Melissa Gilbert: Fourth spinal surgery 'wildly successful'

It looks like fourth time's the charm for "Little House on the Prairie" child star Melissa Gilbert.

The 56-year-old actress, who last week announced that she'd be undergoing her fourth spinal surgery, posted on her Instagram account late Thursday that her latest procedure had been "wildly successful."

"Surgery was wildly successful!" Gilbert wrote alongside a photo of herself apparently taken after her operation. "Dr[. Robert] Bray was able to remove all the old hardware, shave off bone spurs causing numbness in my right hand and, and, and, he was able to give me the artificial disc!!!"

Gilbert announced on Nov. 16 that her third spinal fusion surgery had failed. She said that she contacted Bray in April and the orthopedic specialist had "agreed surgery was necessary and he felt I was a good candidate for an artificial disc instead of a fusion. Saving me from having to do more fusions down my spine in the future." Gilbert said she had "reached the point where the pain is nearly constant and the fingers on my right hand are beginning to tingle."

On Thursday, the actress thanked her doctor's medical group and all her well-wishers. "Thank you all for your love, support and prayers," she wrote, "I send so much love back to you all. Happy Thanksgiving indeed!!! Love and love and love...MG"