HELP!!! Lost my sagittal balance.....did anyone find it?

[LindaRacine]

http://www.scoliosis.org/forum/showt...-find-it/page6

[susancook]

Just returned from PT. I am 4 weeks from surgery and am doing fine. I had 4 cages inserted instead of 5 as one area was solidly fused. 6 days in OHSU, 7 days at SNF, and 7 days at rehab hospital....proud to say that I was booted out early due to great progress. Attended the monthly social of the spinal cord injury group of Oregon last night and while I still have a lot of leg and trunk weakness, it beats being a total quad like some of the members.

I am still tired, some of which is probably due to anemia. I am afraid to start taking iron due to constipation ��.

I will be 70 this year. Yikes, that sounds old. Susan20151201_153451.jpg20151201_153451.jpg. <- my last attempt to upload an xray...wow! It really worked except the reclining part.

[titaniumed]

Susan

So glad everything went well....

You do have a few rods....

Ed

[jackieg412]

Susan it is great to hear from you. Glad you are doing well.

[mabeckoff]

Susan,
Glad that you are doing well.

Except for the neck, you look like me

[babyboomer16]

Susan, So glad all is going well. You are remarkable as far as I'm concerned.
I know about the anemia thing too. I'm suppose to take Iron and did for a while~~ short of a stick of do dynamite there's no way to have a B.M. !!!!!! So I quit for a while. Oh my, all these fun things we go through!!! Hang in there Susan. I am so glad you're doing fine. Keep us posted dear lady !!!!!!!! Think of you lots!!!! Linda

[PeggyS]

Congrats, Susan! I know you'll build strength & stamina - one step at a time.

[golfnut]

I am so glad things are going better for you, Susan! You certainly deserve a break. Keep getting stronger!

[susancook]

Thanks for all of your encouraging comments.
Susan

[rohrer01]

Susan,
Just got done looking at your x-rays. You look as though you've got nearly 100% correction! There's just a teeny tiny bit of curve left in the lumbar. I have to admit that this is the first picture I've seen with anyone having FIVE rods. Lord knows you've been through enough! I'm glad you got kicked out early for doing so well. I hope you continue to heal and get better each day.

Here's a tidbit about sagittal balance that I learned from a neurosurgeon who ordered my last sagittal x-rays: I've always been told to hold a pole in front of me for sagittal x-rays. He had me cross my arms and rest my hands on my collar bones. The "pole" way, I developed a negative sagittal balance. The "crossed arm" way, my sagittal balance was 0, completely straight.

Just a question for you:
Does having your pelvic anchors and your lower back fused help with sciatic pain? Obviously you said you are weak on one side, but are you still painful? I'm asking you because I know you have a lot of degeneration. I guess I'm kinda throwing the pelvic anchor thing out there to anyone else out there who sees this and has them, too. I have arthritic SI joints and DDD in L5/S1 and have horrible back pain there. The SI injections are helping about 75% with the leg and sacral pain, but not the leg numbness and toe tingling I get when I try to sleep. It does nothing for the lower back pain in that disc area, either.

[titaniumed]

I’m dying for more input since Susan had pretty much the same ALIF procedure that I had.....(and on the same day!) which worked so well, it took a few years for me to even believe it. I knew the moment I woke up that the sciatica problem was completely solved. These large open ALIF procedures are extremely serious procedures since the spine lays below the aorta and vena cava. It’s a deep hole, with lots of “stuff” in the way. (stressed face) There are not too many testimonials of these out there on the forums.

The recovery was hard, and its only been 6 weeks for Susan now, but things will get better as time passes....

Funny how when I had my 2 cervical herniation’s flair up 2 years ago, my surgeon was NOT doing an ACDF on me. He told me that I knew the rules, and I blew off steam because being in major pain is hard. Why did I have to wait once again?

Its because we do heal, and it takes time....All my life involved degeneration and pain which is the opposite of healing. Now, this healing thing is like a new miraculous concept for me.

Ed

[rohrer01]

I’m dying for more input since Susan had pretty much the same ALIF procedure that I had.....(and on the same day!) which worked so well, it took a few years for me to even believe it. I knew the moment I woke up that the sciatica problem was completely solved. These large open ALIF procedures are extremely serious procedures since the spine lays below the aorta and vena cava. It’s a deep hole, with lots of “stuff” in the way. (stressed face) There are not too many testimonials of these out there on the forums.

The recovery was hard, and its only been 6 weeks for Susan now, but things will get better as time passes....

Funny how when I had my 2 cervical herniation’s flair up 2 years ago, my surgeon was NOT doing an ACDF on me. He told me that I knew the rules, and I blew off steam because being in major pain is hard. Why did I have to wait once again?

Its because we do heal, and it takes time....All my life involved degeneration and pain which is the opposite of healing. Now, this healing thing is like a new miraculous concept for me.

Ed

Ed, you make me hopeful. Thank you so much for sticking around the forum well past YOUR need. You are a very kind person for helping those of us not there or going/gone through the process. Did you have degeneration in your SI joints? I know your back was blown. Weren't you about my age when you finally had surgery?

