leelou
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Joined: 13 Aug 2006
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 Posted: 05/05/08 - 16:25 Post subject: HELP!!!!cervical spine surgery recovery- this is long! |
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1st ACDF AUGUST 2006- level C5-6/6-7 remove some bone spurs hardware and screws cadaver bone used wore Miami J Collar 3 months, no problems other then 4 weeks out ran fever 102 couldn't move let arm, went to surgeons office he was out of town so I saw one of his collogues they thought it was a possible problem/infection from maybe the needles they stick in you to monitor the nerves during surgery, so He puts me in a sling (I look really cute now because I have the neck brace and sling!!!) anyway orders antibiotics and I am to call if things don't resolve. fever gets better after a few days and pain in arm slowly resolves and movement returns!! yippie! so by December I am good enough to fly to Washington state with my hubby to spend Christmas with my extended family. Jan & feb i continue to get better and better sometime between Jan & March I Fall!!! triped over a rake and went down like a ton of bricks! didnt feel like i got hurt other then my pride! so march we go on cruise everything is still good!!! i am thinking "WOW i heard that recovering from this kinda surgery was hard!!! and it has been a piece of cake!"so June 2007 10 months out i start having pain and pre-op symptoms??? went to my surgeon and he did a xray could not see a problem so he sent me for a CT at this point he thinks it is possibly the level below or above and i have totally forgotten bout the fall few months back. so CT comes back showing a CRACK in the cadaver bone at the c6-7 AND SOFT TISSUE HAD GROWN IN THERE so there is no chance of it will be healing! Diagnoses: crack due to impact of FALL!!! OH MY GOODNESS!
2nd ACDF revision aug 2007 remove plate and screws, remove soft tissue that is stopping fusion, take bone until he gets good blood put in cadaver bone smaller plate and screws. Miami J collar 4-6 weeks horrible pain from about two weeks out by December pain NO better!! surgeon does CT to see what in the world was going on!!! NO SIGN OF ANY FUSION! SO he said that all the pain is because the neck is not stable it is moving around where it should NOT. so Plan is go in posterior because this WILL stabilize the neck!! time!!!
3rd surgery January 22, 2008 posterior, pins, screws and bone from my own hip this time, I heard the hip incision was really bad pain and sometimes a problem!!! just to let you know I did not have one second of pain from it or any trouble go figure!!! 13 days after surgery I go get staples out 12 in neck, 4 in hip, stop by a few stores with my husband short little trips, was tired and a little sore by the days end but felt pretty good. next morning wake up and can hardly move pain from chest up to top of neck cant hardly move arms at all. I called surgeons office talked to nurse, she talked to the doctor he orders muscle relaxant so I start on that, wake up next morning 102 fever incision has busted open, go to surgeon he cultures it, it is staph, he starts me on keflex 5 weeks of that 800ML 4x a day, if the staph does not kill me the keflex surely will!! so home health care is coming every day for about 5 weeks they clean it and pack it. so it finally closes infection is gone......but since it closed I have continued to get more pain I am 14 weeks post op, it feels like my incision and all the tissue around it is going to bust open just doing alittle laundry puts me over the edge the kind of pain that takes your breath away AND I HAVE BEEN KNOWN FOR MY HIGH TOLERANCE FOR PAIN
is there anything about this that sounds OK or Right it took me all day to type this but I did it!!!! what do you all think???? Leslie |
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