
Originally Posted by
Tina_R
Hi, Susancook. I find your post of interest because you seem unfazed by having had 7 surgeries in 10 years. That means you must have spent most of your life in those 10 years in a state of recovery from one surgery or another. That means being limited in the kinds of things you can do physically.
I have had only one surgery so far and while I'm grateful for the chance to solve my problems, I am impatient to recover. It's a drag not being able to do housework or lift things or even pick things up off the floor. Five months later I'm still not close to being able to do those things normally. Even though I knew full recovery would take a year or more, I didn't realize how nuts it would make me. How did you put up with it?
That's the trouble with getting surgery at a late age. If you're in your 30s or younger you'll recover quickly and probably have many good, uneventful years ahead. In your 60s you have fewer years ahead, so years spent in recovery rob you of a good chunk of your remaining life. With age comes degeneration that may require multiple surgeries. Fusion itself weakens the rest of the spine and puts it at risk, I was told by an orthopedic surgeon (hand specialist, though).
Hi Tina...
As I mentioned in the other thread, it takes many of us up to 2 years to recover. For me, that was especially true for flexibility. While I'm still not happy with all the loss of flexibility, I was much better at 2 years than I was at 6 months. Hang in there.
--Linda
Never argue with an idiot. They always drag you down to their level, and then they beat you with experience. --Twain
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Surgery 2/10/93 A/P fusion T4-L3
Surgery 1/20/11 A/P fusion L2-sacrum w/pelvic fixation