greetings; i'm new here. impending surgery slated for may 20. i need support.

[diane2628]

I hardly slept at all the night before my surgery - but also didn't want to take any sleeping pills, etc. I figured I'd be getting plenty of sleep in the hospital... I was single at the time, so I hung out with a couple of very close friends, who distracted me from my anxiety about it, with a good movie & some good food.

[sacket]

IMPORTANT UPDATE:

whoa, just came back from last pre-op appointment, and i have a whole bunch of new worries now!

his plan is to fuse from t10 to l4, he thinks, but it could be more like t11 or t12 to l4. my thoracic curve is compensatory. does anybody here have a similar curve pattern? also, for those of you who had a selective lumbar fusion, did the thoracic curve derotate and straighten itself on its own after the lumbar fusion? should i be upset that he's not fusing the thoracic curve? i'm just a bundle of nerves and am worrying about everything from the rib hump still being there to having more thoracic problems later because it's not being fused. not to be superficial, but what if i wake up after surgery only to find that i still look just as crooked and still have a big rib hump? that would be a huge let-down! remember, i am a young adult, so a good all-around outcome is absolutely crucial to me! even though appearance is my last concern at this point, it would be nice, you know!

he said i can expect only 50% correction, but is hoping for more. i was really hoping for 10 degrees or less, since my curve isn't that terribly big to begin with. do doctors usually say 50% so as not to build false hopes or make any promises? i wish i could get my hopes up about having a 10 degree or less curve. that would be awesome. but the fact that he said 50% isn't very reassuring. he did say he would go for the maximum possible correction, and he can't really tell what that'll be until he's actually operating. does this sound right to you all?

he said there won't be a wake-up test performed but that there will be another doctor monitoring my spinal cord function.

i cannot thank you enough for your prompt attention and responses to my probably senseless worries!

[sacket]

slight bump. :]

[diane2628]

A lot of us have compensatory curves - the spine balances itself out, in a way, by curving in opposite directions in the lumbar & thoracic areas. Most people I know seem to have the thoracic curve fused and not the lumbar, though - some have both fused, but if they just have one, it's more often the thoracic. So for most people, the thoracic curve is the primary and the lumbar curve is the compensatory one. There must be some way that your doctor is able to tell that the lumbar curve is the primary one?

I suggest you ask your surgeon the questions you are asking here. Is he willing to sit down with you and explain the decisions he's making? I know your surgery is in just a few days, but you need to feel comfortable with what's going to be happening to your body. Can you call, email, meet again, do something to get some dedicated time with him before your surgery?

As for the correction - I ended up with less than 50%, but many people have more. It depends on the flexibility of your spine and on the type of surgery. Did he do bending xrays to see how flexible your spine is? I think they sometimes do try to downplay the degree of correction, because they don't want people to get their hopes up, but again I'd try to ask him where that estimate is coming from.

[rohrer01]

My doctor told me when he does surgery (I don't know if I'll keep him yet or not because he won't do the surgery until I'm much worse. I've already discussed the pain issues with you). Anyway, back on topic, he said he would fuse at the lowest T2 to probably L1 or maybe T12. So that would be fusing right through the compensatory curve. I think my curve angles are about like yours (46* and 28*). If you want to see them look under my thread where I state that I have received my CD's. Maybe the reason being that he only wants to fuse the one curve is because our curves are considered "small" in the severe category, if that makes any sense. If you think about it, if you have a 40ish curve and get 50% correction, you are left with 20ish curves, which is pretty good considering what some people are happy with. I'm just trying to get you to look on the positive. You could ask him to correct the thoracic curve just to make sure that the rib hump is gone. Tell him that cosmetic issues are VERY important to you at your age. This is where good patient/doctor communication comes in to play. You want him to know your wishes before he has his gameplan set. Best wishes to you! Let us all know how it turns out.

This is kind of a last minute thought. My 28* curve isn't causing too much of a rib hump, in the normal sense of what we think of. It is causing my ribs to kind of bow out the side instead of sticking out the back like my larger curve, so it really isn't that noticeable unless I'm wearing something tight. Then I don't think anyone would notice unless it was pointed out to them. So if both of your curves end up in the 20's you might have surprisingly good results. I can't say for sure. Just a positive thought..

