A 45-year-old man was admitted to the hospital for a decompressive laminectomy to treat his long-standing lumbar spinal stenosis. The back pain from the spinal stenosis has not been relieved by pain management treatment or physical therapy. The man has been off work for 3 months due to the chronic back pain and agreed to the spinal surgery as his last option to relieve the pain and support his family. The patient is healthy and has no other medical problems. The surgery was performed on the day of admission and involved removal of a small portion of a lumbar disc, open approach . The patient had no complications from the procedure and recovered well enough to go home in three days. The patient will be seen in his surgeon's office in one week.