Hi Everyone,
Firstly, hello to my new peer group of scoliosis patients. While I vaguely recall a pediatrician at (my) age 13 telling my step-mother that I had scoliosis, I was unaware of its progress and effects until 3 years ago. At that time pain began and rapidly advanced so that by last spring I was unable to walk or stand for >10 minutes. Luckily I mentioned the word "scoliosis" to my local orthopedic guy, after having looked up differential diagnoses on the internet when his treatment wasn't having any real effect. He hadn't examined my back at all, but just diagnosed the pain in my L hip, radiating down my leg as "trochanteric bursitis" and injected the hip several times, had me go to PT for hip exercises. After he took a film of my spine, he agreed I had significant scoliosis, but stated "no one's going to do anything about your scoliosis" (inplying at my middle-aged status), and limited his treatment plan to referring me for epidural injections of L4-5. While epidurals had helped some idiopathic neck pain I've had since pregnancy with my son in 1983, the lumbar spine epidurals did nothing lasting beyond a couple of days. So I did more internet research and found a neurosurgeon, talked my PCP into authorizing a referral, and luckily this surgeon said that while there were procedures he could do to alleviate my pain, he didn't think he should do them b/c my spine was so bent and twisted on its axis as well. He recommended Dr. Rand for scoliosis surgery; I'll be ever-grateful for his honest and accurate diagnosis and treatment recommendation.
On Sept 26 & Oct 16 I had posterior/anterior surgeries by Dr. Frank Rand at New England Baptist Hospital, Boston, for thoracolumbar scoliosis. My spine is now fusing from T9 to S1, following hospital and rehab stays totalling about a month. I think I'm having a good recovery objectively, although I continue to have a fair amount of upper and lower back pain, the latter extending over the derrière (as my French mother-in-law would call it) and hips. There is also still significant abdominal, leg, foot edema; especially on the left side, although it is now thankfully beginning to decrease day by day. I also had a 3rd (5-day) hospitalization in early November b/c of cellulitis over my L foot & calf. After 3 IV antibiotics in hospital and a 4th oral antibiotic for 10 days after discharge, that problem is gone.
So there's the relevant med/surg history; now here's the question:
Could others with similar surgeries share their experience with what they needed over the several weeks/months post-op in terms of pain meds? I'm still on a hefty dose of Oxycontin and about half the initial amount of immediate-release oxycodone q. 4-6 hours for break-through pain. Just wondering what others' med. needs were during this period of recovery and when people were able to wean off the heavy-hitting pain meds. I appreciate any responses you're able to give and I'm grateful to have found this forum as a resource. The VNA terminated my nursing & PT services this week, so now (aside from helpful & caring family & friends) I feel like I'm flying solo. Many thanks in advance, for your thoughts and for welcoming me into this group (here I was going to put some sort of shy-smiley face, but couldn't figure out how.)
Ginny
Firstly, hello to my new peer group of scoliosis patients. While I vaguely recall a pediatrician at (my) age 13 telling my step-mother that I had scoliosis, I was unaware of its progress and effects until 3 years ago. At that time pain began and rapidly advanced so that by last spring I was unable to walk or stand for >10 minutes. Luckily I mentioned the word "scoliosis" to my local orthopedic guy, after having looked up differential diagnoses on the internet when his treatment wasn't having any real effect. He hadn't examined my back at all, but just diagnosed the pain in my L hip, radiating down my leg as "trochanteric bursitis" and injected the hip several times, had me go to PT for hip exercises. After he took a film of my spine, he agreed I had significant scoliosis, but stated "no one's going to do anything about your scoliosis" (inplying at my middle-aged status), and limited his treatment plan to referring me for epidural injections of L4-5. While epidurals had helped some idiopathic neck pain I've had since pregnancy with my son in 1983, the lumbar spine epidurals did nothing lasting beyond a couple of days. So I did more internet research and found a neurosurgeon, talked my PCP into authorizing a referral, and luckily this surgeon said that while there were procedures he could do to alleviate my pain, he didn't think he should do them b/c my spine was so bent and twisted on its axis as well. He recommended Dr. Rand for scoliosis surgery; I'll be ever-grateful for his honest and accurate diagnosis and treatment recommendation.
On Sept 26 & Oct 16 I had posterior/anterior surgeries by Dr. Frank Rand at New England Baptist Hospital, Boston, for thoracolumbar scoliosis. My spine is now fusing from T9 to S1, following hospital and rehab stays totalling about a month. I think I'm having a good recovery objectively, although I continue to have a fair amount of upper and lower back pain, the latter extending over the derrière (as my French mother-in-law would call it) and hips. There is also still significant abdominal, leg, foot edema; especially on the left side, although it is now thankfully beginning to decrease day by day. I also had a 3rd (5-day) hospitalization in early November b/c of cellulitis over my L foot & calf. After 3 IV antibiotics in hospital and a 4th oral antibiotic for 10 days after discharge, that problem is gone.
So there's the relevant med/surg history; now here's the question:
Could others with similar surgeries share their experience with what they needed over the several weeks/months post-op in terms of pain meds? I'm still on a hefty dose of Oxycontin and about half the initial amount of immediate-release oxycodone q. 4-6 hours for break-through pain. Just wondering what others' med. needs were during this period of recovery and when people were able to wean off the heavy-hitting pain meds. I appreciate any responses you're able to give and I'm grateful to have found this forum as a resource. The VNA terminated my nursing & PT services this week, so now (aside from helpful & caring family & friends) I feel like I'm flying solo. Many thanks in advance, for your thoughts and for welcoming me into this group (here I was going to put some sort of shy-smiley face, but couldn't figure out how.)
Ginny
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