Simple questions

[titaniumed]

Hello everyone,

I have just a few simple questions. After surgery, I was freezing all the time! I had my thermostat set at 77 degrees in the house and was wondering if it was just me?

Also, The area around the scar on my back is numb. No feeling for approx 2 inches, beyond the 2 inches it feels like sunburn out to about 4 inches. This is not a problem however, I have the sunburn feeling around my hips on my beltline. It has improved some, Im wondering when the sunburn feeling will diminish?

Thx
Ed

T2-Pelvis A/P 01/29/08,01/31/08 with the frankenstein bolts!
49 yrs old

[Singer]

Hi Ed,

Yes, I was cold a lot. Showers were a particular ordeal because I hated being wet and cold at the same time....

At 11 months post-op, I still have numb areas that are coming back to life along both my posterior and anterior incisions. I'd rather they'd stayed numb actually, but they tell me it's a good sign as the nerves heal. I still have that sunburned feeling here and there, too. It takes a long time for nerves to come back....a year or more.

[Geish]

I don't have the sunburned feeling, but I am numb all the way out to the sides of my legs on my upper thighs and hip area. Also numb out about 4 inches on each side of the incision, more so in the lumbar area than the thoracic area. For a while I was even a bit numb on the front of my rib cage but that seems to have gone away.

I had hot and cold flashes for the first few months. I still get cold easily but my internal thermostat seems to have gotten itself back under control. I don't have to worry about overheating just because the house is at 68!

[Susie*Bee]

I don't have that sunburned feeling either, and am still numb on either side of the incision site also, but I think I'm actually beginning to have more feeling than I did. Judging from an older, totally unrelated surgery I had, sometimes it can take a really long time to get your feeling back...

I tend to get hot more than cold, although sometimes my hands and feet are freezing. I am sure I would absolutely roast with a temp of 77º in the house. My internal temp regulator is probably pretty much back to normal-- it's always been out of kilter some anyway. I usually have a nice hot cup of tea in the late afternoon if I'm cold-- or sometimes an Italian ice if I'm hot. That helps!

I meant to post on your other thread how nice it was to explain all about your adventures. You've had a pretty exciting time of it!

[JamieR]

I don't have the sunburn feeling either. I just barely had surgery though so I am still numb down the center of my back, probably about two inches on both sides, and I am numb on my left hip.

I am always very cold but after my surgery I was hot all of the time. I was actually freezing everyone else out of my room. That lasted about 5 weeks and then I went back to how I normally am.

[txmarinemom]

Hello everyone,

I have just a few simple questions. After surgery, I was freezing all the time! I had my thermostat set at 77 degrees in the house and was wondering if it was just me?

Also, The area around the scar on my back is numb. No feeling for approx 2 inches, beyond the 2 inches it feels like sunburn out to about 4 inches. This is not a problem however, I have the sunburn feeling around my hips on my beltline. It has improved some, Im wondering when the sunburn feeling will diminish?

I was cold too - and kept an electric blanket on the side of my king-sized bed for months after surgery. That was in between the down comforter and the quilt - LOL. I live in an OLD duplex (off the ground, no central heat), and first thing every morning, I'd slip out of bed, turn the floor gas valve with my toe, and bend over juuuuuuust enough to spark the pilot light and get it going. Then I'd jump back under the covers until the temperature warmed up.

(... and I'm in Houston ... I can't even imagine a REAL winter!)

I can't say when the numbness/sunburned feeling goes away from the severed nerves. My phantom itching is MUCH better since I started the Gabapentin, but some days it still drives me nuts. I still have numbness on a scar from knee surgery in '92, so I'm inclined to believe it'll never *completely* go away on my back.

[CStadler]

I was so cold my skin hurt, sort of a prickly cold all over. Showering wasn't pleasant because I couldn't get warm no matter how long I stayed in and then like Singer said, you were cold and wet.

At night it was the opposite, I sweat so much I had to get up and change 4-5 times a night.

I think it is weakness from such a trauma to your body. It goes after a few weeks.

The numbness is normal for any surgery. I had a previous surgery as well with numbness and it took years before it felt close to normal again.

Patience and time.

[loves to skate]

loves to skate

Hi Ed,
I was freezing for at least 4 months after surgery. I also woke up at night in a sweat for the first 2 or 3 months. I still get cold in the evenings as we have been having a very cold month of May here in Massachusetts. I could use some 80 to 90° weather right about now. I have no numbness near my posterior incision but have numbness on one side of the anterior incision site for about 2" out. No sunburned sensation though. The phantom itching is making me crazy in the evenings along with pain in my legs where it was numb before my surgery. The gabapentin helps somewhat. Maybe I need a higher dose. It did cure my restless leg syndrome though which is a blessing.
Take care, Sally