Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Do you always need a hospital bed after

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Do you always need a hospital bed after

    surgery?

    I was under the impression that most people do not need a bed or other medical equipment.

    I am young - in my 20s- so I am hoping I won't need that stuff.
    28 years old. Dx at age 14.

    1994 20T/20L
    1998 22T/20L
    2002 30T/28L
    2006 34T/28L
    2008 43T/34L

    considering surgery in the near future as the curvature is getting progressively worse and for pain management.

    XRAYS and pics at 28 years old. http://www.freewebs.com/skiergirl24/apps/photos/

  • #2
    Hello,

    I'm 2 months post-op and I didn't get a hospital bed. I sleep on my couch most of the time. For some reason I find sleeping in my bed very painful. As long as you have several pillows and a couple of options for places to sleep, you should be fine.

    Shell
    Chemist, 30

    1998- 18 degrees
    2003- 33 degrees
    2005- 37 degrees
    2006- 44 degrees
    May 2007- 47 degrees
    December 2007 - 50 degrees X-ray

    Surgery May 27, 2008
    Fused T1 to L2
    Curve corrected to 15 degrees X-ray

    Comment


    • #3
      As shell said, you don't need one, but getting more pillows helps out a lot, and sleeping on the couch is great. It gives you great back support. Years later I still find my sleeps on the couch to be my most restful.

      Brad
      Surgeries July 26th & August 3rd 1983 (12 years old)
      Still have 57 degree curve
      2 Harrington rods
      Luque method used
      Dr David Bradford
      Twin Cities Scoliosis Center
      Preop xray (with brace on)
      Postop xray

      Comment


      • #4
        I didn't use a hospital bed either-- just a few extra pillows and a regular bed-- but it is one of the newer ones with higher height, so easy for me to get in and out of.
        71 and plugging along... but having some problems
        2007 52° w/ severe lumbar stenosis & L2L3 lateral listhesis (side shift)
        5/4/07 posterior fusion T2-L4 w/ laminectomies and osteotomies @L2L3, L3L4
        Dr. Kim Hammerberg, Rush Univ. Medical Center in Chicago

        Corrected to 15°
        CMT (type 2) DX in 2014, progressing
        10/2018 x-rays - spondylolisthesis at L4/L5 - Dr. DeWald is monitoring

        Click to view my pics: pics of scoli x-rays digital x-rays, and pics of me

        Comment


        • #5
          As Susie*Bee mentioned a higher bed, I concur that they are the best for getting in and out of bed (at least for me). I needed a new bed anyway, so I decided to purchase a firm bed with a thick mattress - maybe 14" - that has a thin - 2" - topper. It has saved me!! The relatively thin topper has been very helpful as something to grab onto as I try to pull myself into a sitting position (for all I know, I may have already pulled all its stitches out!).
          And when I swing my legs down, my feet are just a few inches above the floor.

          The only downside of a thick mattress was that, early on, I misjudged the location and height of the bed as I was backing into it, using my walker, and I slipped off. Try as I might, I couldn't boost myself up to get onto the bed, so I finally gave up and slept on the floor until the next morning until someone came by to help

          I hated the hospital beds - it was hard for me to reach the side railings to secure me from falling off, and half the time the aides forgot to pull them back up. Even now, when I am much recovered, I still fear rolling off the tables used by PTs, doctors, etc.

          As for pillows, you may not have to buy more - I now have many pillows that I know I did not purchase - apparantly every time I left a hospital, and whenever I was transported in a medical van, someone gave me a pillow. I also have several new blankets - the white thin cotton ones that the nurses heat up for you, plus a pretty red one from Virgin Airlines that the attendant wrapped around me as he was bundling me into a wheelchair!!. They make great conversation pieces.
          As of 12/25/07, age 62, 100* thoracic kyphosis, 73* L1-S1 lordosis, 37*/25* compensatory S-curve scoliosis. On 12/26/07, Dr. Boachie @ HSS NYC did 11 hours ant. & post. procedures, fused T2-L2, kyphosis now 57*, scoli 10*. Regained 2 1/4 inches in height!! Improving every day.

