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  • How long does it really take to recover?

    Hi, I had 7 vertebrae fused in May 2006, Anterior Thoracic fusion with synthes allograft bone prosthesis T5-6, T6-7, T7-8, T8-9, T9-10, T11-12, T12 L1 and fusion with autograft rib graft from T5 to L1, to be exact. I am a 46 year old female, 5'7, 118 lbs, non smoker, non drinker, in good health. After surgery when I had contiued pain, I was told that I had a herniated disc in my lower back, a few herniated discs and spinal stenosis in my neck. I recentle had the herniated disc in my lower back repaired. Anyway, my question is, will I ever feel normal again? I had a steriod injection in my neck in November to help with that pain but I know that that will return eventually. But I still have pain and numbness aroung the incision site and various and assorted pains in different parts of my back depending on the day, the weather, what I have done, how I slept, whatever. Is there anyone else with a similar circumstance? I would really appreciate hearing from others in the same situation. Thanks!

  • #2
    Hi...

    I assume you mean May 2005 (not May 2006).

    I had surgery at the age of 42, and it took 3 years before all of the pain caused by the surgery was gone. For some odd reason, we all heal very differently. I've seen adults older than myself be off of all pain meds within a month.

    My only suggestion would be to get another opinion (from another scoliosis specialist) as to what might specifically be causing your pain. Who was your surgeon?

    Regards,
    Linda
    Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
    Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation

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    • #3
      Hi Caligirl,

      Every pain you have described I experienced for almost two years post op, and I was off pain meds except a sleep aid after a month to a month and a half. Sleep like you say interferes with pain and I'm now 3 months post op for revision surgery and I still get a lot of tightness and numbness, even if this surgery was not as big as the first one, because they still cut me almost the whole back(actually longer than the first time). I think that's what is a major pain with back surgeries, healing all the muscles and nerves endings; it takes such a long time to get back to "normal", even if some numbness will probably always stay, especially in the mid to thoracic region-in my case.
      35 y/old female from Montreal, Canada
      Diagnosed with scoliosis(double major) at age 12, wore Boston brace 4 years at least 23 hours a day-curve progressed
      Surgery age 26 for 60 degree curve in Oct. 1997 by Dr.Max Aebi-fused T5 to L2
      Surgery age 28 for a hook removal in Feb. 1999 by Dr.Max Aebi-pain free for 5 years
      Surgery age 34 in Dec.2005 for broken rod replacement, bigger screws and crosslinks added and pseudarthrosis(non union) by Dr. Jean Ouellet

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      • #4
        For Cali girl-how long to heal?

        Hi, I had 7 vertebrae fused in May 2006,
        Did you mean 2005? It's not even a year yet!!! Adults take at least a year to get used to being "un-coiled".

        I felt quite normal at 1 1/2 years post-op at age 60.

        Karen
        Original scoliosis surgery 1956 T-4 to L-2 ~100 degree thoracic (triple)curves at age 14. NO hardware-lost correction.
        Anterior/posterior revision T-4 to Sacrum in 2002, age 60, by Dr. Boachie-Adjei @Hospital for Special Surgery, NY = 50% correction

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        • #5
          Oops! I guess the surgery affected my brain as well as my back! Yes, I meant 2005, not 2006. Thanks for not laughing at me. I saw a spinal pain specialist today. He was quite helpful. At least as far as information goes, we'll see if the epidural injection works. Anyway, it seems like every doctor that I see gives me another piece of the puzzle. I just wish that it had all been explained to me ahead of time, so I would not have been surprised by each little complication that arises. Today I was told (and shown on my MRI) that although I had a microdiscectomy at L4 to repair a herniated disc, there is virtually no disc left and I will eventually need either a single disc fusion or a synthetic disc. So without even addressing my neck situation, he let me know that I am not near the light at the end of the tunnel just yet. What should I do? Live with all of this awhile and wait until it becomes unbearable? Ask to have surgery now and get it over with? I don't think that the Doctors want to do that anyway, I am not sure why. Keep having my back pumped full of steroids? That does not help with all the other weird little aches and pains, like the tightness of the scar, or the fairly frequent pain down my spine, it feels sore and tired, I can't really explain it. I am not complaining in any way about my surgeon, he did a great job! It is not his fault that my back has all of these other problems. My only complaint with him is that I wish that he had explained all of this to me ahead of time so I would have had some idea what to expect. I realize that he cannot forsee every complication that may arise, but the spinal stenosis and herniations were already there before I had surgery. I just was not aware of them. And when I started to have these problems afterward, I had a hard time getting any help from my doctors office. I felt like I had to insist and be persistant before they would even look into what was causing my continued pain. That being said, I would still have had it done. It had to be done. I knew since I was 16 that I would need this surgery someday, I just kept putting it off. I want to thank all of you for your response to my letter. Since I was told that it would take me about 4 months to get back to work, I was really feeling hopeless. It helps me to hear from others who have also taken a while to recover!

