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  • Requesting the removed hardware

    I am having my hardware removed hopefully at the end of May at UCSD. I would like to keep the hardware (all of them).

    A piece of conversation, framed it or make some piece of art.

    I deserved to keep this as I suffered the years until I had them and while they were inside doing a job and now I like it close by. Maybe, I am nuts and should never want to see them however, I like to have them in my hand. Feel them, see how heavy, show & tell when I get enrolled in an old folks care.

    No one seems to know after the OR then to pathologist where they go. It is another pile of junk for them and since I will spend a few nights at the hospital, don't see why they couldn't sterilize, polish, and return. Maybe, I want to make sure that it was a brand-name and not a fake hardware, likely not.

    Does anyone know what are my rights?
    Gardenia
    Baja California, Mexico & El Centro, Ca
    pre-surgery 75° and 89° - post ?
    Dr. Bridwell Nov 27, 2012 @Barnes Jewish @62yrs
    T11 to Sacrum Dural leak at L2 & L3 ccmail4g@gmail.com

  • #2
    Originally posted by gardenia View Post
    I am having my hardware removed hopefully at the end of May at UCSD. I would like to keep the hardware (all of them).

    A piece of conversation, framed it or make some piece of art.

    I deserved to keep this as I suffered the years until I had them and while they were inside doing a job and now I like it close by. Maybe, I am nuts and should never want to see them however, I like to have them in my hand. Feel them, see how heavy, show & tell when I get enrolled in an old folks care.

    No one seems to know after the OR then to pathologist where they go. It is another pile of junk for them and since I will spend a few nights at the hospital, don't see why they couldn't sterilize, polish, and return. Maybe, I want to make sure that it was a brand-name and not a fake hardware, likely not.

    Does anyone know what are my rights?
    Gardenia: I think that each hospital probably has a policy about return of body parts or hardware. In my experience as a practitioner and patient, body parts and hardware belong to the patient after the pathologist has evaluated it. I have the hardware that poked into my spine and caused my paralysis. I also asked for all of the hardware removed at the last surgery which contains my broken rod. In the past, I have received gall stones [I thought that my kids would be very interested in looking at the gall stones, but after 2 weeks on the kitchen table, they asked me to remove them.] I had patients that wanted tissue that was removed in surgery, so I requested it and gave it to them in jars.

    At OHSU, I needed to fill out a paper requesting the hardware before the surgery. After the pathologist describes it, the hardware is send to the surgeon who turns it over to me.

    Unsure what art work it will become.....suggestions? My son was thinking wind chime.

    Susan
    Adult Onset Degen Scoliosis @65, 25* T & 36* L w/ 11.2 cm coronal balance; T kyphosis 90*; Sev disc degen T & L stenosis

    2013: T3- S1 Fusion w/ ALIF L4-S1/XLIF L2-4, PSF T4-S1 2 surgeries
    2014: Hernia @ ALIF repaired; Emergency screw removal SCI T4,5 sec to PJK
    2015: Rev Broken Bil T & L rods and no fusion: 2 revision surgeries; hardware P. Acnes infection
    2016: Ant/Lat Lumbar diskectomy w/ 4 cages + BMP + harvested bone
    2018: Removal L4,5 screw
    2021: Removal T1 screw & rod

    Comment


    • #3
      IF I ever get mine removed -- and that was already discussed at my 3 month appointment due to my lifetime need for MRIs. It'll eventually happen..

      I'd totally get a 3D print made of my pre-surgery spine and implant it all back "in" ...haha. That's not an option for many that do not have pre-op CT scan or know someone that can turn scans in to 3D (moi).
      30 something y.o.

      2003 - T45, L???
      2005 - T50, L31
      bunch of measurements between...

      2011 - T60, L32
      2013 - T68, L?

