Back from hospital-My Experience.

[katiev25]

Hi all. well it has been almost 3 weeks since my fusion and i am getting better every day. Here is my experience.
The night before the surgery i was suprisingly calm. I slept ok although i was up at 5am. i was to be at hospital by 7:30am however i didn't actually go to theatre until 11:30am so i had some horrible waiting to do which was worse than anything. As i was wheeled away from my family i was shaking pretty badly and crying heavily. I was wheeled into another room which was sort of a line up of patients waiting to go under. My surgeon came out and this helped so much because Dr Gray truly is a lovely man. i was wheeled into the theatre and had a drip put into my hand which i did not feel and the last thing i remember was my surgeon deciding which Cd to listen to and i told him i request the awesome 80's. That was that. Now for the hard parts.

[katiev25]

Waking up.

my surgery was on the friday and i can honestly say i can not remember anything until the sunday afternoon. Aparently i was so high i felt no pain and my family were amused at the strange things i was saying like can i go home now and i feel brilliant just to name a few. Howwver, i do remember the pain which satarted to set in at night times. I could not get comfortable because i could not even move an inch on my own. So i would call the nurse what seemed every 3 hours to roll me. it was in fact every half hour. That was the part i couldn't control. Being uncomfortable.
I was doing pretty well on the drip and the morphine button i would push to get releif and on the sunday, could actually hold the side of the bed and pull myself to the side. However, Sunday was the worst day of my life. the night before, i had vomitted twice and because you can't sit up, it really is a terrible experience. the nurses thought nothing of it until, about 11am Sunday, i started vommiting and didn't stop until the Monday. It was coloured liquid(sorry about the details) so i didn't worry about choking. A doctor was called to see what was happening and it was assum,ed i had a bowel obstruction which was not allowing the drip nutrients or pain killers to stay in my system. Not only was i not eating, i was throwing the drip stuff up non stop. I had to be taken off the morphine early and placed on oral pain killers.

[katiev25]

After That...

So it worked and i stoppped throwing up which had led to me shaking uncontrollably, which led to the doctors concern that i would dislodge my rods. But by Monday morning, i felt much better and actually was wheeled away to have a shower and wash my hair by one of the nurses. They wheel you in the shower on a wheel chair with a hole in the bottom of it so you don't need to get up and your wound does'nt get wet because of the excellent dressings. I swear this was the best pain killer i had. After this i felt so good i actually managed to stand up and walk(very slowly) back to my room. Only about 5 metres but it was a start. I ate clear fluids on this day also and had an apple which was fantastic. The tuesday, i actually was able to pull myself into sitting up and walked for my x-ray. Had blood taken on this day to make sure i wasn't aneamic(i wasn't) and was able to eat half a sandwhich. That was all i ate because i was full after small amounts of food. The wednesday, i was told i could go home the next day which i was so excited about and i was able to walk to the cafe to have hot chips and gravy(my fave) for lunch. slept well the wedneday night and went home the thursday(after an enima-yuck!)

[katiev25]

Going Home.

The Thursday morning, my sister drove me the 1 and half hours home. it wasn't pleasant but i was so happy to be leaving hospital that is ucked up the pain and got on with it. I stayed at my mums until the folloing saturday which is when my mum drove me the extra hour and half back to my place which is where i am now and so happy to be so.
I can blowdry my own hair and even apply make up no problem. I can not put my own underwear or socks on and have to wear sliup on shoes because i can't reach down for laces. I am walking 200 metres twice a day and eating lots of fibre rich meals-I didn't go the toilet unassisted until yesterday. My back hurts all the time, however, it is more a tight nagging pain which you just fight by taking tylenol a lot. I am sleeping much better on my sides with a pillow between my legs. I do toss and turn a lot but my partner seems to be sleeping fine next to me. I get up twice a night to use the toilet.
My scar is healing so well it looks like a long scratch down my back. I think it's going to be barely recognisable.
Doctor rang yesterday. Curve has gone fromm 66 degrees to 24 degrees which is what we were hoping for. The rotation was so bad that my rib hump is still a bit prominent but everthing else is beautifully straight. I can't stop looking at it in the mirrow.
So- Anything else you'd like to ask, go for it. If i can get through this anyone can.

