Questions for people who already had surgery.

[Loren]

* Did you have to wear a brace after surgery? For how long? How many hours a day?
* How soon after sugery were you able to climb stairs, and go back to a somewhat "normal" activity level? (I'm 19 and I realize younger people tend to recover sooner.)
* How much weight did you loose? (My Dr. said I'd probably loose weight, but he said the amount varied person to person.)
* How much height did you gain? (I have a 55 degree lumber curve and expect to gain 1-2 inches).
* What was your hospital experience like? Did you mostly sleep or just lie there?
* How long before you were able to drive a car?
* What did your physical therapy (if any) consist of?

Thanks in advance for your replies. My surgery is June 5th, and I'm not quite sure what to expect.

[suzyjay]

I wore my brace when I walked around and sitting. I wore it for three months and my doctor said to stop wearing it a couple of hours a day and then off completely. I climbed stairs about three days after surgery. I lost 15 pounds, I lost 10 when I got home from hospital and then another 5 pounds about two weeks later I haven't measured myself yet. In the hospital I watched TV lying down and walked the halls a lot. I haven't driven yet- I have to come off the meds first. I haven't had physical therapy yet, my doctor said I would going in a couple weeks.
I am 44 years old and fused from T4 to L4. I had two curves- upper curve 49 and lower curve 58.

Have a safe surgery and speedy recovery.

Sue

[Pips]

* Did you have to wear a brace after surgery? For how long? How many hours a day?

I did not have to wear a brace at all after my surgery.

* How soon after sugery were you able to climb stairs, and go back to a somewhat "normal" activity level? (I'm 19 and I realize younger people tend to recover sooner.)

The day I came out of hospital I climbed the stairs to bed - hard work but possible! They wouldn't let me out of hospital until I could do this.

* How much weight did you loose? (My Dr. said I'd probably loose weight, but he said the amount varied person to person.)

I didn't lose any! (Shame!)

* How much height did you gain? (I have a 55 degree lumber curve and expect to gain 1-2 inches).

I had a 75 degree lumbar curve and gained 2 inches but I did only get 50% correction of my curve so it could have been more.

* What was your hospital experience like? Did you mostly sleep or just lie there?

I was flat on my back for 3 days and lying down for over a week as I had a problem with my chest drain. After that I was up daily sitting in a chair. I slept lots to start with as the medication I was on made me pretty drowsy. i did not want to read or anything.

* How long before you were able to drive a car?

About 4 months for me.

* What did your physical therapy (if any) consist of
?

I think this differs a lot for different people. I had lots of leg exercises if thats any help.

Good luck and try not to worry.

[SARAHK]

When I had my first surgery at 19 I didn't have to wear a brace. I did have to wear one for the 2nd surgery I had in March mainly because it was a revision surgery and I was older (I'm 25 now). I had to wear it for 6 weeks 24hours a day and then 6 more weeks just during the day.

After both surgeries I was able to climb stairs within 5 days or so after. Normal activity takes a good month and a half I'd say. Riding in a car is hard until then and driving is even harder because you can't twist. For my first surgery I carried a pillow around with me for about 2 months because sitting in hard chairs hurt. This time my brace was padded so I didn't need the pillow.

I lost about 10 lbs. with the first surgery and only a few lbs. with the 2nd.

I was 2in taller after the 1st surgery.

I slept a lot in the hospital. You don't have much conception of time when you're on all the drugs so when I think back I really don't remember many details...which is good! You won't want tons of visitors but you will want someone with you the whole time.

Didn't have any physical therapy until I started having a lot of pain 4 years later. My advice would be that once your doc says you can go back to normal activities (about a year post-op), EXERCISE! Stretch and stay in really good shape. Once I'm a year out again, I'm not going to take my back for granted. I think staying loose and strenthening your back muscles is a huge part of ensuring you don't have problems down the road. So it might be good for you to do some PT where they can teach you stretches that are good for strengthening back muscles.

And the last piece of advice for the hospital is make sure you stay on top of taking the meds every 4 hours. The nurses will not come right on time and if you're starting to feel pain, have your parents or whoever ask for the medicine right away. Because it will take awhile for the nurses to come and if you let the pain get to a certain level, it's really hard to get it back down even with the meds. So stay on top of it, even at night, and you'll be fine. If they put you on meds that aren't working, ask them to change it.

Good luck, you'll be fine!

[JoAnn5]

Hi Loren! Welcome to the forum!

Well i'm a lot older than you, so you will probably do much better and faster than i did...

1. I did not have to wear a brace at all. Dr. said all the hardware acted like an internal brace.

2. I climbed stairs a couple of days after i was dismissed from hospital, but went up them 'sideways' for a while... It took about a month until i was moving around more normally... Returned to work at 3 months and drove myself 50 miles round trip.

3. I lost around 30 pounds, but then i had plenty of extra to lose. You just don't have an appetite while you are on the stronger meds. And your body takes a lot of calories to heal. I had to have 3 separate surgeries within one week, so the anesthesia took a lot out of me too.

4. I gained an inch and half or so .... My curves were stiffer so i didn't get the great correction some younger people get.

5. Hospital experience was like the others have said... you are pretty out of it most of the time... I remember the voices of my visitors, but must have been too loopy to focus on their faces...lol.. I remember some good days and some dark days... Have someone with you. Don't try to follow the plot of a book or a movie. I found it impossible. I had some soothing instrumental music on my CD player that i enjoyed more than anything.

6. I drove at around 8-10 weeks for the first time. I was sooooo careful. Anxiety attacks were a bother for me too, and i discovered were fairly common after major surgery like this....so don't be surprised if it happens to you... Driving can trigger them i found...

7. At around 3 months i started PT. It consisted of leg-strengthening exercises and electrical stimulation of my back muscles. Then i went on to water therapy which i really enjoyed.


Good luck, Loren, and remember that if an old fogie like me can make it thru ok, a young and strong lady like you can do it too... and probably do it a lot better. I'll be thinking of you on the 5th. Hugs.... JoAnn

[Suzy]

Hi Loren,
I was 43 when I had surgery and had a lumbar curve of 49* corrected to 8*.
I did not have to wear a brace.
I don't have stairs, so I can't answer that one.
I lost 22 lbs.
I gained back the height I had lost, 1 1/2".
I slept a lot the first couple of days. When I was awake after the first few days it was off and on. The meds make you tired.
I drove at 4 weeks after my surgery.
I started my P.T. at 4 months but felt ready at 3. My Dr. wasn't too happy with the idea of starting at 3 so I waited.
Normal activity levels vary person to person. Once I was out driving I felt that was a huge step toward "normal", however I did get tired easily. Your age is a huge advantage and you will do great. Keep reading the forum, this will help you get an idea what to expect.
Best wishes, Suzy