Getting a little Discouraged!

[slprncess]

Well it has been two weeks tomorrow since my surgery and i am thinking to myself if this surgery was worth it. As the days go by i am feeling more and more pressure down my legs like i had before. I guess before it was masked with so much surgical pain but now that the surgical pain is subsiding i am feeling it now.
My question to anyone who had a fusion down to their sacrum is did you get relief right after the surgery from your pain or did it take awhile? Everyone like my family and even my dr said that it may take time but i am just so afraid that it wont work and i had this surgery for nothing! Any advise would help...

[sandraDee]

No worries!

I know how discouraging this whole thing can be. I had the surgery two years ago and then got the rods out 1 year ago and it’s tough. I do not have my back fused to my sacrum but honestly, it hurts with any situation and all I can tell you is that it WILL get better. Plus, you see all of these people on this website that have been through the same thing as you and are doing fine. So hold your head high as you have something that you have done in your life that people will always be amazed. You had great strength to attempt this surgery and the worst is behind you!!!

[janski66]

Hanging in there with you

Hi slprncess-
I just checked the boards to see how you are doing. I had the fusion to my sacrum in 1998, and just wanted to tell you not to get discouraged. From what the doctors told me then, nerve pain is different than other types of pain because the nerves have "memory"- it takes a while for them to relearn
that they don't need to be causing pain. I waited 5 years before I had the fusion to my sacrum and at times the leg and toe pain was so bad it felt like my big toe was going to explode.It's not like that anymore, but it did take up to a year after the surgery- and I'm not all that patient. Don't despair, it will get better in time. I walked like a penguin for quite awhile after my last fusion,it's just a really weird sensation, like I could feel all the hardware that was put in and I was scared too. I had the front incision to remove 2 disks and replace them with titanium spacer cages, my front incision was at least 6 inches long and hurt much more than the back one. Make sure you get GOOD physical therapy and hang in there. We didn't get dealt these cards in life because we don't know how to play them. We are tougher than any challenges our scoliosis throws at us. Keep positive, surround yourself with
positive people and know that you are in my prayers. Jan

[slprncess]

Jan,

You explained it exactally how i feel. i do feel like i am walking like a penguin. it is a very weird sensation and i havent felt anything like it. it feels like the rods are at my hips and i find myself walking very weird. how long does it take to get back to normal and have flexability or just feeling like that is my new body? i am afraid that i wont be able to go back to work at 7 weeks? right now i get tired very easy but i do push myself. my dr did say there isnt any amt of walking that would hurt me. i try to push myself more and more each day.. i know i have come along way only being 2 weeks post op from this major surgery. i hope each day gets better for me. thanks for your encouragment, it is great to hear from people who have been through it, especially the exact same situation.

[janski66]

You have come a long way for 2 weeks

Hi again Sarah-
I am glad I can be an encouragement to you. Two weeks is not that long, and I am glad to hear that you are walking and trying to do everything that is right. I was still pretty much flat out in a borrowed hospital bed at home at that point but I had surgical complications. Because they tried to take the old harrington rod out and couldn't because it was so buried in bone, my bones started weeping fluid that collected in my retroperitoneal
cavity and that made my abdomen blow up like I was pregnant and then
my left leg did the same thing. So I had to get readmitted for 15 days to
have the fluid drained. Weird thing...but if anything strange is going to happen it seems like it always happens to me. Don't worry, this won't happen to you at 2 weeks you're out of the woods for that.
I had my fusion to my sacrum when I was 32. I had a physical job as
a lab technician where I was on my feet all day so I was out of work from October until March.Like you, I was eager to get back to work and did wear myself out pushing myself too hard. Someday's I would try to stay up all day
and do a lot of walking, even just around the house or walking laps around my
house outside. The day after I did alot I was exhausted, this went on for
quite awhile. I am not a patient person, but I did have to learn to be patient
through this one. The penguin-walk thing was only fixed through physical therapy,she was the one that pointed out "you're walking like a penguin". They did some stuff with the TENS unit, hot packs and exercises to restore some of my mobility. The biggest thing to overcome was the fear, you can do it Sarah! Don't worry about work right now your full-time job is getting better and any job worth going back to will understand. I visited my job a little from time to time after I was able, but not until after a month or two.God bless and keep up the good work. Jan

[janski66]

Wrong smiley

Ooops.... it was supposed to be a happy smiley in my reply.
Try this one instead. Jan

[sweetness514]

Hi Sarah,

just wanted to say you're doing great and please don't push yourself too hard...It may cause more harm than good. You walk and try not to think about anything that is negative and think about you and your health, and also try not to worry about work and how soon you can "perform". I know it's a pain but it takes a LOT of patience and time to recover from these surgeries, but bit by bit it will get better I also think walking in a pool can help with the flexibility.

