.

Brent