Just saw Dr. Geck for our final consultation. I don't think I've ever met a more confident, calm, PATIENT surgeon, and although I'm still terrified, I'm slightly less so now. He said he'd decided to fuse from T11 to S1 with no pelvic fixation, using cobalt-chromium rods and titanium screws (I think of it as "getting chromed" ... nice!).
It's all going to be done posteriorly, with the lumbar portion entirely open since he has to realign the the listhesis and do an interbody fusion where the disc is flat. The proximal end will be mostly minimally invasive but also posterior, so I'll end up with a 7 cm lumbar incision and maybe a 4 cm one at T11-12. That doesn't sound so bad at all!
He answered most of my questions before I could even ask them, so I ended up with very few - mostly about flexibility afterward, when my son could come see me after surgery, what type of pain medication they use (Dilaudid), when I can get up & walk. Went over complications and consent forms. Now all I have to do is go to the hospital for the pre-op testing, and I'll be all set .... WHERE'S THE XANAX! Aaaaah!
No, seriously, I'm okay!
It's all going to be done posteriorly, with the lumbar portion entirely open since he has to realign the the listhesis and do an interbody fusion where the disc is flat. The proximal end will be mostly minimally invasive but also posterior, so I'll end up with a 7 cm lumbar incision and maybe a 4 cm one at T11-12. That doesn't sound so bad at all!
He answered most of my questions before I could even ask them, so I ended up with very few - mostly about flexibility afterward, when my son could come see me after surgery, what type of pain medication they use (Dilaudid), when I can get up & walk. Went over complications and consent forms. Now all I have to do is go to the hospital for the pre-op testing, and I'll be all set .... WHERE'S THE XANAX! Aaaaah!
No, seriously, I'm okay!
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