all the pelvic people....

[jrnyc]

the Beyonce song keeps playing in my head..."all the single ladies, all the single ladies..."...but i play "all the pelvic ladies, all the pelvic ladies..."...and now it is "all the pelvic people, all the pelvic people..."

here is my question for all the pelvic people....anyone who is fused to the sacrum/pelvis.....

i need a few years of dental implant work, including sinus lifts, bone grafts, etc...requiring the dental specialist to move me from sitting up to laying down over and over during each visit...he doesnt know how we will accomplish that after surgery when i can only bend from my hips...he told me today that he doesnt know how we will do it...soooo...do any of you pelvic people have dental visits that require work that is out of the norm...? if so, how do you maneuver the dental chair from different changing positions during a single visit...?

also, i need cataract surgery on both eyes that i was planning for this summer...i know it involves laying back in a chair...these are very real and practical concerns...i dont necessarily want to delay the minimal invasive surgery for a whole year...but dont want to do it in the winter, living on a hill (to a native New Yorker, it's a hill!)...and i wanted to get moving with the dental thing...and cataract thing...

ahhhhhh...the body is just falling apart!

if any of you pelvic people can answer...if any of you have needed dental or medical procedures after pelvic fusion, please write...for that matter, can you still tip back in a hair salon chair....?

otherwise, just keep singing the Beyonce song...."all you pelvic people, all you pelvic people..."

thanks....
jess

[debbei]

Hi Jess,

I'm not to the pelvis, but T3-L3. The first time I went to the dentist post-op, I needed pillows to help me fit into the chair properly. AFter that, including the last time a few weeks ago, I needed no pillows or anything. I felt just fine in the chair.

Why don't you go test-ride the chair and the dentist's office to see how it feels?

Another medical thing last year, about 5 months post-op was my 'smash-o-gram' LOL. I was horribly uncomfortable, even more than the normal 'smashed' feeling. I go again next week, and I'm anticipating that it will be easier.

For the past 6 or 9 months, I don't have this 'strained' feeling when I make certain movements. I'm not certain what it was, but in my mind, that 'strained' feeling was movements against a spine that was not fused. I don't get that feeling at ALL anymore, and I'm now 1.5 years post-op.

[naptown78]

Jess,
I was fused to sacrum prior to my last surgery and had no problems at all laying in dentist chair or hair chair. I anticipate no problems now either with my pelvic anchors. Your body will adjust.

[Vali]

Hi Jess, Six weeks after my surgery, i went to the hairdresser for a color and cut and then to the Beauty therapist for a waxing and pedicure appointment. I had no issues there. Then at about 3 months, I had my dental checkup, dermatologist checkup (malignant melanoma) facial and massage. No issues here either. If you explain your surgery to 'whom it may concern', i am sure that they will accommodate yoy accordingly. My hairdresser would fit in a cut, so that i could walk around a little bit before we got started with my cut.
I know it stresses you out a lot Jess, and rightly so. I was in the same boat. Ihad visions of walking like the 'tin man' or 'pinocchio' (didn't mind pinocchio, so long as Antonio Banderas was pulling the strings! hahahah). On a serious note though, you may find that 'if' and 'after' you have the surgery, that you may be wondering what the fuss was all about! Have a good day!

[LindaRacine]

Jess...

The vast majority of the bending that you do is from the hips. That won't change after your fusion. If you bent at the waist, anyone with fusion beyond L3 wouldn't be able to sit.

--Linda

[jrnyc]

Hi guys...deb, kristy, vali and linda...thanks so much to all of you....i appreciate the time and kindness....just that you try to explain it to me...that means so much!

i guess "pelvic people" dont end up walking like robots...it is just so hard to imagine without having done the surgery...i try to sit straight up in the computer chair now and feel myself sitting from the hips...but going from sitting to laying down without needing to "log roll"...well, that is hard to imagine too...

but since you all say it is do-able AFTER surgery to the pelvis, maybe i dont need to wait til i get the dental and eye stuff done before i have the surgery...i'll have to see what happens after i have blood work and see if i am "malnourished"....there's alot to consider...but i know that my "if" has turned into a "when"....

thanks again, guys....much appreciated!

jess

[LindaRacine]

i guess "pelvic people" dont end up walking like robots...it is just so hard to imagine without having done the surgery...i try to sit straight up in the computer chair now and feel myself sitting from the hips...but going from sitting to laying down without needing to "log roll"...well, that is hard to imagine too...
/COLOR]

I'm not following. As your dentist let's the back of the chair down, your back will simply follow. The bending is done at the hips.

[jrnyc]

O.K....guess i thought my back wouldnt bend at all due to the rods...cause i heard about log rolling into bed...so i thought the bending to lay back wasnt possible...

thanks...
jess

[debbei]

O.K....guess i thought my back wouldnt bend at all due to the rods...cause i heard about log rolling into bed...so i thought the bending to lay back wasnt possible...

thanks...
jess

It won't bend Jess, you will bend from the hips only. But the chair will work. Just tell them to go slowly, and the first time, bring a pillow just in case.

[jrnyc]

thanks for the reply, Deb...it helps...

jess

[titaniumed]

Jess

Just a few pillows at the dentist, and you will be fine. The only pillow I need at the dentist is a small one for my neck.

As far as mobility in the spine is concerned, it really is limited. For the amount of problems people have with it, scoli and non-scoli, one would think that in a million years, evolution would make the change, and the result would be a fused spine.

You would never be able to pick me out of a crowd. In fact, I could fool people at a scoli meeting, say Im not fused, and then surprise them at the end. Their jaws would drop!

Ed (homofusamaximus) My species genus name when they find me in a million years....
Hopefully, carbon dating will plant me around 2000. +-1000years. LOL

[rainbow2010]

Keeping your legs strong is the best thing. I use them to compensate for my back all the time. My only problem is when I have to lay on my stomach and then get up. I had an ablation for the nerves from T2 -T7 yesterday and had to lay on my stomach. It makes it harder to breathe, but turning over after they were finished was funny. I felt like a turtle on its back!

[jrnyc]

hey guys
you both made me laugh!
Rainbow..i cant work out anymore...and not strong anywhere!

Ed...when they find your bones and metal in 3012 they will say "what a fine specimen of bones and rods...but the brain is a little strange"

thanks for the encouragement
jess

[Pooka1]

Ed (homofusamaximus) My species genus name when they find me in a million years....
Hopefully, carbon dating will plant me around 2000. +-1000years. LOL

Homo fusamaximus, 2000 years before present (YBP), now 1 million YBP, the new 500,000 YBP.

[titaniumed]

I would have preferred "Homo Erectus" but that one is taken......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_erectus

Ed