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  • Smaller Vertebrae than expected

    Is there anyone else that had their doctor comment on how small their bones were once the doctor opened them up for surgery? I can't remember if I even posted this before. Despite the necessary MRI's, CT scans, and X-rays. my doctor couldn't tell and never expected to find that I had such small bone structure and believed that may have played a part in my Scoliosis. This situation left the two teams of doctors running around in a flurry because they couldn't use the adult hardware on my spine because my surgeon was afraid he was afraid the screw would break my Vertebrae. So glad he made that call. One of the teams of docs was the pediatric team so I got lucky there but they still had trouble with the size of the rods. I do wonder know as I am beginning to have some new problems if my small bone structure is not the problem. He also had a great deal of trouble bending the rod to the position that he wanted. I'm thankful that he was such a perfectionist and I'm so straight but my right rod has always been very prominent at the top. You can see it very clearly. It looks like there's a large grape under the skin only it appears to have gotten larger over the past year. I just got to thinking that perhaps even though I do have pediatric hardware, which is probably good and not a problem, perhaps the rods are placing to much torque on the small vertebrae above as of course we know that what's happens under normal fusion anyway. Hopefully, this doesn't sound off the wall this morning. It's been a looong week : )
    Susan

    Diagnosed at 10, Boston brace from 11-13 yrs old.
    50* Lumbar w/ 5 centimeter shift to the left and slight rib hump...
    Surgery Date: April 15 and April 22, 2009
    X-LIF approach for disc repair L5,L4,L3,L2
    Posterior Approach for fusions L5-T5
    Dr. Fox @ Naval Medical Center Portsmouth
    Nice and straight now!!!!!

  • #2
    Hi Susan,

    Actually, yes, my surgery took a couple hours longer than anticipated because my vertebrae were smaller than expected. I wasn't too surprised because I am very thin with a small frame. I don't think I have pediatric hardware though. And I'm not sure if it has impacted my recovery. So far it seems to be going well.

    I hope you are able to find some relief from your discomfort. Were you able to ask your surgeon about this?
    Surgery Jan 6, 2014 at 38 yrs
    Posterior Fusion T10-L4, osteotomy 1 lev.
    Pre op-Thoracolumbar Curve-50 degrees

    Comment


    • #3
      smaller vertebrae than expected

      Originally posted by springchicken View Post
      Hi Susan,

      Actually, yes, my surgery took a couple hours longer than anticipated because my vertebrae were smaller than expected. I wasn't too surprised because I am very thin with a small frame. I don't think I have pediatric hardware though. And I'm not sure if it has impacted my recovery. So far it seems to be going well.

      I hope you are able to find some relief from your discomfort. Were you able to ask your surgeon about this?
      Thanks for your reply! I haven't been able to ask my surgeon because I had my surgery in a military hospital and my doctor retired 1 1/2 yrs after he performed my surgery. He has remained in the area which is great and I am considering getting out of our network so I can see him. Given our locality to the military hospital generally, if services are provided Tricare will not provide for services elsewhere. However, given the circumstances of my surgery they may. I'm hoping this is just a small hurdle to pass and the prominent rod causing pain will pass. We shall see : )
      Susan

      Diagnosed at 10, Boston brace from 11-13 yrs old.
      50* Lumbar w/ 5 centimeter shift to the left and slight rib hump...
      Surgery Date: April 15 and April 22, 2009
      X-LIF approach for disc repair L5,L4,L3,L2
      Posterior Approach for fusions L5-T5
      Dr. Fox @ Naval Medical Center Portsmouth
      Nice and straight now!!!!!

      Comment

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