Feeling the screws once in a while, will this ever go away?

[gmw]

Thanks, Amy. I think I'll leave off the "for my age" from now on. I don't like it either. Actually, before my surgery, I was feeling much older than I do now! I am very proud of my x-rays and my hardware!

If I can figure out how to attach my x-rays, I'll post them. I have tiff files so I'll have to work on it.

[Back-out]

Thanks for your kind words, Shari. I appreciate your comments. My family is wonderful. I agree with you, it's going to be quite sometime before I can "forget" the hardware. I am very proud of it though as I no longer am in the pain I was before surgery. I do hope that folks will take notice of how well I am doing at my age (63). I was truly concerned about my age, but knew there would never be a better time and for the most part, I am healthy. It wasn't easy by any means, but I am so glad I did it and am on my way to healing.

I'm 64 and either I'm used to my pain and disability or it's not "that" bad, but I sure am wondering about the trade off in having the surgery soon. I'm between a rock and a hard place because of serious timing issues, but I am really seesawing badly when I read about complications as well as new limits. The trade-offs are what are killing me, especially when the unknowability of the really bad ones is factored in!

I guess as others have said, "if only I knew I'd stay the same...!" The devil we know compared to the one who don't know, right? I was doing a lot better dealing with the "bad news" that my spine had deteriorated by 18 deg in 14 months - better than I'm dealing with having learned recently that in fact, it seemingly had NOT changed in that period. Finally, had another Xray done locally so the same radiologist could do an "apples to apples" comparison (or was it the same apples doing the comparing? ) That makes THREE scoli series done in as many months. Surely, I glow in the dark...

At any rate, now that it seems it's NOT progressing - at least, not fast, I'm completely muddled. The more I want to let the pain be a decider, the more it doesn't bother me! Haha. I'm sure I'm not alone in all this. Of course that kyphosis DID pop up out of nowhere, along with the height loss. SOMETHING must be changing spinally even if it's not the COBB. Could it all be rotation? Oh, help!?!.

[gmw]

Back-out, I went through the same thoughts of "if I knew it would not get any worse I could live with it", but I pretty much knew it was going to get worse for sure if I did nothing. My disks were degenerating, the stenosis was worsening and at the same time, I was having the rotation issue. My PCP had a heart to heart with me and reminded me my health was good and I never knew when something would crop up that would make me unable to have the surgery. I know it is a very difficult decision. Like I've said before, I wanted to back out many times, but I am so grateful I didn't.

Feel free to send pm if you'd like.

Glenda