Surgery Next Week!

[djkinkead]

I do remember waiting for every four hours to go by for the next pain killer. I would only take the meds for muscle spasms mostly at night--it helped me get to sleep as well.

It took me a while (a couple months) to start weaning off the four hour meds to longer periods of time and going onto tylenol.

As I had mentioned in a post I made about two months post surgery, the best thing to do is to get a four hour schedule where you only have to wake up once in the middle of the night to take the four hour med. I think it was: 10 p.m., 2 a.m., 6 a.m. 10 a.m. 2 pm 6 pm.

Best wishes and prayers for your recovery. Sorry about the pup crossing the rainbow bridge. One of my dogs is twelve and I know I'll be a complete wreck when he goes.

Dollie

[mdtaffet]

As I had mentioned in a post I made about two months post surgery, the best thing to do is to get a four hour schedule where you only have to wake up once in the middle of the night to take the four hour med. I think it was: 10 p.m., 2 a.m., 6 a.m. 10 a.m. 2 pm 6 pm.

Dollie,

You must have a way different sleep schedule than I did initially! I tried to make sure I was in bed by 11 p.m., and I usually didn't get out of bed until at least 7 a.m. if I could manage to stay asleep that long. So given that schedule, both your 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. time slots would have been "middle of the night" for me. Given my schedule at that time, I took the pre-sleep dose just before 11, and then generally woke up between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. at which time I might take another dose of meds early on so that it would help me get back to sleep and try to stay asleep. I didn't really need them for pain in the middle of the night -- only for sleep. Otherwise I would be out of bed at least once an hour. By 2 1/2 weeks out (just after the dressing was removed), I only took the pain meds at night -- never during the day. Saving them for bed time allowed them to last just over a month after the surgery. Then I was out of pain meds and didn't request more. At that point, I switched to the sleeping pills that I had used prior to surgery -- Sonata or Ambien.

Now I'm getting back closer to my pre-surgery night-owl schedule. I'm usually up these days until 1:30 a.m. or even later (the release of the 1940 census is partially responsible for those late hours), and rarely get out of bed before 9 a.m. [That's better than when I was still working before surgery and tried to be in bed by midnight or shortly thereafter and had to be up between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. every day.]

There was a time when I could easily sleep until noon or later if nothing woke me up (i.e. alarm clock, my husband, the dog). Though one Saturday recently I was actually still asleep after 10 a.m. and my husband did have to wake me up so he could make my breakfast before he left the house (he's made me breakfast every Saturday and Sunday for many years). But most of the time I'm lucky if I manage to stay asleep until 9 a.m.; my sleep is very restless these days.

I start out the night in my Golden Technologies zero-gravity power lift recliner in the spare bedroom (no room for it in the bedroom), where I'll sleep for anywhere between 1 to 5 hours; 2 to 3 hours is usually par. Then I go to the bedroom and get into my bed and try to sleep the rest of the night there. If I do that, I can generally manage to sleep, though fitfully at times, until 9 a.m. or even a bit later. Otherwise if I tried to sleep in my bed all night, I'd probably be up 2 to 3 times in the middle of the night and wouldn't be able to stay in bed as long in the morning because over time it gets more and more uncomfortable sleeping on my back in my bed. Not painful really, but uncomfortable.

I look forward to the return of the old days, where I only got up once in the middle of the night, and then only because I needed to use the bathroom. And when I was in my bed, I was sleeping mostly very soundly. Hopefully that will happen again at some point, but who knows how long that will take....

[golfnut]

Suzanne,
How are you feeling? Do you have before and after pictures yet? I know that the first month is the toughest, so keep your positive attitude and you'll gradually notice improvements.

[susancook]

Suzanne: I have been following your surgery and recovery blog and am pleased to hear that you are home safely and that you are feeling well. So sorry about your dog. I have not had surgery, I am the 65 YO that posted about how to make the decision whether to have surgery or not, so I learned alot from reading about your experience. As a Nurse Practitioner, my only advice is to take time now to take the best care of yourself that you can. Eat well, relax, get lots of rest. Healing always takes longer than we think that it should. Listen to your body. I wish you a speedy recovery and I hope that your contact dermatitis is better.
Susan

[twistedRN]

Doing Great!

