melissa's surgery & Recovery

[mbeckoff]

Thanks everyone for your good wishes

besides myself and Anne, who else is wearing a brace?

Melissa

[mbeckoff]

I am in so much neck pain today. Why is that? I have never felt this bad before.

Could I have done something in therapy today?

Melissa

[loves to skate]

What kind of therapy are you doing so soon? Walking was all I was allowed for the first six months. Could the pain come because of positioning on the operating table, or the way you slept one night?
Sally

[mbeckoff]

After I left the hospital on 5/11, they transferred me to the rehab part of Carolina Medical Center.Since then I have been doing OT and PT .I am going home tomorrow and they are going to set me up with out patient PT at home

Melissa

[LynetteG]

I'm not sure what the neck pain would be - perhaps all the new alignment of your body and while you learn to walk and move in a new way, sometimes perhaps it may affect different parts of our body? Do the PT's perhaps know? By the way Melissa - I'm wearing a brace. I love my brace, it gives me a lot of support. Actually I'm at the point now where I don't wear it at home (my doctor wants me to gradually learn to move around without it) and whenever I go out, I always wear it. I feel more protected when I wear it outside, and it tells everyone that I have had surgery, so please don't bang into me

[Back-out]

Melissa,

SO sorry to hear about the neck pain - it's not called a "pain in the neck" for nothing. Yours sounds much worse. I used to get bad "torticollis" which would twist my neck at a really sharp angle (working as a therapist then, I'd have to aim my chair and torso at right angles to my patient, to look at them! )

Sometimes when you're really, really exhausted, you don't move your neck enough as you sleep (we naturally adjust our position throughout the night otherwise), and that can cause it.

Having a cold blast of air like from an AC can also do it or make it worse.

I found heat and muscle relaxers helped a good bit (one part of the body, cold NEVER helped me, anyhow), and it's also important to watch how you sleep. Those cervical collars can provide considerable relief too. You know, those padded things attached by velcro. One of mine was purchased at Halloween - appears to be two hands, joined in the middle. Looks like you're being strangled.

Always gave my kids a kick. It helped almost as much as the one from the medical supply store and was much more entertaining!

Hope yours fades gradually as they seem too - sometimes pretty quickly.

[JenniferG]

I hope it wasn't the PT that caused the neck pain. I'm a bit surprised that they're putting you through that at this early stage. I hope they know what it is and how to fix it today.

Regarding the brace, I wasn't given one.

I hope your neck is feeling better very soon.

[naptown78]

Congrats Melissa on getting thru your surgery. Glad you get to go home soon...
I am wearing a brace too. 24/7 at the moment although sometimes I take it off when I sleep.

[mbeckoff]

Congrats Melissa on getting thru your surgery. Glad you get to go home soon...
I am wearing a brace too. 24/7 at the moment although sometimes I take it off when I sleep.

How comfortable is it to sleep in? I can not find anything that really feel good to wear underneath it. I really need a bra but the back strap bothers my incision as I am only 2 1/2 weeks out from having surgery.

Melissa