[slprncess]

I would love to get in my pool my surgeon wants me too but when he saw pics of my incisions he said i cant just quite yet b/c the top of one incision isnt completly closed or it looked that way so he is having me wait one more week. It is so hot here, every day in the 100's or high 90's and all i do is stay inside. i was thinking of maybe going to the mall and walking. Im just so sick of either laying in bed or sitting on my couch. I have never been this restless, i dont know why i am feeling this way.
I do get out but not that much. I did go to my nephews football game but was wiped out afterward. I know i am doing so much better than any of the other surgeries but it just seems time is going by so slow...I thought i was a patient person but i guess not. Oh well i just have to take it one day at a time. Thanks for listening to me vent...

[bbest]

Two weeks out is still very early in the recovery process. I had a fusion in May and although I am doing well, I am very early in my recovery also. Aches and pains are very common and usually subside. I had a bad pain on the inside of my ankle that bothered me for about a month after surgery. My doctor ordered a test "just to be safe" and it turned out to be nothing. Just one of those random, mysterious pains related to the surgery. My pain went away on its own and yours likely will to. Hang in there and if it persists, check with your doctor. Sometimes it's hard to remember that scoliosis surgery is huge. Your body has been through and ordeal and it will heal in it's own time.

[slprncess]

brandi,

Did you have pain before your surgery? If so is it resovled now? do you work or have you gone back to work. my dr said to my work that i would be off 7 weeks so they expect me back then. im not worried about my job, im a respiratory therapist so i can find work anywhere, i just have a real good thing going at my current job so i dont want to leave. actually my benefits are the only thing that keeps me there. i have awesome health insurance and you know how important that is with scoliosis!

[bbest]

Sarah-

I had horrific pain before surgery. I had spinal stenosis and it caused nerve pain down my right calf and into my foot and big toe and accross my low back. I could not walk for more than 5 minutes without pain and couldn't stand in place for more than a couple of minutes either. I based my decision to have surgery on the pain I endured for over 8 years. When I awakened from surgery, the first thing I noticed was that the leg pain was gone. Before surgery, I was unable to lie flat on my back because it irritated the compressed nerve in my lumbar spine. I am still amazed that the pain which was so familiar has disappeared.

Yes. I did work before surgery and I actually returned to work this past Monday at 3 months post-op. I originally told my employer I would be out 6 weeks per my surgeons estimate. I was not physically ready to return at that time.
BTW, I still have aches and pains related to surgery, but I know that they will subside.

Let me know if you have any other questions

[sweetness514]

I would love to get in my pool my surgeon wants me too but when he saw pics of my incisions he said i cant just quite yet b/c the top of one incision isnt completly closed or it looked that way so he is having me wait one more week. It is so hot here, every day in the 100's or high 90's and all i do is stay inside. i was thinking of maybe going to the mall and walking. Im just so sick of either laying in bed or sitting on my couch. I have never been this restless, i dont know why i am feeling this way.
I do get out but not that much. I did go to my nephews football game but was wiped out afterward. I know i am doing so much better than any of the other surgeries but it just seems time is going by so slow...I thought i was a patient person but i guess not. Oh well i just have to take it one day at a time. Thanks for listening to me vent...

That's good that you will be able to get in the pool so soon. I can relate 100% with lacking patience. I have a lot of patience and if someone tells me you have to wait this amount of time and then you'll be allright, I have no problem with that and can wait. I'm also a homebody and really don't get bored that easily, especially with DVD's and internet and exercising. But like you this last surgery I was so restless at times. I expected to be out and about in a few weeks, but the first three months were hard to get out b/c they opened me up even more and I was very stiff, and plus it was in the Winter. So I had my everyday routine and got out as much as I could, but the fact that it was in the Winter didn't make me feel as bored as the days were short and it's the time of year where people "hibernate" here, since it gets really cold. I know what it's like to want to get better quick, and that's partly due to the fact that you've had other surgeries before and rightfully so you want to get on with it. The first monthn is the hardest and you'll get out more, and also some pains that you may have one day will be gone the next, it gets weird like that, don't despair.

You already got out to a Football game, that's big