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Posted 11/10/2013 12:19 PM (GMT 0)
People asked me to post updates on this surgery since most cannot find a surgeon who will perform it. My surgeon has a specialty thoracic deformities. He was honest and said he does not like operate here unless absolute necessary. He told me less than 1% of Herniation occur here and less than 5% of those need surgical repair. I spent 30min with him which I thought was a lot. In the end I went with him because the only knock on him by patients was you only see his PA's after, unless an emergency. I was fine with that as I was already, seeing his PA.

I was admitted the night before to be given Fresh Frozen Plasma for low INR due to non-alcoholic cirrhosis (bile duct obstruction). The surgeon got my liver doc and the GI team from the hospital where the surgery was performed.

Surgery was performed at 730am, was told tomexpectm3 hours since 1 fusion. However it took nearly 7 hours. I spent 4 hours in recovery, they could not get pain managed at all. They apologized the next day. I was and up walking by 9am.

I was walking about 10min at a time around 4 times a day. My surgeon said this is one of the worst there is for pain post-op. He said the pain will last much longer than others and we are looking at a 3 to 4 month taper schedule.

I am currently taking 30mg Oxy ER in morning and 30mg in evening. I take 6 mg hydromorphone every 4 hours and 6mg Valium every 6 hours.

The pain is bad, but beside the pain 2 weeks in I would still do the surgery again.

Anyone planning on doing this or thinking about may free to ask.

I have my first post-op appointment tomorrow. I will post in this topic explaining the first post-op results.

Sean "aka SyXx"
Posted 11/10/2013 2:32 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Sean and I hope you continue to heal and progress!
Posted 11/10/2013 3:53 PM (GMT 0)
I got a letter in the mail (slept most day yesterday so did not check) saying I was approved for a bone growth stimulator. I assume someone has used one of these before, what are they and how do they work.
Posted 11/10/2013 5:27 PM (GMT 0)
Is it some type of scaffolding?

M.

Posted 11/10/2013 7:29 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Sean good to hear from you. It sounds like you are doing pretty good considering it all. Wow, 7 hours in surgery is a lot, any particular reason it took the dr 7 hours instead of the 3 he said?

As for the nerves to stop calming down there is no real set time on when that will happen, The nerves have to heal on their own and a lot depends on how damaged they were. It can be anywhere from 6 to 18 months, some it has actually taken longer. Hopefully yours will heal quickly, time will tell.

In the meantime, please follow your drs instructions to the letter. If the dr has said walking is all he wants you doing then walk. Build yourself up but walk and walk some more. It will hep you build up your strength & stamina.

Keep us posted on how you are getting along....Susie
Posted 11/10/2013 8:44 PM (GMT 0)
I'd like to chime in and emphasize what Susie has said.

As someone who also has had a 7.5 hour surgery which included fusions, laminectomies, decompressions, transplants, and all that good stuff,....(which I mention only because when the surgeon goes in, there are so many different kinds of tissue they  have to work with, and around, it's a very delicate area, extreme care must be taken, and this can be a lengthy process).

As Susie said, follow exactly what the doctor told you to do.  Listen carefully to them.  (When I was d/c from the hospital after surgery and went to the Rehab Facility, my very FIRST PT session included a dolt of a PT who had me bend, lift, and twist!  I had to call him out on it, refuse to do it, and remind HIM that those were absolutely forbidden movements....I wasn't even a week post-op!)

So be vigilant and be observant.  Be consistent.  Follow your surgeon's instructions to the letter.

Also, as Susie mentioned, when it comes to healing nerves, it's not so cut and dry with a healing and regeneration time.

I am currently a little over 10 months post-op and only recently have I been experiencing some new (good!) neurological symptoms (and for me, considering I couldn't feel anything,...to feel something, anything....now,...it's all good!)  And I'm sure I've got more to go.

Knowing ahead of time that patience will serve you well, will help you mend.

M.

Posted 11/10/2013 10:51 PM (GMT 0)
He planned on it only being about 3 hours due to it being a 1 level fusion. He had a vascular surgeon, neuro consult. Before going in the plan was to remove 3 ribs and that was going to make it so the surgeons all had access to get in cleanly, remove the old disc then flip me to my stomach to insert the screws and rods.

Well they got in and realized I had a huge space between my ribs. Even though the surgery would take longer they were able to cut the muscles between the ribs and use a splitter to get the same amount of access. This in turn just made it a little less invasive. So that is why it took longer.

I do not have any specific PT for about 3 months. I have some light exercises , but none involve twisting, lifting or twisting. Right now my regime is to walk 4 time a day for about 10 minutes each time. I am taking pain pills as prescribed. They told me not to wait until it hurts, but to take it based on time for each dosage so the pain does not get bad.
Posted 11/10/2013 11:09 PM (GMT 0)
So good to hear the drs said not to wait till the pain gets bad to take them. Oh, trying to calm that pain down is terrible. Also be sure to take a stool softner so things don't get backed up, you don't need that at all. Drink a lot of water too. Pain meds tend to cause constipation.

I forgot to mention what I know about the stimulators. The one I am familiar with was implanted at the time of surgery. It was a tiny small battery pack with leads. It helped the fusion become good & solid. It was removed a year later, no big deal to remove it either. Yours must be an external device, call your dr Monday & speak to the nurse about it.

Stick strictly with the walking & whatever exercises your dr has given you. As you start feeling better increase your walking to like 15 minutes, then 20 and up. Do it slowly and it will help you more than you will know. Check with the nurse when you feel you are ready to increase your walking.

Susie
Posted 11/10/2013 11:26 PM (GMT 0)
SyXx thanks for the update! Wow sounds like you have been through allot. I can see why surgeons don't like to touch the thoracic disks! You are definitely right about the rarity of thoracic disks going bad, I had a fellowship trained surgeon tell me the only way he would operate on a thoracic disk would be if the patient was experiencing paralysis and then he would really have to consider if it was worth the risk! (But that was going on 15 years ago I think)

Again thanks for the update, I do hope this works out well for you, and I do hope you will continue to let us all know how you are doing and progressing since your surgery.

I do wish you well!

White Beard

Posted 11/11/2013 12:02 AM (GMT 0)
Slow and steady wins the race.

I've made my own mistakes trying to push too hard, too fast, too soon.

To my good fortune, it was actually my fellow CP'ers here on HW that helped rein me back into reality, and I'll be the first to admit that I've since been making much better progress.

Be consistent if nothing else, and don't over-do it.  Sticking to what your doctor prescribes for meds and activity are crucial.

Good fortune to you in your healing process.

M.

Posted 11/15/2013 3:32 PM (GMT 0)
17 days post op. I would say I feel really good. Doctor was right, it is extremely painful and hard to manage pain. Right now I do about 5 to 6 walks that last about 10 to 15 minutes each. I tapered down from 30mg I Oxy twice a day down to down to 20mg Oxy twice a day. The doc wants to get me off that that ASAP, said he is more than fine with keeping me on the dialaded longer because it seems to do a better job for my pain anyways.

So far so good though. Only problem is some constipation, been doing everything doc wants me to do in order to get that resolved.

I will check in again. If anyone has questions about procedure feel free to ask.
Posted 11/16/2013 12:48 AM (GMT 0)
Well I think it sounds like you are doing fan-tastic!!

You're doing a very wise thing by breaking your walking up into several small and manageable time shifts instead of trying to push for single, long sessions!

That's excellent advice, and I'm happy to see how well you're doing.

It sounds like you're able to cut back on your pain med in a good fashion as well.  So all the way around, things are looking quite good!

Keep us posted!

M.

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