      Posterior Fusion Sept 2014 -- T3 - L3
      Post - op curve ~35


      Comment


      • #4
        I made the request to have my hardware after it was removed. I went back to the hospital and picked it up from pathology.
        T10-pelvis fusion 12/08
        C5,6,7 fusion 9/10
        T2--T10 fusion 2/11
        C 4-5 fusion 11/14
        Right scapulectomy 6/15
        Right pectoralis major muscle transfer to scapula
        To replace the action of Serratus Anterior muscle 3/16
        Broken neck 9/28/2018
        Emergency surgery posterior fusion C4- T3
        Repeated 11/2018 because rods pulled apart added T2 fusion
        Removal of partial right thoracic hardware 1/2020
        Removal and replacement of C4-T10 hardware with C7 and T 1
        Osteotomy

        Comment


        • #5
          Patients at UCSF used to routinely get their explants. Now, however, I think that the UCSF Risk Management group is no longer allowing Path to release explants. Let me know if you're successful.

          --Linda
          Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
          ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
          Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by gardenia View Post
            Does anyone know what are my rights?
            As any scoli that has been through the thick and thin of scoliosis surgeries, thinking about our hardware all our lives, I think its our right, and a very personal thing for us. I think that most scoli surgeons know this and should offer our hardware back to us.....Gardinia, just tell them that you want it, after all, you earned it the hard way.

            I also had my gall bladder removed and inquired about my “golf ball” sized stones.....(which I didn’t get).

            Now, if I would have gotten them, I would gone to the golf course and drove those suckers to the moon, with the amout of pain they caused me...man-o-man!

            I had a few CT scans before my surgeries.....now if I would have known, I would have requested 3D CT’s since those are neat.....I don’t know if they would have done this if I had asked?

            Ed
            49 yr old male, now 63, the new 64...
            Pre surgery curves T70,L70
            ALIF/PSA T2-Pelvis 01/29/08, 01/31/08 7" pelvic anchors BMP
            Dr Brett Menmuir St Marys Hospital Reno,Nevada

            Bending and twisting pics after full fusion
            http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showt...on.&highlight=

            My x-rays
            http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...2&d=1228779214

            http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/attac...3&d=1228779258

            Comment


            • #7
              I threw it overboard

              I got my harrington rods and luque wires back and thew them all overboard when I was still working on the cruise lines. I realize now it wasn't the best thing for the environment. I apologize to the ocean. I did it somewhere near Gibralter I think.
              1st surgery: Fused T1-L3 in 1987 with contoured Harrington Rods. Rods broke at top.
              2nd surgery: Re-done two weeks later; fused C7-L3. Left in chronic pain.
              3rd surgery: Hardware removal 1997, but still pain for 30 years.
              4th Surgery: Fused to the sacrum in 2016. Came out of surgery with left foot paralysis. (Drop Foot) Can't walk on my own.
              I'm blessed to have found my peace and reason to live not from a husband or kids (I have none) but from God and within myself.

              Comment


              • #8
                My son had hardware in his leg . He asked for it and got it back. He was surprised as to how small it was. He was about 14 at the time.
                Melissa

                Fused from C2 - sacrum 7/2011

                April 21, 2020- another broken rod surgery

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by titaniumed View Post
                  I had a few CT scans before my surgeries.....now if I would have known, I would have requested 3D CT’s since those are neat.....I don’t know if they would have done this if I had asked?

                  Ed
                  Your dr had to make a request, that is IF your healthcare facility is doing that routinley. Also the 3D reconstruction normally done in radiology is different from process done to get a 3d printable file. Latter is even rarer in clinical practice even though technology has been around for a while.
                  Last edited by green m&m; 04-24-2015, 10:15 PM.
                  30 something y.o.

                  2003 - T45, L???
                  2005 - T50, L31
                  bunch of measurements between...

                  2011 - T60, L32
                  2013 - T68, L?

                  Posterior Fusion Sept 2014 -- T3 - L3
                  Post - op curve ~35


                  Comment


                  • #10
                    UCSF no longer returning EXPLANTS

                    Originally posted by LindaRacine View Post
                    Patients at UCSF used to routinely get their explants. Now, however, I think that the UCSF Risk Management group is no longer allowing Path to release explants. Let me know if you're successful.