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your concerns and well wishes! I am 6 weeks postOp and am actually doing really well, have weaned off all the gabapentin, am down to two muscle relaxers and 3 half-doses of my hydrocodone in 24 hrs. I hope to be totally off the Rx meds in the next few weeks - we'll see! I am walking about 1.5 miles a day and am able to sit for about an hour at a time. I'm sleeping through the night (except for the turning which still takes concerted effort) and am eating pretty well. I have lost about 12 lbs through this journey and, despite everyone force feeding me high calorie foods, still haven't gained it back. I guess my body just needs it for healing right now. I would rate my pain on a daily basis at about a 2, maybe a 3. Of course some things make it worse (prolonged sitting, standing from sitting etc), but I have to say it is sooo much better than it was. My 8 wk follow up is May 21st and I am anxious to get some "after measurements". Yes, I do have some before/after pics but the after ones are 2 wks postOp and I still had all my steri-strips and stuff. Need to get my hubby to take some new ones. One thing I seem to be noticing, though, is that the more my swelling goes down on my back, the more I am noticing that it doesn't seem as straight as I orginally viewed it week 1...I am guessing this is from swelling going down and not from rods bending/screws loosening and the curve coming back?? I sort of think I would feel some intense pain if either of those was the case? I definitely can feel some "shifting" in my back when I move certain ways. It's not painful, just a little unnerving. Thoughts?

[rockycarm]

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for your concerns and well wishes! I am 6 weeks postOp and am actually doing really well, have weaned off all the gabapentin, am down to two muscle relaxers and 3 half-doses of my hydrocodone in 24 hrs. I hope to be totally off the Rx meds in the next few weeks - we'll see! I am walking about 1.5 miles a day and am able to sit for about an hour at a time. I'm sleeping through the night (except for the turning which still takes concerted effort) and am eating pretty well. I have lost about 12 lbs through this journey and, despite everyone force feeding me high calorie foods, still haven't gained it back. I guess my body just needs it for healing right now. I would rate my pain on a daily basis at about a 2, maybe a 3. Of course some things make it worse (prolonged sitting, standing from sitting etc), but I have to say it is sooo much better than it was. My 8 wk follow up is May 21st and I am anxious to get some "after measurements". Yes, I do have some before/after pics but the after ones are 2 wks postOp and I still had all my steri-strips and stuff. Need to get my hubby to take some new ones. One thing I seem to be noticing, though, is that the more my swelling goes down on my back, the more I am noticing that it doesn't seem as straight as I orginally viewed it week 1...I am guessing this is from swelling going down and not from rods bending/screws loosening and the curve coming back?? I sort of think I would feel some intense pain if either of those was the case? I definitely can feel some "shifting" in my back when I move certain ways. It's not painful, just a little unnerving. Thoughts?

Hey! So glad you are doing so well. I am scheduled a week from today and have my ups and downs. Do you have any words of wisdom for me in staying CALM! I seriously can't wait until I am on the road to recovery as this is really getting to my head. Just returned from a day of post op and now filled with a lot of thoughts on how to get ready at home, work, etc.

[mabeckoff]

Hey! So glad you are doing so well. I am scheduled a week from today and have my ups and downs. Do you have any words of wisdom for me in staying CALM! I seriously can't wait until I am on the road to recovery as this is really getting to my head. Just returned from a day of post op and now filled with a lot of thoughts on how to get ready at home, work, etc.

Keep busy is my advice. Make sure that things in your home are where they need to be so that it is easy on you when you return. Good luck

[twistedRN]

staying calm....kinda!

OK, not sure I would be the poster child for staying calm, but (someone on the forum told me this) I tried really hard to focus on what my life would/will be like a year from surgery. If I had let it go, I know my spine would have become more deformed and I would have been in more pain. So I concentrated on knowing it was the right decision at the right time. I also really focused on making sure I got my body in as good a shape as possible prior to surgery, walked every day, ate healthy foods and got lots of sleep. I didn't work for 10 days prior because, as a nurse, I didn't want to be exposed to any illness. Hey, we also went out to the movies the night before (central line and all) - just to take my mind off things for at least a couple of hours!

[mdtaffet]

Hey, we also went out to the movies the night before (central line and all) - just to take my mind off things for at least a couple of hours!

What do you mean by "central line" here? I had pre-op testing (blood drawn, etc.) about 2 weeks before my surgery, but otherwise, I checked in to the hospital at 6 a.m. and the surgery started just over 2 hours later.

If I had a "central line", it wasn't added until the morning of the surgery. Is this the same thing as a PIC line? I think I had a PIC line (or something that sounded like that) that was added sometime just before or at the beginning of my surgery, but after I was already asleep. Whatever it was, it was removed about 24 hours after I woke up in the recovery room, as I was being moved from their post-surgical ICU to the regular Orthopedics floor. The nurse had to very carefully cut the visible bits of it out of the area at the junction between my left palm and wrist with a knife of some sort (there were probably somewhere between 6 to 10 visible chunks of it just above the skin). Whatever it was, that area and parts of my arm that it must have gone through are still somewhat numb. And I'm just over 15 weeks post-op now.

