"Spine- fusion or artificial disk?" ... Is there a third choice?
I wouldn't let them touch me until I had changed my diet and exercised with the goals of losing weight and gaining wellness.
Get yourself into the mid point for your height - Which means you'll be around the same weight you were as a teenager.
It sounds impossible but this is exactly what I did.
I started at 115 kg - 253.5 pounds just before Obama took office. (October 2008) I now weight 74 kg - 163 pounds.
I did this because adult onset type 2 diabetes runs in my family and my father died because of complications at 57. (I'm 54)
So if you've already done that and you
have to make a choice I'd go with the artificial disk.
I don't have issues myself but I have known people who have had spinal fusions.
Over time they generally have more because of the increased flexing of the remaining disks above an below the first fusion.
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Pavulon, best wishes to you and your family.