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Dr. Lawrence Lenke, M.D.

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  • #16
    hi jennifer!

    i am to have x-rays on the 26th and then they told me to be in at 7am on the 27th.
    i am not sure how long i will be there. but i hear it can be a long day. it would be so neat to meet someone who recently had surgery with dr. lenke!
    i am hard to miss, i have red hair a tall bald (but fine) husband and my three kids will be there so we make quite a crew!
    what time is your appt.?
    another member doreen i think also posted that she will be there for her pre-op. i bet she would love to meet you also!?
    hope to hear from you,
    barb

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    • #17
      hi doreen,

      wow you have been through a lot of surgeries. i so hope for you this is your final one!
      you, jennifer and i all have appts. on the 27th with dr. lenke. maybe we will run into eachother. anyway if we don't let us know how your pre-op goes. you will be in my thoughts.
      barb

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      • #18
        Jennifer and Barb

        I would love to meet both of you and discuss our problems. My appointment is at 11:00AM. I am not for sure yet if it is with Dr. Lenke or some of the pre-op appointments. I know I have appointments scheduled all day long so it will be a long day. I walk with a cane and wear glasses and am overweight. I have in the past lost 103 pounds and that is when they really found I had scoliosis greater than a 90 degree curve. I have had back pain all my life but all my family doctors always said my problem was because I was "too damn fat" and they never would go any further with checking so I felt so embarrased that I just learned to live with the problem until 16 years ago I fell down my stairs and hurt my back and they finally checked into it and that is when my all my fusions started. Lately I have been in surgery training and have taken off 56 pounds so far and I am in better shape for the upcoming surgery. I have a ways to go but it is a start. It is just hard to do when you cant exercise so I have been able to find friends with pools this summer and I have been exercising in the pool and it is helping. Now that I have rambled on and on once again I would love meeting someone else in my situation. I hope we all get to meet each other. Take care and it is so nice to find you all.
        Doreen

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        • #19
          Barb and Doreen

          I'll be in xrays around 7:30am with my appointment to follow shortly thereafter, I hope. The day can indeed be long as Dr. Lenke has many, many appointments scheduled and can get easily backlogged. I have to fly out early afternoon so I will probably be gone by noon. I will be there with my husband. We are both around 51/2 ft tall with brown hair. Mine I've cut short. I will certainly be looking for you both!
          Jennifer
          28 years old
          Wore brace for 3 years as a teen
          Successful surgery with Dr. Lenke on January 12, 2007

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          • #20
            Sherie

            I was fused from T1-L1. Thankfully I have not had any post-op complications as of yet. The only set back I had was pulling a muscle in my back 2 months after the surgery when I had the flu. That was misery and quite frustrating since I had been doing so well! The pain I have now is gradually getting better. It's still early, but I'm assuming the pain I have is due to the surgery and recovery. The pain I used to have prior to the surgery I no longer experience, so I am happy about that. Every week I can feel my body/back getting stronger. So far I am glad I had the surgery and happy I did it now rather than later. As for travel, we drove 900 miles from Charleston to St. Louis. After my hospital stay, we stayed for a few more days in a Residence Inn before driving back. The drive back took a couple of days. The first day I think my family was cautious with giving me meds. I did not last long that day. The second day I hardly remember...I guess they were more liberal with the medication! We had brought a lot of pillows with us to help support me on the drive back and we also took the car with the better shocks and more maneuverable seats. Prior to the surgery, I think I was more concerned about the long car ride home than the operation itself, but in retrospect I realize I had little to worry about since I barely remember it. Just take a lot of stops/bathroom breaks and music (I think I made my husband listen to the same Josh Groban cd for 7 hours straight one day...apparently it helped calm me). Feel free to PM with any other questions you might have. We also kept a blog so I've attached the link. http://thecrookedtruth.blogspot.com/

            Jennifer
            28 years old
            Wore brace for 3 years as a teen
            Successful surgery with Dr. Lenke on January 12, 2007

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            • #21
              Thankful

              I cannot stress to all of you enough how great it is to find others being treated by the same surgeon as I have. It is such a relief up until this point the only person I really had to talk about Dr. Lenke was my local spine surgeon (who over the years has turned into a family friend of ours). He has nothing but great admiration and respect for him but I really needed to talk to someone who has experienced him or will be experiencing from the other end of the knife. Thank you all so much for answering me.

              I will keep in touch and look forward to meeting everyone.

              Doreen

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              • #22
                Thanks Jennifer, I sent you a PM.

                I feel the same way Doreen. Another friend of mine found a man in his 50's who had surgery with Dr. Lenke and introduced us (by email). He was very nice and helpful. I'll contact him and see if he would post his experience here. He mentioned he had a long recovery, surgery was in 2005 and still having some residual pain but was very happy with Dr. Lenke. He said I should feel very hopeful, that we were in very competent hands. He really boosted my confidence.
                Last edited by Sherie; 06-20-2007, 08:07 PM.

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                • #23
                  jennifer & doreen,

                  well it sounds like we have a good chance of seeing eachother! jennifer i went to your blog and read the WHOLE thing. by the way you are a great writer! i laughed, i cried! it was something to go back and then travel through your journey.
                  i am getting anxious for my appt. it seems like every day my pain increases.
                  i will look for you both on the 27th!

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    sheri,

                    i noticed your post and i just wanted to say hi and i will be keeping your daughter in my prayers. dr. lenke seems to be the best so she is in great hands.
                    how is she feeling about the surgery? kids are amazing and heal so fast!
                    all my best to you as a mom! barb

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Barb

                      Thank you so much. I appreciate all the prayers we can get. She's not one to discuss it much, that's her way of coping. When we finally decided it was time for surgery, I promised her we would find the best doctor that we could and I feel we've done that. I think we're so lucky to be within a reasonable distance of travel (2 hour nonstop flight).