I'm not there, yet, and I'm 47! My scoliosis is causing such hypokyphosis that my aorta and esophageal/stomach (medical name cardiac) sphincter are compressing each other. I have my heart lungs, esophagus, stomach (which is twisted) aorta and vena cave in the way. I have such lower back pain that I am tired ALL of the time and the only thing they are doing are SI steroid injections. I know I have the neuromuscular thing going on and if I'm going to have spinal surgery I need it done before I'm a complete paraplegic. I know I will be some day. But at this point I'm not sure how much the back is contributing and how much the muscle disease is contributing. I'm developing a lumbar curve now, only 6^o, but at the rate of progression of the rest of my spine lately, I'll have a triple curve in not much more time. I'm just afraid that if I get a full fusion with SI arthritis that the sciatic pain will remain and there won't be any treatment for it. I just know that I get really bad lower back pain and numbness in one or both legs and a change of position instantly relieves the numbness (no tingling waiting for circulation to return). So I KNOW my back is contributing at least something to the problems with my legs. But if I go in for surgery, I know my chances are slimmer than most that I will not survive because of where it is...

I really don't know what kind of surgery I would get... I have L2-L4 that never bother me and L1 rarely, although I was told that L1 would be included in the fusion.

Susan, I know you have (had) degenerative scoliosis, so I would REALLY like to hear from you on this one, especially as time goes by and you heal. I wonder if your leg weakness will get better, too? I hope so!

[rohrer01]

Oh, I also have arthritis in my neck and a bone spur at C5 that is very small as of a couple of years ago, but is outcropping toward my spinal cord. Eeek!

[titaniumed]

Did you have degeneration in your SI joints? I know your back was blown. Weren't you about my age when you finally had surgery?

Multiple lumbar herniation’s and stenosis with inflammation beyond belief producing sciatica.....using the word “blown” describes that quite well! LOL
Advanced Delusionary Schizophrenia with involuntary Narcissistic rage. I could use a simple word for that one also....(smiley face)(Not for me, I’ve got my own Jim Carrey)

Its like driving on 4 flat’s for 100 miles, I was down to the rim with no rubber left, producing a spark trail longer than a comet tail.....

There was no mention of my SI joints, or my neck before my surgeries. I think that my surgeon was focused on the main problems. I heard him say “Why did you wait so long” a few times....which probably isn’t the best thing you want to hear
from your scoliosis surgeon. That along with the head shaking isn’t a great indicator....The broken shoulder and arm pushed it over the cliff....

I do remember you having a very high scoliosis curve above T4 or T5? into the neck. What have any of your doctors told you about that? It seems like a rare thing....

If you don’t have a definite answer, or a high confidence level from your surgeon on any spine related surgery, don’t go for it.....The handwriting needs to be on the wall. You need that traffic light to turn green. Yellow doesn’t work.

The docs who deal with my brother are clueless.....Sometimes this happens. It happens with ALS also. They don’t know what to do....I’ve seen many different doctors from many different cases through the years.

Ed

[rohrer01]

Multiple lumbar herniation’s and stenosis with inflammation beyond belief producing sciatica.....using the word “blown” describes that quite well! LOL
Advanced Delusionary Schizophrenia with involuntary Narcissistic rage. I could use a simple word for that one also....(smiley face)(Not for me, I’ve got my own Jim Carrey)

Its like driving on 4 flat’s for 100 miles, I was down to the rim with no rubber left, producing a spark trail longer than a comet tail.....

There was no mention of my SI joints, or my neck before my surgeries. I think that my surgeon was focused on the main problems. I heard him say “Why did you wait so long” a few times....which probably isn’t the best thing you want to hear
from your scoliosis surgeon. That along with the head shaking isn’t a great indicator....The broken shoulder and arm pushed it over the cliff....

I do remember you having a very high scoliosis curve above T4 or T5? into the neck. What have any of your doctors told you about that? It seems like a rare thing....

If you don’t have a definite answer, or a high confidence level from your surgeon on any spine related surgery, don’t go for it.....The handwriting needs to be on the wall. You need that traffic light to turn green. Yellow doesn’t work.

The docs who deal with my brother are clueless.....Sometimes this happens. It happens with ALS also. They don’t know what to do....I’ve seen many different doctors from many different cases through the years.

Ed

When you have time, please go to my thread and look at my x-rays. At first my doc said he would do it any time I was ready, then it was, 'Well, it's a grey area but has progressed' to it hasn't progressed at all and he went from x-ray to x-ray measuring them all quickly and saying they were all the same. Have a look-see and see if you agree. His reputation for blood loss is terrible from the patients I've looked up on this forum. When I asked him how many curves he sees like mine, and by that I mean very high and left (left is important - that's where my heart is displaced to), he said he sees a high curve every couple of years. Well he was seeing ME every few years! If he's been in practice even 20 years (he's a little older than me with kids way younger than mine), that 10 high curves at best if you discount me. I asked how many lefties and he changed the subject. I'm not at all comfortable with him and I'm insurance bound. I used to like him a lot, but then he got flakey on me... maybe for the best. But the only other alternative is a guy that trained under him and acted like I had a god for a doctor when he found out who he was. I'm scared beyond belief. If I die from it, I want to go on the table so I won't suffer.

Sorry, Susan, not meaning to hijack your thread, redirecting to mine for this conversation including you if you wish to join. Everyone is welcome to come and give their opinion. With my disease I need to find good help before I'm bedridden and have less chance at recovery. I already can't walk far before my legs give out and it's degenerative muscles/nerves. I can't enumerate the problems this scoliosis is causing. I know I won't get any pain relief but there are literally other pressing issues if you read my thread.