Hello - I'm very happy I found this forum. My name is Kristi - I'm 38 years old and had scoliosis corrective surgery with harrington rods when I was 13. I have an "S" curve, but I have no idea of the degrees.
Recently, I started experiencing severe pain in my low back, left buttock area. After many doctor visits to my GP, Emergency Room, Neurosurgeon and Orthopedic Surgeon, I was diagnosed with Spondylolisthesis and flatback syndrome. Both my Neurosurgeon and Ortho have recommended that I have my L5 and S1 fused (these are apparently the only 2 vertebrae in my lower back that have not been fused). In addition, one of my rods is broken and there's an area at just below the broken rod that has not fused properly. I will know more after the 25th of June as I'm having a CT scan (not sure what it's called, but I know that I'm getting dye injected into my spine) and a bone scan.
My ortho has mentioned revision surgery wherein he would remove either all of the hardware, or the lower portions of the rods and associated hardware, rebuild a curve in my spine, and install new hardware in my lower back. Ack...
For the people that have had revision surgery, do you regret having the surgery? Is your quality of life better for having done it?
Also, most of my research has centered on my lower back, but I've noticed that my upper back (between my shoulder blades) doesn't feel that great either - I've always had pain there, but just associated it with the surgery I had when I was 13 and tried my best to ignore it - now I'm wondering if that's a mistake. Is anyone aware of any condition that is associated with harrington rods and the upper spine?
I've spent the last two weeks reading most of the posts on this forum. I was amazed to discover that other people are going through, or have gone through, exactly what I'm going through right now. It's nice to know that I'm not alone.
Thank you.
Recently, I started experiencing severe pain in my low back, left buttock area. After many doctor visits to my GP, Emergency Room, Neurosurgeon and Orthopedic Surgeon, I was diagnosed with Spondylolisthesis and flatback syndrome. Both my Neurosurgeon and Ortho have recommended that I have my L5 and S1 fused (these are apparently the only 2 vertebrae in my lower back that have not been fused). In addition, one of my rods is broken and there's an area at just below the broken rod that has not fused properly. I will know more after the 25th of June as I'm having a CT scan (not sure what it's called, but I know that I'm getting dye injected into my spine) and a bone scan.
My ortho has mentioned revision surgery wherein he would remove either all of the hardware, or the lower portions of the rods and associated hardware, rebuild a curve in my spine, and install new hardware in my lower back. Ack...
For the people that have had revision surgery, do you regret having the surgery? Is your quality of life better for having done it?
Also, most of my research has centered on my lower back, but I've noticed that my upper back (between my shoulder blades) doesn't feel that great either - I've always had pain there, but just associated it with the surgery I had when I was 13 and tried my best to ignore it - now I'm wondering if that's a mistake. Is anyone aware of any condition that is associated with harrington rods and the upper spine?
I've spent the last two weeks reading most of the posts on this forum. I was amazed to discover that other people are going through, or have gone through, exactly what I'm going through right now. It's nice to know that I'm not alone.
Thank you.
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