[LEELEE85]

Hi Katie,

It's Lee here from Melbourne. I've been waiting to hear from you didn't realise it would be so soon. Well done im glad you had a successful operation. You've made me feel a little better if i need to get one too.
I'm going to see my specialist in 13 days getting a little scared of what his going to say. I'm starting too get a little sore near my shoulder blades where my curves goes into, but im not sure if i just pulled a muscle or if its because i've brought a new mattress, did you ever experience that sort of pain?

Did you have a lumbar curve too? If so did they not tough that part of your spine? Which verterbras were you fused from?

Again great to hear from you... Keep in touch with your recovery.

xoxo

[katiev25]

Hey, yes i didn't think i'd be sitting at a computer so soon either. My pain now is on my right shoulder blade but i didn't have that before. my lumber curve was compensatory to my thoracic curve so it was not touched in this op. They think it will straighten out on it's own. I was fused from T4-T12. Don't worry about seeing the specialist. Everything happens for a reason. Honestly, this was the best thing I've ever done for myself and it wasn't nearly as bad as i thought. Get some fresh X-Rays before you go.

[LEELEE85]

I got some X-rays done in Jan this year, so i would think that would be ok????
Also do you think ill need another MRI Scan the last one i had was when i was 15 yrs old.
With my shoulder pain it could be a nerve as it doesn't hurt unless i stretch my shoulder blade its weird....

[katiev25]

HI, yes you will probably need another MRI because i had another one done on my lumbar curve(the 1st was just the thoracic). If your shoulder pain is a nerve it will show up in the MRI. I get terrible pains in my legs and this was shown in my lumbar MRI because my disks at L4 and L5 was protruding. My DR said this might have to be something I get fixed later on. And it has gotten worse since my op. My leg cramps at night are more frequent and sore than before. Maybe your shoulder pain is due to the muscles pulling around the spine. My shoulder used to stick out a lot and the skin would feel like it was pulling tightly. I for one absolutely hate MRI's because my first one went for over an hour and i got really hot from the inside(something only overweight people are meant to experience-I'm 50 kg). But really they are not so bad. Wouldn't lose sleep over it. Try rubbing some tiger balm into the shoulder area for relief.

[LEELEE85]

Hi,

Went to physio regarding my pain and he said it was my muscles pushing on my rib so thats where the pain was coming from......
Thanks for chatting and answering my questions...
Forgot to ask how long your surgery went for?
I have to go back and see my physio on tuesday and he also said that his going to give me scoliosis exercises and actually sit down with me and talk to me about it as no one ever has, cos i never really get back pain, im starting to stiffin up cos i've stopped swimming and playing sports.
I don't have a rib hump at all is that weird? As mostly everyone does.

[katiev25]

No i definately wouldn't be worried. a rib hump forms when the spine rotates too much(twists) upon itself. If you don't have one then its a great sign and probably the reason why you don't get too much pain. My surgery was longer than expected. 5 and half hours but my tissue samples were being collected by sydney uni for research analysis so maybe they were a bit more careful???

[lostfan]

Couple questions....

Hi Katie, so glad to hear everything went well for you. I have a 62* thoracic curve and also a compensatory curve in the lumbar spine. My next appt in end of August and will be discussing surgery date at that time.

I have a few questions if you don't mind. I've read so much on this forum. I'm wondering if you had a cathetor (sp?) after surgery - and if so, do they put that in while you're under? I've never had one and am a little worried.

Also, did you buy button shirts or are you able to wear pullover? I've read to stock up on button shirts. I don't really own any so I was going to start looking for some short sleeve ones now before summer is over.

Lastly, did your compensatory curve go away right away?

Thanks for sharing your story. Please keep us posted on your recovery progress.

[LindaRacine]

I'm wondering if you had a cathetor (sp?) after surgery - and if so, do they put that in while you're under? I've never had one and am a little worried.

I think everyone who has surgery with general anesthesia has a urinary catheter placed. In the surgeries I've had, it's been placed after I'm out. (I've also had it done once or twice while awake, and I can tell you that it's pretty painless.)

In my case, I liked it so much that I didn't want them to remove it, because it meant that I would have to use a bedpan or get out of bed every time I needed to urinate, both of which were pretty painful.

--Linda