          Comment


          • #6
            I won't say you need one but for me it was a great option. I wasn't sure I would be able to climb the stairs to my bedroom and even if I could, would I be able to sleep in my bed. As it turns out I had no problem with the stairs but I couldn't sleep in my bed for close to 5 weeks. My 4" memory foam topper was just a bit too much and I couldn't log roll out of it. I ended up sleeping in my living room in a hospital bed for 5 weeks while my girls slept on the 2 couches to makes sure I was okay. I had to have my brace on before I was allowed get out of bed and it was at 5 weeks I was finally able to put it on by myself without sitting up.
            Geish
            47 years old, dx at 13
            +30* to the right, +60* to the left, +30* to the right
            Surgery 12-13-07 - fusion from T4 to sacrum.


            http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...tachmentid=267 Pre surgery
            http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...tachmentid=268 Post surgery
            http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/DSC01091.jpg Xray from the side
            http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1089-1-1-1.jpg Xray from the back

            Comment


            • #7
              I found I could only sleep on the couch the for the first 3 months. It was the most comfortable. My bed is also very high and i'm not short 5'7" and I still struggle to get in and out of it. For months my husband and kids had to be right there. I would keep my cell phone by me and call one of them if they were not in the room and I needed to get up.
              Patty 51 years old
              Surgery May 23, 2007(43 Birthday)
              Posterior T3- L4
              Pre surgery curves
              T-53degrees
              L-38degrees
              and a severe side shift to the right.
              Post surgery curves
              Less than 10 degrees
              Surgery April, 2006
              C4 - C6

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Mobee211
                surgery?

                I was under the impression that most people do not need a bed or other medical equipment.

                I am young - in my 20s- so I am hoping I won't need that stuff.
                I didn't need any special equipment (no tub seat, tub rails, toilet riser, etc.), and never even considered a hospital bed.

                The risers (about 6") were taken out from under my bed before surgery: It made the bed to high to easily get out without a little jump (which did NOT sound like fun - LOL!).

                I found, for me, the best height for the bed (including the 2" memory foam topper) was where it came to about the bend of my hips. It allowed me to logroll and place my feet on the floor while sitting, but not so low I had to "climb out".

                Regards,
                Pam
                Fusion is NOT the end of the world.
                AIDS Walk Houston 2008 5K @ 33 days post op!


                41, dx'd JIS & Boston braced @ 10
                Pre-op ±53°, Post-op < 20°
                Fused 2/5/08, T4-L1 ... Darrell S. Hanson, Houston


                VIEW MY X-RAYS
                EMAIL ME

                Comment


                • #9
                  I think part of the decision also has to do with the length and location of your fusion. Have they said how many vertebrae and which ones yet?
                  Geish
                  47 years old, dx at 13
                  +30* to the right, +60* to the left, +30* to the right
                  Surgery 12-13-07 - fusion from T4 to sacrum.


                  http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...tachmentid=267 Pre surgery
                  http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...tachmentid=268 Post surgery
                  http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/DSC01091.jpg Xray from the side
                  http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1089-1-1-1.jpg Xray from the back

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    I have owned and used a hospital bed for years. However, I didn't really use its features after surgery. Any bed would have worked for me.
                    Ginger Woolley

                    Oct 2018, L3 - S1, Anterior & Posterior, Dr Sigurd Berven, UCSF, San Francisco
                    ******
                    May 2008, T4 - L3, Dr. Ohenaba Boachie, Hospital for Special Surgery, NYC
                    ******
                    Sept 1967, T4 - T 11, without instrumentation, Dr Thomas Brown, Stanford

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I didn't use a hospital bed. I did use a shower stool, raised toliet seat with arms, wheelchair, walker and a cane. Oh yeah, my handy dandy grabbers, I used two different kinds. I also keep one at work. The other thing I used alot was the recliner with pillows. Also for me I use a dog bone shaped pillow when we go on a drive that's longer than 30 minutes or if we go to the movies. I'm so short that the head rest doesn't fit right, it feels like my head is being pushed forward.
                      Theresa

                      April 8 & 12, 2004 - Anterior/Posterior surgery 15 hours & 7 hours
                      Thorasic - 79 degree down to 22
                      Lumbar - 44 degree down to 18
                      Fused T2 to sacrum
                      June 2, 2005 - Pedicle subtraction osteotomy @L3 7 hours
                      MAY 21, 2007 - Pedicle subtraction osteotomy @ L2, extended the fusion to S2 and added pelvic instrumentation 9 hours

                      FUSED T2 - SACRUM 2

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Just was thinking-- if your bed is a lower one, there's no need to buy a new bed to get one that is higher. Bed, Bath and Beyond (and probably other similar places) sell bed height extenders (I'm not sure what they're called)-- but they raise the height of the bed. I remember seeing them there once. As I said, mine is higher, but not too high. It is 26" from the floor... and is pretty easy to get in and out of. My leg muscles were sooooo weak after surgery that it would have been impossible to "lift" myself up from a lower sitting position. We had fortunately gotten a new couch with a 21" seat height--- our old one was about 14-15"-- and that is hard to get up from.

