Fusion Tuesday!

[robby2782]

Good luck sir. When I had mine, I had to stop doing water changes. I had nothing but acropora and everything was fine.

Are they doing a "360" fusion?

 

[kynan]

Thanks! No just ALIF with a cage and hardware.

 

[Masedaddy]

I was an orthopedics nurse for many years. Have you ever had back surgery before? If you have then you know what you're getting into. If not then some advice.... Don't be a hero. Take the pain medicine and stay ahead of the pain. Even if you feel ok, I would take some. The pain can sneak up on you. They will have you moving around pretty soon after the surgery, so be prepared.

 

[kynan]

Thanks. No this is the first and hopefully last surgery. I respect your advise about resting. Hard to do. In my workplace I have people out often for carpal tunnel..sometimes months. I took a day off for each hand. Both my present surgeons said I am an excellent candidate. I have researched the surgery for months and learned their terminology isn't just about the medical condition, but also about the psychological profile of the patient: any history of chronic narcotics, typical complaints of pain and how influenced by distraction, any possibility of secondary gain, etc. Think they were called Wadkins indicators. Also read the rate of success is 30% lower if the patient has an attorney for WC or a car accident. That's a sad commentary. I have avoided any narcotic prescriptions. I will tell you not taking 860 MG NSAIDS that I eat like Swedish fish has been hell for the past week. My goal is no meds period when all is said and done. I hope to be back to work in 4 weeks and back to normalcy in time for May fishing out in block island sound. In the interim accidental frags that hit the bottom of the tank stay there and I will probably save 50 bucks in super glue over that period too!

 

[Munchie1976]

I had a 'simple' fusion of my C5, 6, & 7 a few years back. (I say simple because there were no cages, bars, or whatnot put in) I gotta say, I was thankful for the pain meds. I only used one prescription of them and I kept a log in between all the sleeping I did so I knew when it was time for another When they were gone, they were gone. Certainly take it easy and you know Chris and I are only a phone call away when you need us!!

 

[kynan]

Thanks missy. If you guys want to stop over later after I get home and grab some rock that is fine or tomm night as well.

For anyone with interest on the pain theme and real fear for what's happening out there, check out msn today. I wasn't aware NA is more popular than AA in CT.

 

[Masedaddy]

How did it go?

 

[seagull18]

I'm dealing with back issues myself. Has anyone spoke to you about Spinal Cord Stimulation (SCS), a product by Boston Scientific? I would imagine with every thing you are going through this might have been something you considered and therefore might have some input on.

 

[kynan]

Thanks. Never really considered othe options as disk was dead and deteriorating. I am stubborn with my body and don't really see that changing. For instance when I setup my 240 3/4 startfire I moved it across the basement and lifted and mounted it on the 40" stand by my lonesome.

The surgery was by all counts successful. The vascular doc who did the opening and closing joked in the OR that the Ortho was going to be the " rockstar" as the general surgeon had to do all the hard work. He told me before I was "deep" not fat, a kind of weird compliment at the time. Anyhow, there was a lot of pulling and stretching of muscle and actually some internal unanticipated cuts made to create access. The recovery was said to be more difficult as a result. The good news was access to the disc space was great, and the ortho got a great tight fit with the cage with no compromises made. Total time from entry and to normal hospital room was like 5 hours and I basically recall little of it.

Was out of bed walking the first night. Absolutely zero back pain.....transition out of bed and getting going hardest part. My pain was from entry site as advertised. Took out catheter early on wed. That was too early, and then got all backed up and had to do an in and out again to get relief. That was not pleasant, plus the nurse didn't have something on right and well, a quick warm shower was had by the both of us. A day later something that rhymes like " rock " was discovered looking like a distorted beer can and after discharge Friday required a quick trip to the ED. I read something about a human version of RTN and wanted no part of it.

Day 5 now and I have assorted pain and really trying to avoid the narcotics. They really push them on you at the hospital and then drop you off to very low dose afterwards. It's funny listening to a roommate always saying "8" for pain, with almost the same tone of voice he would order a Boston creme donut.

I have already traveled maybe a quarter mile around the block. My big issue is I have gout, and wouldn't you know it surgery and stress is a trigger for a gout break through event. New flare location in left foot, the side where the cut was made. I have a med that I can usually take that beats down a flare, but that is heavily discouraged as it inhibits new bone grown with the fusion. So the irony now is 80 percent of the pain is from the gout rather than the surgery, and walking is an essential activity. Time to just test my metal and power through it. And there always more personally painful activities, like doing water tests!

 

[robby2782]

Wow! You are very fortunate! I didn't want to be negative before your surgery, but my back pain never went away since my surgery several years ago. I couldn't get out of bed for 2 days.
Congratulations sir, that's great news!