                    --Linda
                    I am seriously more and more pissed about the medical industry surrounding themselves with more walls for their own protection against lawsuits. For example, it is so much trouble to even request our own medical records without faxing approval due to HIPPA concerns - well who in this world have a fax machine attached to a home phone line?

                    My drugs gets announced to my email. Can't even tell which ones they are shipping unless I go into the website and go thru 1900 pages to get to the page which tell me which. I can no longer list all my current drugs unless they are expiring or close to renewing.

                    THEN, I complained to the mail pharmacy that those bottles they send with our pills have LABELS that are impossible to remove!!!! I am concerned about throwing empty bottles and letting my garbage man, my recycle bins, or my nosey neighbor that I am taking xxx pills. Not like it is Ectassy or one of those male enhancer drugs that I want no one to know... But what if I don't want people to know that I am taking cholesterol or blood pressure medications? Well I don't care who knows except for web ads spams that come to you unsolicited.

                    Why Can't I sign something that says Don't protect my privacy!!! Open the curtains, I have nothing to hide and What if I need the data to give to my attorneys?

                    My primary doctor refused to be my advisor between the 2 surgeons because he is afraid to make a comment that would be misinterpreted and then I go suing him. So, if not him who could I trust to help me interpret?
                    Gardenia
                    Baja California, Mexico & El Centro, Ca
                    pre-surgery 75° and 89° - post ?
                    Dr. Bridwell Nov 27, 2012 @Barnes Jewish @62yrs
                    T11 to Sacrum Dural leak at L2 & L3 ccmail4g@gmail.com

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      I have the hardware that was removed I was amazed at my reaction when I first saw it.my PT wanted some of it but I could not give it up. It was a part of me. Not that I am doing anything with it but it was an emotional reaction. Like giving a part of yourself away.
                      T10-pelvis fusion 12/08
                      C5,6,7 fusion 9/10
                      T2--T10 fusion 2/11
                      C 4-5 fusion 11/14
                      Right scapulectomy 6/15
                      Right pectoralis major muscle transfer to scapula
                      To replace the action of Serratus Anterior muscle 3/16
                      Broken neck 9/28/2018
                      Emergency surgery posterior fusion C4- T3
                      Repeated 11/2018 because rods pulled apart added T2 fusion
                      Removal of partial right thoracic hardware 1/2020
                      Removal and replacement of C4-T10 hardware with C7 and T 1
                      Osteotomy

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by gardenia View Post
                        I am seriously more and more pissed about the medical industry surrounding themselves with more walls for their own protection against lawsuits. For example, it is so much trouble to even request our own medical records without faxing approval due to HIPPA concerns - well who in this world have a fax machine attached to a home phone line?

                        My drugs gets announced to my email. Can't even tell which ones they are shipping unless I go into the website and go thru 1900 pages to get to the page which tell me which. I can no longer list all my current drugs unless they are expiring or close to renewing.

                        THEN, I complained to the mail pharmacy that those bottles they send with our pills have LABELS that are impossible to remove!!!! I am concerned about throwing empty bottles and letting my garbage man, my recycle bins, or my nosey neighbor that I am taking xxx pills. Not like it is Ectassy or one of those male enhancer drugs that I want no one to know... But what if I don't want people to know that I am taking cholesterol or blood pressure medications? Well I don't care who knows except for web ads spams that come to you unsolicited.

                        Why Can't I sign something that says Don't protect my privacy!!! Open the curtains, I have nothing to hide and What if I need the data to give to my attorneys?

                        My primary doctor refused to be my advisor between the 2 surgeons because he is afraid to make a comment that would be misinterpreted and then I go suing him. So, if not him who could I trust to help me interpret?
                        It's a shame that a relatively small group of people who sue strictly because they're greedy, who have made our lives significantly more difficult.

                        Like you, I would like an option to opt out of HIPAA.

                        --Linda
                        Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
                        ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
                        Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation

                        Comment

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