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Home from Hospital - 5 weeks post op

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  • Home from Hospital - 5 weeks post op

    Hi Everyone!!

    This is the first time I have logged onto the computer for 6 weeks!! As you know I had my
    operation 5 weeks ago now and did i have problems or what! What was suppose to be an 8 day stay
    tunred out to be a 4 week hospital stay - YUK!

    The operation went very well. My back is as straight as can be. They ended up going ahead with
    the Thoracoplasty - 1.5 inches cut of 4 ribs and the rest of my rib cage being remodelled as I was
    so twisted. The operation was the easy part!

    I spent one night in ICU then they transferred me back to a normal ward. I wasn't sleeping at all
    and was very restless. The next thing I know I was being rushed back to ICU not knowing where I
    was (completly out of it). After 2 weeks of really trying to find out what happened - it turned
    out I was 5 minutes away from dying of a drug overdose (too much morphine in my body). Thank god
    the nurse on duty didn't follow protocol and came to do my ops first - if she went to another room
    - I would hve been dead my the time she got to me! So then I was in ICU for another 4 days. This
    is where my lungs collapsed and I needed a blood transfusion.

    Two weeks after all this happened I was a couple of days away from heading home when my leg started
    to hurt. Well - they found a MASSIVE blood clot (DVT) from my right foot to my tummy then all
    little ones in my lungs. I had to stay in hospital for another 2 weeks.

    I am now home with the lovely THICK WHITE STOCKINGS on for blood clots and which I have to wear for
    5 months (summer over here so very happy about that - NOT).

    I feel ok - can't do much at 5 weeks post op. What is really bugging my is that i am SO sensitive!!
    As soon as anyone comes near me I tighten up and stick my hands otu the back so they don't bump
    into me - I hate it.

    Is this all the nerves / tendens / veins // muscles starting to mend together?? I realise that I
    need to give it 4 months to heal because of the thoracoplasty that I had done as well but sometimes
    I feel like I will never get any better. Its really frustrating when you have little children and you CANT DO A THING FOR THEM!!!

    As mentioned before - will the nerve, muscle thing get any better?? Also, when I change position when siting in a chair or even lying down, sometimes it feels like the rods are sticking out of my back. Does anyone fweel this strange sensation?

    Take care

    Kylie-Ann
    Kylie-Ann
    Australia

    Surgery 14th October 2004
    T7- L4
    Thoracoplasty

  • #2
    Dear Kylie-Ann,

    Thanks for posting. I had been wondering if everything was going okay!

    It sounds like you had a really nasty time in the hospital. Poor you! I bet you are so glad to be home. How did the kiddies manage? You must be relieved to be around again, even if you are hampered at the moment.

    BUT, your surgery is over! and you have a straight back I'm so pleased that at least it sounds like everything there went fine. I can't answer your questions, I'm afraid, so I will leave that to the others, but I am sure you will get better. I read in other posts a lot about people being so worried about having anything touch their backs post-op. Worrying about the pain and getting better is horrible; whenever I have one of my long periods of bad back pain I worry that it will never go away. And then one day it does and you forget again what it was like. I'm sure it will happen for you too.

    You must have been so brave to get through all this already, keep your chin up and let us know what is happening.

    Thinking about you ~Laura
    30y/o
    Upper curve around 55
    Lower curve around 35

    Comment


    • #3
      Wow... That sounds like one heck of an ordeal. Glad you are back home and recuperating!
      I had my surgery not quite a year ago. My back has been and continues to be quite hypersensitive. I can't even towel it off after a shower without my back feeling like it's being scratched and shredded. Also, for the first little while, I would get hot, needley sensations in my back. I assume it was the nerves trying to heal back up....
      One thing a girl suggested to me on another site to help with hypersensitivity is to get a chunk of soft cloth... Something silky... or fleecy, and use it to touch your back... Helps to kind of "reeducate" your nerves.
      The first time I went out shopping after my surgery, I was almost in tears by the time we left the store because I was so panicky about anyone coming close enough to bump into me. Not to mention you can't turn and see what is around you as easily (or at least I can't... I'm fused to T2)....

      I know that "never gonna heal" feeling all too well... I got incredibly depressed following my surgery... See, I went from running several times a week, and training and caring for my horses... To being a useless bump on a log... It's such a rotten feeling, and I found myself actually contemplating suicide many a time... But I got through it. You will get better. It'lll take a while, but you will get there!

      Best wishes!
      Blair

      Dec 15th, 2003 @ age of 20
      Posterior Fusion and CD Horizon instrumentation T2-L1.
      Surgery by Dr. Herkowitz- Beaumont Hospital of Royal Oak, Michigan
      Excellent correction of 52 degree single left thoracolumbar curve. Slight curve remains in unfused lumbar region but seems stable.
      February 5, 2005- Failed Scar Revision Surgery
      September 17, 2005- 2nd Failed Scar Revision.

      Comment


      • #4
        Hello Blairf83

        thats exactly how i feel! Is it really going to get better?? I just feel so STIFF all the time and the thought of even having a little jump seems like years away.

        How long after surgery did you start running again?? I know that feeling of going to the shopping centre for the first time. I constantly have my hands out the back or make sure my husbands walks directly behind me to protect me.

        Thanks for your comments - they all ready make me feel better

        Kylie-Ann
        Kylie-Ann
        Australia

        Surgery 14th October 2004
        T7- L4
        Thoracoplasty

        Comment


        • #5
          Well, I started running at about 3 months post op. It was a little soon to be starting that, according to my doctor, but I was just getting to the point where I was absolutely stir crazy... I had my surgery in December, and so was recuperating in the depths of winter. I would have settled for a walk around the block or something, but since that wasn't an option, I drove to my college's rec center... And since I drove all that way, it didn't make sense to just mosy around the track. So I started jogging a bit. Nothing big. Just a mile or so of jogging with a LOT of walking interspersed.
          I started riding the exercise cycle at about 2 weeks post op though so I didn't lose all condition....
          Blair

          Dec 15th, 2003 @ age of 20
          Posterior Fusion and CD Horizon instrumentation T2-L1.
          Surgery by Dr. Herkowitz- Beaumont Hospital of Royal Oak, Michigan
          Excellent correction of 52 degree single left thoracolumbar curve. Slight curve remains in unfused lumbar region but seems stable.
          February 5, 2005- Failed Scar Revision Surgery
          September 17, 2005- 2nd Failed Scar Revision.

          Comment

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