New--8 mos. post op with problems

[BeachinIt66]

Hello everyone. I am new to this website, but defanitely not new to scoliosis! My name is Jessie and I was doing some research and came across this site. This past November i had surgery correcting my two curves of about 80. Right now they are both under twenty degrees. Its been a while since surgery, and I am unhappy with the amount of pain im experiencing. Before surgery I suffered through no amount of pain at all. And now, ever since surgery I go through daily pain which is really getting to the point of I cant take it anymore. I saw my surgeon a few weeks ago presenting to him That i am still in daily pain, my left leg falls asleep when i sit for 10ish minutes, from my left knee down it goes numb occasionally when I sit, my toes turn purplish when I sit also more so my left for some reason, not to mention always i feel a strain on my lower back from the rod obviously, I am many months post op and still cannot bend(at all, and have tried pt),and how you can feel a bump on my back protruding right at the bottom of my scar which is sore to the touch. I just feel like I am full of problems.
Anyway, my doctor prescribed me with painkillers, and was not concerned about anything. He said also the part sticking out is just a bulging vertabrae which does not pose a threat to me and is there probaly because I am very slender. so everything sounds normal to him, but I just hate living always feeling discomfort. He suggested if I am not ready, to hold off on playing soccer my sophmore year, but I refused and not letting my back control my life. Has anyone had anything similar to my many problems?--sorry this post is so long!

[LindaRacine]

Hi BeachinIt66...

You don't mention your age, but I can tell you that it's relatively common for scoliosis surgery to cause pain for a year or more in adults. Few surgeons want to do anything (at least in terms of additional surgery) for the first year or two. If you're convinced that something is wrong, I'd encourage you to get a second opinion, preferably by one of the New York surgeons who routinely treat patients with prior scoliosis fusions. You can do a search for specialists here:

http://www.srs.org/directory/directory.asp?mode=search

The doctors that I know to routinely treat patient with prior fusions are Jean-Pierre Farcy, Michael Neuwirth, Paul Rubery, Frank Schwab, & Oheneba Boachie-Adjei.

Best of luck in finding someone who can tell you why you're having pain.

Regards,
Linda

[BeachinIt66]

i am 15 years old.

[Karen Ocker]

pain post - op

[QUOTE= He suggested if I am not ready, to hold off on playing soccer my sophmore year, but I refused and not letting my back control my life. Has anyone had anything similar to my many problems?--sorry this post is so long![/QUOTE

Whoa!
You're not even a year post-op and you had major curves reduced.
It takes a long time after such a large correction to heal. Your body must get used to being "un-coiled".
Muscles which were shortened must get used to being stretched;your internal organs and major nerves were re-positioned; anything orthopedic takes so looong to heal-even at your age.

On the other hand, if you believe you are getting worse and cannot attribute it to a new, increased activity, by all means get a second opinion. If it just hurts after trying soccer then it might be too early. You do not want to pop a hook or a rod do you?

Karen

[jc3]

hi beachinit66
I'm sorry to hear that you are still in pain.
my daughter is 15 and also had surgery in november and has no pain any more. She still has lots of restrictions, but anything she is allowed to do she can do with no pain.
I would keep on the dr. if you are still continuing to have pain.

[daffyduk911]

I think you should wait at least a year before returning to soccer. Some surgeries take more than 6 months, if not a year. Just wait until a year passes by and if that still occurs, then he'll most likely be concerned.

I hope things get better for you.

[guacamoleoly]

Deeefinately don't do any sort of contact sports until at least a year has passed. Otherwise you run the risk of injuring yourself and further complicating your post-op problems. You have to give your body time to recover and your fusion a chance to solidify.

[BeachinIt66]

my surgeon cleared me @ 6 mos for playing any contact sports, including soccer and mentioned theres about a 1% chance that something happens to my fusion as it is currently healing properly and everythings normal.--so i am defanitely playing

but anyway i started my preseason or whatever, we ran about not even a mile and it was hard for me to breathe and i had a real shortness of breathe and felt faint, especially my legs i had to lean on a friend for a minute or so. i guess its all normal i need to expect some affects and just learn better coping strategies. that night my back shoulders and everything associated with that was sore and painful...next one is next week so ill tell you how that goes and i really hope everything can be normal and not experience all these side problems and pain

[guacamoleoly]

Your body probably reacted like that because it isn't used to such strenuous activity. I know it seems like 8 months is a long time, especially at your age when you are so active and anxious to get back to your pre-op lifestyle. But, scoliosis surgery is a *major* surgery...it's like an injury to all of your muscles and nerves, etc. I think rushing into playing soccer full time like that might be very difficult for you at this point, only being 8 months out of surgery, especially since you body has spent those months resting and recuperating. It's going to be hard to get back into full activity. Just make sure that you listen to your body and stop when it tells you it's had enough. You don't want to make anything worse. Good luck!