-- Mary

[walkingmom]

. One thing I seem to be noticing, though, is that the more my swelling goes down on my back, the more I am noticing that it doesn't seem as straight as I orginally viewed it week 1...I am guessing this is from swelling going down and not from rods bending/screws loosening and the curve coming back?? I sort of think I would feel some intense pain if either of those was the case? I definitely can feel some "shifting" in my back when I move certain ways. It's not painful, just a little unnerving. Thoughts?

Hi Suzanne,
Soinds like you are doing really well! Just remember that you have lost 12 lbs and with your new alignment, your remaining weight has redistributed itself too. When I look in the mirror, I don't see that straight spine either but part of that is because there is no large muscle mass back there. So I am going to notice every flaw in my thin back area.

Donna

[Doreen1]

Hi Suzanne,
Soinds like you are doing really well! Just remember that you have lost 12 lbs and with your new alignment, your remaining weight has redistributed itself too. When I look in the mirror, I don't see that straight spine either but part of that is because there is no large muscle mass back there. So I am going to notice every flaw in my thin back area.

Donna

I'm curious to know, for those who are post op, what does the top of your incision look like? As more time passes, the top of my incision area seems more "hollowed" out. To me it looks like muscle was scooped out up high between my shoulder blades. I took some pix today and will post to my blog soon. I've also noticed the bump near the top of my incision is now there 24/7. Is this the top of my rod? One of the many questions for Dr Lenke next week.

So happy to hear about your progress Suzanne! Look forward to seeing u and the ladies soon. Betsy isnt responding to my emails. Have u heard from here?

Warmly
Doreen

[Confusedmom]

Hi Suzanne,

I think others have posted on here before about not looking as straight after the swelling goes down. So I think it's normal. I can see on myself a little more definition below my ribs that isn't perfectly symmetrical, which I couldn't see at first. On the other hand, I have also seen people post that some cosmetic issues take several months to resolve. Example: sometimes a higher shoulder will settle down, or so I've read.

It sounds like you are doing Awesome!!! You are ahead of me and I am 8 weeks along. I am weaning, but not as fast, and can only sit about 1/2 hour. But, that 1/2 hour isn't as painful as it used to be. So, yay! Are you wearing a pedometer, or how do you measure your mileage? I still can only do 1/4-1/2 a mile at a time, but I think I'm getting enough in over the course of the day.

Mary, Dr Lenke's patients get central lines in their chests for fluids, transfusions, etc. a day or two before surgery.

Rocky, we also went to a movie the day before with the central line! I forget if you're going to St Louis. If so, there's a movie theater in walking distance. Beyond that, I would consider Valium. Seriously. They give it to you afterwards, anyway. So why not ask for some before if you're really freaking out. (I was.) Best wishes & prayers for a great outcome!

Evelyn

[golfnut]

Doreen,
My back looks so much better than pre-surgery, but it does have kind of a hollowed out look like you mentioned between my shoulder blades. I've been doing lots of exercises that I hope will eventually build up some muscles to fill in the space so that it's a better appearance.

[mdtaffet]

Mary, Dr Lenke's patients get central lines in their chests for fluids, transfusions, etc. a day or two before surgery.

[snip]

Beyond that, I would consider Valium. Seriously. They give it to you afterwards, anyway. So why not ask for some before if you're really freaking out. (I was.) Best wishes & prayers for a great outcome!

Evelyn,

It's interesting how different doctors approach things. I don't recall ever receiving any Valium. Certainly not orally. If they gave it to me at all, it must have been via IV, but I don't think they ever gave me anything like that.

-- Mary

[twistedRN]

Hi All,
Mary, Dr Bridwell (and Lenke probably others also) like to use central lines (basically large bore IV's with 2-3 ports placed into a large vein in your upper chest). It allows for rapid infusion of meds, blood etc into a big vein so that smaller veins in your periphery aren't irritated by all the stuff flowing into you. Mine was taken out the day I left the hospital (day 6) and had been put in the day before I went in for surgery.
I guess you are all right about the weight loss and uneven distribution of weight/fat on my back. I am sure it will be at least a year before things settle in. Either way, it is definitely a cosmetic improvement over the way my back looked before!
Any thoughts on that "shifting" feeling I sense when I move? Anyone else ever feel that?
Doreen, I sent a msg to Betsy last week and haven't heard back either...I will try emailing her directly again now. I know she was taking it slowly to avoid nausea and pain.