Post Op x-rays

[ladare]

Hi all,

I had my two-week post op appt. two days ago and was given my post op xrays. The plan was for T10 - L5, but my doc ended up doing T11 - L5 (apparently he told me that one day post op, but the morphene erased that right away). The original plan was for no correction either, but as we mentioned before, my L3 was very unstable (more than 1/4" out of alignment with L2 and L4). So there was some correction done for that. In my post-op appt. I was told the L3 was so bad, that with much more slippage/damage, I may not have been able to move my left leg ever again!!! I'm SO VERY THANKFUL I did not postpone this surgery for a year like I had originally planned... Recovering very well, walking between 1.5 and 2.5 miles per day. I take my husband's pilot GPS with me so I can track the distance and the MPH. And eventually I'll be able to track the altitude of walks when I start doing hills. It's fun to keep track of it that way. I'm just a little airplane icon on the screen...hahahaha....who knew we would ever use it for this!

I am very encouraged for the future!

Lisa

[Susie*Bee]

Yay, Lisa! They look super! You must be so pleased!!! And thanks for the laugh too-- about not attaching the x-rays! That's the kind of thing I do too!

Do you have a "before" x-ray??? And I'm so glad you didn't wait either. Whew!

[ladare]

Susie, they only sent my post op, so I replied with a request with the pre-op and will post as soon as I receive them. I just emailed you a photo also.

Cheers!

Lisa

[Susie*Bee]

Thanks, Lisa-- it's always interesting to see how crooked people were before the surgery...

I LOVED the family pic! Thanks a bunch!

[Jacque's Mom]

Hi Lisa,

In a prior post, before your surgery, you said (cut some of the text out):

"The purpose of the surgery is to alleviate the pain caused by lumbar stenosis, arthritis, and lumbosacral spondylosis".

The reason I ask is I had my appt. w/Dr. Boachie on July 3rd as for the past year I have been suffering with low back pain that is increasing getting worse every day. I've been in pain mgmt for almost six or so years and it's been great for my upper pain that I had but now with the lower, when that starts, it causes havoc. So, my question is.... Dr. Boachie took xrays and basically I have what you mentioned. One of my discs will have to be removed and then he would extend the rod to support the spine. It's in the L3/4 L4/5 area. I have such pain in the buttocks (thankfully, does not go down the leg at all) but it's so painful, sore, etc. It feels at times that someone is squeezing my waste when it really acts up. Sleeping now is an issue and I cannot even turn without saying to myself, is it really worth the pain or should I just stay in the position I am. Just had an MRI and Dr. Boachie will look at the results. The GREAT news is I do not have flatback,which was a concern of mine, although I really didn't think I did but one never knows. He confirmed NO. He said it would be a three months recovery and two procedures done at the same time (5 days in hospital then home recovering). That's okay but I have a trip planned in October that I really, really, really want to go to, it's paid for and I always look forward to that week in Aruba every year so he said to try the Facet Joint Injections as they may give me three months relief and then I can have another one. I am having it done this Tuesday. Did you ever have them done, or if anyone else is reading this, did they help you? I have nothing to loose to try it. I'm also asking you, did you find immediate relief or soon after, after the surgery with the removal of the stenosis, etc.?

I'm really glad you are doing so well. Your xrays are amazing. Keep walking and I wish you the best. Regards, LYNN

[ladare]

Hi Lynn,

Thanks for your interesting note, and I really hope you will get clearance to go to Aruba. I would find that very hard to give up!!!

Re: facet joint injections, that was my pain management program for about two years. My goal was to get pain free enough to start exercising, with the hope that exercise would make me stronger, and alleviate the pain. Eventually my pain mgmt doc released me to PT because there wasn't anything else he could do for me. So I went to a PT, who was great, but also honest and he said no amount of PT would fix my problem, and sent me to a pain mgmt doc again. The pain mgmt doc said he couldn't do anything for me either because I had had too many injections already, and sent me to the surgeon. The pain mgmt doc explained that FHI's can only be done for a limited period of time because they artificially put sterioids in your body, which sends a signal to the adrenal glands that the body has enough sterioid. If this goes on for too long, the adrenal glands can stop functioning altogether...which is not good. The FJI's DID work very well, so I would encourage you to try that so that you can go on your trip to Aruba. My last FJI's were so that I could go to Thailand last January. I did quite well on the trip until we took a boat ride that started off smooth, but then hit very choppy water. For a while I tried to lift my bum off the seat by using my arms but I wasn't strong enough to keep that up, so then I kneeled on the seat, held the side rail, and used my knees and hips as shock absorbers, which was better, but not a fun ride at all! The end result was not good and that's what actually sent me into surgery faster than I had expected. So, be careful what you do in Aruba! I also had radio (radial?) nerve oblation (basically where they heat up the suspect sensory nerves to the point that they burn and stop functioning until they grow back), which could have lasted up to three years, but only lasted about six months for me, and it wasn't worth the pain of the procedure to try again. If someone suggests RNF for you, remember the recovery period is quite long and quite painful. At least it was for me. The FJI's only take a few days to recover from and the recovery is not that painful. I opted for sedation for the procedure (it's a very fast procedure, so very short sedation, like just minutes) because I felt I just didn't want to deal with any more pain of any kind... I totally understand the bum pain - awful, debilitating. And sleeping...not much fun either. I finally had to go on strong pain meds to sleep. I had always avoided that approach because I am very senstive to pain meds - they make me so loopy I can not function.

So, good luck and let me know how you feel after your first FJI's. And post a picture of your trip to Aruba!!! Just to make us all jealous...

Lisa