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          • #6
            CaliGirl, I sent you a private message, but I dont know if you got it. I wanted to let you know that if you are interested, there is a support group meeting in Irvine tomorrow. The details are in your PM. let me know if you need any more info.
            Mandy

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            • #7
              Hi Caligirl,

              I had my surgeries in May, 05 also. I think I am having a slow recovery. But whose to say how fast anyone is really going to heal. It is frustrating when you see that some people are okay after a few months, but we must listen to our bodies.

              Shari

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              • #8
                Please don't get discouraged! We all have good days and bad. For me, I'm happy when the good outnumber the bad, but i know that it's not all downhill yet. I'm 5 months post-op and some days i feel almost normal again, and then some days i feel that i've hit 'reverse' and am going backwards!!
                Everyone is different. Just listen to your body and do what you can... and don't waste precious energy worrying about how you compare to someone else. This forum is good to give some general guidelines for recovery markers, but can cause us to fret, too... when we feel that we aren't keeping pace with someone else's recovery.
                You can do it!! I have faith in you...
                ((((hugs)))) JoAnn

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                • #9
                  Caligirl,

                  In addition to what I said about recovery, I will agree with you on the aspect of complications. I didn't expect some that I experienced either, especially the non fusion with a broken rod, and it would have meade it easier to deal with when I found out, instead of being in disbelief for months. Like you, I had to have the surgery done as well though, it's a chance we have to take when we no longer can live the way we are with severe scoliosis and deal with every other pains one day at a time. I also wish that my doctor would have told me how long the recovery is supposed to really take, three months to heal all the scar tissue for example is not realistic. Once I was in contact with another lady who had the same surgery and the same type of recovery, I felt so much better mentally, and it gave me hope.

                  I will reinforce what everybody has said here, and agree that this forum is sometimes very good and comforting on some days and at other times can discourage us if we're not doing too good in our recovery and we compare ourselves with others, but I'm glad that some of us who have had longer recuperations(in my mind still normal recoveries since not everybody explains their bad experiences and every complications) are sharing their stories.

                  Don't give up, and take one problem at a time
                  35 y/old female from Montreal, Canada
                  Diagnosed with scoliosis(double major) at age 12, wore Boston brace 4 years at least 23 hours a day-curve progressed
                  Surgery age 26 for 60 degree curve in Oct. 1997 by Dr.Max Aebi-fused T5 to L2
                  Surgery age 28 for a hook removal in Feb. 1999 by Dr.Max Aebi-pain free for 5 years
                  Surgery age 34 in Dec.2005 for broken rod replacement, bigger screws and crosslinks added and pseudarthrosis(non union) by Dr. Jean Ouellet

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    JoAnn, I love your posts. You are so uplifting to us! Thank you!

                    Caligirl, hang in there! We are ALL with you! Linda

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                    • #11
                      Thank you all for your kind responses! I had never talked to anyone else who had scoliosis, let alone surgery to correct it. The only info I had regarding pain, recovery time, or anything came from my surgeon. I am sure that he never personally had this surgery so I was given very limited and lopsided info. It gives me a lot of hope to hear from you, and I really feel so much less isolated. I am so glad that I found this forum!!!

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