Case Summary  |  Spinal Fusion

I will be 32 July 2010, and I feel like I could be turning 60. I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease, osteoarthritis, spondylolisthesis, narrowing of the spinal canal "officially" in November 2008, but I have been suffering the effects since about 2000 after 3 car accidents where we were rear ended each time.
Initially I would just get mild pain down my legs and back soreness, but over the years it has progressed into constant pain, burning, electric type tingling, numbness, and aching in my lower extremities. My calf muscles will continually twitch and it increases if I am more active. My hamstring feels like it is constantly being stretched and almost always sore.
For treatments, I have had 10 - 15 epidural steroid injections over the years, countless physical therapy sessions, Pain Management, and most recently I had a micro-discectomy at L3/L4 which did nothing for my symptoms. Later in July 2009, I had a spinal fusion from L3 - S1, so almost all of my lower back is now one bone mass with a couple titanium rods, multiple screws, and fasteners.
Even after all of that, I am still in constant pain and I am unable to work because I cannot sit for longer than 15-20 minutes at a time because the pain goes to extremes when I have to sit completely upright in order to use my computer. The pain meds don't really work. I have to take morphine and percocet a few times a day, and if I didn't have those, then I don't know what I would do.
I have come to accept the fact that I will probably be in pain the rest of my life, and I just try to enjoy what I can while I can.

Nothing seems to get rid of the pain. It is ever-present.