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Today is exactly 6 months since my surgery. Although I still have some muscle pain doing certain movements and I still tire easily, overall I am very happy with the outcome. 
Dr. B. had told me prior to surgery that he would not be able to totally reduce the right shoulder blade hump (too many years in that position plus calcified bone spurs), and said he would be pleased if the kyphotic curve could be reduced from 100* to 70*, and I might re-gain 1.5 inches in height (I had been 5' 7" in college, but had shrunk to 5' 3 1/2" going into surgery.
The result: my curve measured 57* at 1 month post-op, and I have re-gained 2 1/4", bringing me to 5' 5 3/4". I still have a slight hump on the right side but the only people who notice it are PTs. Otherwise, everyone insists the hump is not noticeable! And I am stabilized from T2 to L2. I've already noticed the improvement in my balance, as my center of gravity now is where it was supposed to have been all these years.
I've been feeling better and better the past 6 weeks. Today I took a 70 miles each way train ride, and aside from a few lurches, it was fine. I've already driven 25 miles each way, and I no longer feel I must drive only in the right lane because the range of motion of head/neck has been improving. I do PT 3/ week, including 2 in a pool, which has been great. I'm still re-learning how to hold my head and shoulders and carry myself - so many years of everything put together the wrong way.
It has certainly been no walk in the park: 11 hours spine urgery, followed by pneumonia and 5 days in ICU; 7 weeks of constant vomiting until they figured out that my stomach had pushed thru the diaphragm into the chest cavity, and had 4 hours of surgery to repair that 10 weeks after my spine surgery
When I came out of ICU, all I could think for a long time was "I can't believe I chose to do this to myself - what on earth had I been thinking?" I was very depressed for a full 3 months following surgery, but once the stomach problem was fixed, I began to fell semi-human.
A bonus of not keeping any food down for so long is that I lost a lot of weight and now am back to a good size for my frame. All my pre-op clothes are way too big; I've gone down 3 or 4 sizes, so, for the first time in at least 30 years, I am really enjoying clothes shopping and showing off my almost normal figure by wearing form-fitting clothes instead of those huge baggy shirts. People who haven't seen me for a while don't recognize me !!!
Anyway, to those who are still undecided, for me the process was extremely difficult - BUT - I AM SO GLAD I WENT AHEAD WITH IT It DOES get better!!
Dr. B. had told me prior to surgery that he would not be able to totally reduce the right shoulder blade hump (too many years in that position plus calcified bone spurs), and said he would be pleased if the kyphotic curve could be reduced from 100* to 70*, and I might re-gain 1.5 inches in height (I had been 5' 7" in college, but had shrunk to 5' 3 1/2" going into surgery.
The result: my curve measured 57* at 1 month post-op, and I have re-gained 2 1/4", bringing me to 5' 5 3/4". I still have a slight hump on the right side but the only people who notice it are PTs. Otherwise, everyone insists the hump is not noticeable! And I am stabilized from T2 to L2. I've already noticed the improvement in my balance, as my center of gravity now is where it was supposed to have been all these years.
I've been feeling better and better the past 6 weeks. Today I took a 70 miles each way train ride, and aside from a few lurches, it was fine. I've already driven 25 miles each way, and I no longer feel I must drive only in the right lane because the range of motion of head/neck has been improving. I do PT 3/ week, including 2 in a pool, which has been great. I'm still re-learning how to hold my head and shoulders and carry myself - so many years of everything put together the wrong way.
It has certainly been no walk in the park: 11 hours spine urgery, followed by pneumonia and 5 days in ICU; 7 weeks of constant vomiting until they figured out that my stomach had pushed thru the diaphragm into the chest cavity, and had 4 hours of surgery to repair that 10 weeks after my spine surgery
When I came out of ICU, all I could think for a long time was "I can't believe I chose to do this to myself - what on earth had I been thinking?" I was very depressed for a full 3 months following surgery, but once the stomach problem was fixed, I began to fell semi-human.
A bonus of not keeping any food down for so long is that I lost a lot of weight and now am back to a good size for my frame. All my pre-op clothes are way too big; I've gone down 3 or 4 sizes, so, for the first time in at least 30 years, I am really enjoying clothes shopping and showing off my almost normal figure by wearing form-fitting clothes instead of those huge baggy shirts. People who haven't seen me for a while don't recognize me !!!
Anyway, to those who are still undecided, for me the process was extremely difficult - BUT - I AM SO GLAD I WENT AHEAD WITH IT
It DOES get better!!
We'll get there! -- Susie
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