                        It's hard to know what other equipment you might need-- because you are young, and it depends on the length of your fusion too-- and how weak the surgery may leave you too. You can ask your doctor-- or wait and see what they issue you in the hospital-- and get what else you might need after the surgery (if you have someone who can go get it...) I am much older than you, but I really appreciated my raised toilet seat with arms (the arms allow you to push yourself up--and hang onto something--rather than having to use all leg strength) and my shower seat and hand-held shower head... I reluctantly put them away when I knew I should move on... But I would imagine if I were younger they might be something I would have been embarrassed to use. (Even at my age I associate things like that as being for the REALLY old-- and somehow they always seemed soooo yucky... I changed my tune when they weighed in as being soooo helpful!) The things I still use ALL the time are reachers and my sock aid-- I think that will be for life. I can't reach to the end of my feet to slip socks on-- and I have a short reacher that they gave me in the hospital that helps me get my undies on. I don't need a reacher with pants because there's more to them and can manage ok. I have longer reachers for things on the floor-- they even pick up tiny things fine-- one time I spilled lots of pills on the floor and was able to retrieve them all. And one of my reachers has a magnet, so when I was doing some sewing and a couple of straight pins escaped me onto the floor, they were a snap to pick up... I just bought two new reachers to take to school with me when I start back to work... (two different types).

                        My doctor recommended NOT to use a hospital bed-- and I also didn't have a walker. They did issue me a cane, but that was for helping me get up and down stairs, not needed for regular walking. I also used it when I'd go in big stores and for "crowd control" if I was some place crowded-- it gives a sign to others that there's a person you shouldn't bump into. I would think you'd be fine without much in the way of walking assistance.

                        Best wishes in planning for your surgery. Do you have a date set?
                        71 and plugging along... but having some problems
                        2007 52° w/ severe lumbar stenosis & L2L3 lateral listhesis (side shift)
                        5/4/07 posterior fusion T2-L4 w/ laminectomies and osteotomies @L2L3, L3L4
                        Dr. Kim Hammerberg, Rush Univ. Medical Center in Chicago

                        Corrected to 15°
                        CMT (type 2) DX in 2014, progressing
                        10/2018 x-rays - spondylolisthesis at L4/L5 - Dr. DeWald is monitoring

                        Click to view my pics: pics of scoli x-rays digital x-rays, and pics of me

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Theresa...

                          Theresa-- that's the same problem I have with traveling. My head feels like it is being pushed forward by the curve of the seat and/or headrest. I didn't know if I was alone on that problem or not, now I know there's at least one other.
                          71 and plugging along... but having some problems
                          2007 52° w/ severe lumbar stenosis & L2L3 lateral listhesis (side shift)
                          5/4/07 posterior fusion T2-L4 w/ laminectomies and osteotomies @L2L3, L3L4
                          Dr. Kim Hammerberg, Rush Univ. Medical Center in Chicago

                          Corrected to 15°
                          CMT (type 2) DX in 2014, progressing
                          10/2018 x-rays - spondylolisthesis at L4/L5 - Dr. DeWald is monitoring

                          Click to view my pics: pics of scoli x-rays digital x-rays, and pics of me

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I'm close to 5'8" and, depending on the car, I feel like my head is being pushed forward too. In some cars I remove the headrest and that seems to really help. I can't remove it in my chrysler sebring. I do use a regular bed pillow behind me when I drive. Not sure yet if that is for life, but its looking that way.
                            Geish
                            47 years old, dx at 13
                            +30* to the right, +60* to the left, +30* to the right
                            Surgery 12-13-07 - fusion from T4 to sacrum.


                            http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...tachmentid=267 Pre surgery
                            http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...tachmentid=268 Post surgery
                            http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...s/DSC01091.jpg Xray from the side
                            http://i156.photobucket.com/albums/t...1089-1-1-1.jpg Xray from the back

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Thanks everyone. I do not know what vertebrae will have to be fused. I meet with the surgeon again on December 27th to discuss surgery. However, my curve is thoracolumbar...so I believe I will have a longer fusion.

                              I am hoping I will not need a hospital bed. My plan is to have the surgery as soon as school ends in May, and have 3.5 months to recover before school starts again.
                              28 years old. Dx at age 14.

                              1994 20T/20L
                              1998 22T/20L
                              2002 30T/28L
                              2006 34T/28L
                              2008 43T/34L

                              considering surgery in the near future as the curvature is getting progressively worse and for pain management.

                              XRAYS and pics at 28 years old. http://www.freewebs.com/skiergirl24/apps/photos/

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X