                      Take care and the best to you too.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Updated Info

                        Hello all. Just received a call from Dr. Lenke's nurse yesterday confirming my appointment next Wednesday June 27th. My appointment with Dr. Lenke is scheduled for 12:20 and then I have a Pulmonary Functions test scheduled for 3:30 and other xrays and blood work scheduled in between. I don't know if it will work I that I can meet any of you but I hope so. It is going to be a long day for me as well. I am driving over with a friend of mine and it takes us about 3 1/2 hours depending on traffic and road constructions. Hope to see you all then if it works out.
                        Doreen

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                        • #27
                          I was operated on by Dr Lenke in October 2005. I am in my mid 50’s and unlike most of you, I am a male.

                          As someone else posted on this thread, Dr Lenke is extremely highly regarded and is probably one of the best Scoliosis surgeons in the US. When I was first diagnosed with Scoliosis in 1984, my father-in-law, who was an Orthopedic surgeon for nearly 50 years, and was an FRCS, a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, advised me to never let anyone ‘cut my back’, as he had not seen many (maybe any ?) successful Scoliosis surgeries. So my mindset was always to avoid any back surgery.

                          However, by 2004, my curves had grown quite dramatically, and according to my x-rays, were now continuing to curve at about 1 degree per month ! At this time I was in a lot of pain, had tried everything else – bracing, acupuncture, acupressure, medications, Yoga, trigger point injections, RFA, Feldenkrais etc etc – and had seen an Orthopedic surgeon here on the West Coast who told me that I would have to undergo this dramatic surgery which would probably take about 16 hours.

                          I did an enormous amount of research, went for second and third opinions, and was fortunate to meet up with a surgical nurse who told me, in no uncertain terms, that if I had to have this surgery, that I should only have the operation done by someone who had done ‘hundreds of these surgeries’. I asked my Orthopod how many of these he had done and he told me about 30 or 35. I am fortunate to have a number of doctors in my family, one of whom referred me to Dr Lenke, who has, indeed, performed hundreds of these operations.

                          Dr Lenke examined me and was very clear and forthright in his opinion about my situation. I needed to have the surgery, and shouldn’t wait too long as my curves were obviously growing quite rapidly. I really appreciated his honesty and directness in evaluating my situation. Even though I was still dead set against the surgery, I realized that I could not continue on in the same manner, and so after much research and thought, and many conversations with my family, I scheduled the surgery. Dr Lenke’s staff was very helpful to me in patiently answering all my questions, and dealing with all my concerns prior to the surgery.

                          Dr Lenke had assured me that he could definitely stop my curves but that I needed to understand that there was still some possibility that I would still have some pain after the surgery. He actually told me that there was an 80% chance that I would have no pain, a 10% chance that I would have the same amount of pain, and a 10% chance that I would be in even more pain after the surgery. I really appreciated his honest assessment. Initially, the fusion was planned from T4-S1. I saw him a week prior to the surgery and he had me undergo some further tests to determine whether the T4-S1 fusion was still applicable. After the tests were completed, he determined that a fusion from T4-L4 would be appropriate, thus leaving me with a little flexibility at the lower end of my spine. He had initially estimated that the surgery would take about 9–10 hours, but after the tests were done, and when he saw how thin I was at the time, he re-estimated the time at about 6-7 hours, which was how it turned out.

                          I had seen a video of Dr Lenke performing this surgery and would suggest that anyone who has to undergo this procedure should see this. This man is a maestro !

                          I had an excellent surgical result and although I still do have some pain, I do feel that I made the correct decision in having the surgery, and feel particularly fortunate to have had Dr Lenke as my surgeon. I would suggest that anyone who has to have the surgery should feel fortunate to be in his good hands !

                          Best wishes to all of you.

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                          • #28
                            Relieved

                            I am so glad to hear from another patient of Dr. Lenke's who had good luck. It is so nice to hear from you all and really comforting. It helps me feel like I have made a good choice to go to Dr. Lenke.

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                            • #29
                              Doreen and Barb

                              I just firmed up my times. Looks like I'll be in xrays as early as possible - 7am, so Barb I might see you there. Appointment will follow some time after. I need to be on my way out of the hospital at noon to make a flight back home.

                              Also, a warning for you both in case you are unaware (as I was my first visit), Dr. Lenke will likely get VERY backed up in his appointments. I had to wait 2.5 hours (for a morning appt) in the waiting room (which could really use some sprucing up and entertainment) before I got moved into a room. Then I had to wait almost another hour for Dr. Lenke to come in. Apparently, this is typical. So bring toys for the kids Barb! This almost detered me from selecting Dr. Lenke as my surgeon, but then I reminded myself that I am choosing a surgeon based on experience and expertise rather than waiting time.

                              Jennifer
                              28 years old
                              Wore brace for 3 years as a teen
                              Successful surgery with Dr. Lenke on January 12, 2007

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Barb

                                I'm glad you enjoyed my blog. One of these days I'm going to have to go back and read it, but right now it is too close to home. Maybe for my one year post-op anniversary?

                                You write that your pain is increasing - that must be frustrating and I'm sorry to hear it. On a positive note though, once you have your surgery date scheduled, you'll be glad and/or comforted to have that pain, or at least I was. There were some stretches of days when my pain was not as bad, which would then cause me to question my decision to have surgery. It's such a major event that your mind will start to play games with you. In the month leading up to my surgery date, I found it a relief to be in pain - it kept me from wavering at a time when I needed to be at my strongest.

                                Jennifer
                                28 years old
                                Wore brace for 3 years as a teen
                                Successful surgery with Dr. Lenke on January 12, 2007

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