[sacket]

JUST ONE MORE DAY!

thanks for the tips rohrer and diane!

i did stress to him that while cosmetic issues are definately NOT my first priority (in fact they are my last), it would be nice if the rib hump was flattened out. i was met with a chuckle, because i guess it's normal for a twenty-year-old to be concerned about the cosmetic outcome.

anyway, i won't be able to talk to him until thursday, right before i get put under and wheeled into the operating room. i really do trust his expertise, so i plan on telling him to feel free to fuse higher up the thoracic, if he finds it necessary or if he thinks it will improve the surgical outcome.

my main concern with not fusing the thoracic curve is that, if it is not fused, that i may still have a ton of pain around my right shoulder blade, as i do now.

as i've said before, my curve pattern is structural lumbar and compensatory thoracic, so i can only hope that if he doesn't fuse the compensatory curve, that it will at least respond to the decrease in the lumbar curve by straightening out a little bit. i should mention to you all that i took a look at my bending films, and in the left-bending film, when i bent away from the lumbar curve, the compensatory thoracic curve straightened COMPLETELY. it was amazing. i hope that the surgical outcome mimics this! do you think that is reasonable?

also, regarding the % curve correction, i talked with dr. simmons earlier today and he clarified what he meant by 50% correction. he said 50% is what they shoot for as a minimum, but that many patients have much better results. he said anywhere from 50% to about 80% would be expected for someone my age. yay!

i appreciate the positive thoughts. :]

i should also mention that on an unrelated note, i somehow hurt my back when i was doing some stretching exercises today, and now my lumbar hurts badly whenever i do pelvic tilts. my new worry is this: somehow this will affect my flexibility/the surgical outcome. please reassure me that i'm just being ridiculous. it's getting so close to surgery, and i'm so apprehensive and scatter-brained that i'm verging on neurosis. but this is probably normal for someone undergoing major surgery.

[rohrer01]

i should also mention that on an unrelated note, i somehow hurt my back when i was doing some stretching exercises today, and now my lumbar hurts badly whenever i do pelvic tilts. my new worry is this: somehow this will affect my flexibility/the surgical outcome. please reassure me that i'm just being ridiculous. it's getting so close to surgery, and i'm so apprehensive and scatter-brained that i'm verging on neurosis. but this is probably normal for someone undergoing major surgery.

I wouldn't worry too much about that. You probably just pulled a muscle. There is going to be plenty of muscle pain post-op, from what I hear. That's what the meds are for, so you won't even realize that it happened. I'm quite sure you didn't mess things up for your surgery tomorrow. I've read on here that many people can't even remember the first couple of days post-op. They take real good care of your pain. I can't wait to hear your outcome. Best wishes, and know your scoli buddies are thinking about you! ((((HUGS))))

Just an off the wall thought. I have a son that is only 2 years older than you and a daughter that is your age and a 17 year old son. So I feel kind of maternal for you. Just know that you are in good hands. I hope you have a good support network at home. Mom's make the best nurses!

[Confusedmom]

My curves are much worse than yours and I'm 38, but my doc is recommending the same thing: fuse the lumbar and hope the compensatory curve straightens on its own. You are only 20 and bones 17, so I think this is a great approach. Your spine is probably very flexible, and not fusing the top should leave you with more flexibility. Downside is that I suppose eventually you could need another surgery, but that could be 30 years from now or hopefully not at all. From everything I've read, it sounds like you will be happy with the result. Best wishes! I wish I could have gotten this over with at your age!

Evelyn

[sacket]

Just an off the wall thought. I have a son that is only 2 years older than you and a daughter that is your age and a 17 year old son. So I feel kind of maternal for you. Just know that you are in good hands. I hope you have a good support network at home. Mom's make the best nurses!

i can definately sense your maternal instinct, rohrer, and i am so glad i found this forum and connected with you all. it has made a world of difference in my pre-op prepation (especially the mental preparation), and i would likely be even more of a nervous wreck had i not cooresponded with you all to assuage my fears.

even though i have never met you all, i have let out a hugh sigh of relief over these past few days because i now know that i am not the only one out there, and that there are so many empathetic people here who really do feel my pain and care deeply that every scoli sufferer finds relief from the condition.

Your spine is probably very flexible, and not fusing the top should leave you with more flexibility. Downside is that I suppose eventually you could need another surgery, but that could be 30 years from now or hopefully not at all. From everything I've read, it sounds like you will be happy with the result.

thanks confusedmom; i really do hope i'll be happy with the outcome. i'm very type-a and perfectionist by nature, so i am making a conscious effort to counter those innate, obsessive tendencies and just be happy with the result regardless.

t minus 23 hours...

[LynetteG]

Sacket - thinking about you. You are in my thoughts and prayers and I wish you a great smooth surgery, looking forward to hearing from you afterward. It will all turn out great. By the way my main curve was lumbar, and compensatory curve was thoracic, he worked on me from T12 to the sacrum, so the lumbar is what I think he only worked on, and I got a fantastic correction in both lumbar and thoracic.

[Back-out]

Sacket,

You came on board kind of late, but better late than never - though you missed a lot of potential support in the preliminary phases!

Never mind, you'll get a lot afterward.

Joining the countdown with the rest. No one here is alone. We all know where you're coming from and we all hold our breaths for each other.

Healing thoughts sent your way from one more "spinie"!

Amanda

[sacket]

i'm alive!

greetings, friends. i just got out of the hospital this past saturday, and haven't had internet access until just now. my surgery was back on may 20, so i was in the hospital almost ten days.

my orthopaedic surgeon was ready to discharge me after day five, but i was having some bowel complications (severe constipation) relating to the narcotics. or at least, they THOUGHT it was bowel complications. turned out, after all the chest x-rays and a ct scan, that what they thought was blockage in my colon was actually an AIR BUBBLE trapped under my abdominal muscle, and that my colon was actually totally cleaned out.

has anybody ever heard of an air bubble being trapped under the skin/muscle following surgery? it almost looks like a small roll of fat on my right side. hopefully it will go away with time?!?

anyway, other than that, the surgery was largely a success, and my surgeon was very pleased. my post-op lumbar curve is around 15 degrees. i was REALLY hoping for 10 degrees or less, but apparently it is more difficult to get that kind of correction on a lumbar curve than a thoracic one? anyway, i'm still happy, just kinda wishing it could have been corrected more. i'm sure he did all he could though. oh, and i'm fused from t5 to l4.

so i'm not on any narcotic pain meds at all. after the whole constipation scare, i requested that they stop the morphine. right now i'm just taking 800mg ibuprofen every six hours (like four advil), and it knocks the edge off the pain enough to make it tolerable. either i have a high pain tolerance, or my surgeon is a superhero and did something to make it less painful, but somehow i'm doing fine without any narcotic painkillers, and i'm glad i can get by without vicodin or anything like that.

on to the surgical after-effects:

obviously i am having a lot of back pain. but, what's weird is that there is a band that wraps around my pelvis, from where my legs meet my torso around to my butt, that is EXTREMELY sensitive. the nerves are really hyper-sensitive in this area. it makes wearing anything with an elastic waistband uncomfortable because it compresses that entire area. is this type of nerve sensitivity normal?!?

also, about that air bubble i mentioned earlier...anybody have anything like that happen?

finally, even though i'm NOT constipated, i'm still super super bloated, and i can't figure out why. i guess it's just a normal post-surgical thing? i feel like i'm a few months pregnant here. between the abdominal bloating and the swelling in my back, i look and feel like a rather amorphous tree trunk. my back looks all flat but i'm guessing it'll assume a normal kyphosis/lordosis in time once the swelling goes down.

anyway, just glad to be ALIVE! this will take some getting used to, for sure.

thanks for all the help guys. couldn't have made it without you all, because otherwise i'd have been so scared i'd probably have backed out or something.

EDIT: forgot one question! since i'm fused to l4, does that mean my l5 disc will automatically degenerate as i get older, since it is bearing the brunt of my weight now? i used to be an avid runner; now i'm afraid i won't be able to run anymore because the impact of the activity will destroy my remaining discs.

sorry i'm such an incurable worrywart! haha.

[Doodles]

Sacket--It sounds to me like you are doing fantastic! Congrats! Yes, the bloating/swelling takes a while to go away--especially the swelling. I've never heard of the air bubble thing--that's a new one. I know I won't be running again but that's OK with me. I'd be sure to follow doctor's orders on that one very carefully. Hope the recovery goes well. Janet

[JenniferG]

Hello Sacket, welcome back! Sounds like you've done extremely well. I haven't heard about the air bubble but I am sure it will dissipate as time goes on. I'm a bit concerned about the high dosage of Ibuprofen though, because I thought anti-inflammatories were a no-no for fusion surgery. I'd be checking that point...but I am sure your surgeon knows what he's doing. My own surgeon gave me ibuprofen with the narcotics in the first week, so there must be something I don't know about.

When you see your surgeon, ask him about that last vertebra. He would have left it to retain some of your flexibility.

Are you walking every day? To me, that is the important part about recovery, if you possibly can. I hope you are enjoying plenty of spoiling from the family. Did you regain much height?

[jrnyc]

congratulations, sacket...so great that you are in the healing phase, and that you are not on narcotics is amazing!!
the less far down the surgeon fuses, the more flexibility you will have left...also, if you did need surgery in 30 years, there will probably be alot of improvement in how they do it by then! so dont worry, just rest and heal!

jess