Susan's surgery at UCSF with Dr. Hu on 19 and 22 March, 2013

[susancook]

Update, doing well awaiting 6 month visit and maybe 2nd opinion on hernia

I am getting ready for my 6 month visit at Stanford. I hope that there will be good news of fusion signs on X-ray. If not, I will figure out what to do. But, I am optimistic. I looked up the Stanford Univ. hospital and was pleased when I saw Dr. Hu as Chair of their spine department. When I called for an appointment 6 weeks ago, the scheduler mispronounced her name. I bet she has set them straight.

I am now looking for a second opinion on my incisional hernia repair and feel like I am starting all over again finding a surgeon. How do you choose? Wish that I worked in the hospital and could check out their reputation among the people that work for them.

I reread part of my thread and I was touched by the prayers and wonderful thoughts of friends during and after my surgery. I do have some great friends on this forum. Thank you everyone!

Susan

[titaniumed]

When I called for an appointment 6 weeks ago, the scheduler mispronounced her name. I bet she has set them straight.

Yeah, I guess Hu is a hard one, I’ve even had people that couldn’t handle my name Ed, I just tell them its Ted without the T. (smiley face)

Susan, please hold your hernia if you watch this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WAM41Dxfb0

My surgeon hand picked my vascular and general surgeon.....who knows me better than anyone I know.

I figured since Dr Menmuir picked him, that was enough for me.

Ed

[susancook]

TED, how are you? Thanks for the note. I hate to stereotype, but if anyone should be able to pronounce an Asian name, you would think that it would be someone from the Bay Area. She said, Dr. Hue as in hue of color. It's Hu or WHO, as in the other Dr.

Thanks for the laugh....I held my hernia w/ 2 hands!

I think that I got the general surgeon that Dr. Hu works with, but the sew up was probably the cleaning lady or fourth intern down. Being smarter now, I would have chipped in some of my Social Security $ for mesh.

Susan [pronounced "sue-san"]

[susancook]

TED and HUE

TED, how are you? Thanks for the note. I hate to stereotype, but if anyone should be able to pronounce an Asian name, you would think that it would be someone from the Bay Area. She said, Dr. Hue as in hue of color. It's Hu or WHO, as in the other Dr.

Thanks for the laugh....I held my hernia w/ 2 hands!

I think that I got the general surgeon that Dr. Hu works with, but the sew up was probably the cleaning lady or fourth intern down. Being smarter now, I would have chipped in some of my Social Security $ for mesh. Apparently, Irina got the board certified surgeon as her incision has held together!

Susan [pronounced "sue-san"]

[Irina]

Ha-ha-ha! They really sell this stuff on amazon! I should have bought it earlier - my husband is having colonoscopy tomorrow!

Sue-san :-) Oh, you would think that people in the Bay Area are used to all the different names, but you'd be surprised. If I make a restaurant reservation, I always call myself Jackie. Much easier than hear people calling me Trina, Urina (lovely!) etc. My family is used to it - when we go out, they expect a hostess to call: "Jackie, party of three" :-) So, when we meet with you next month, look for Jackie, party of four.

[susancook]

Ha-ha-ha! They really sell this stuff on amazon! I should have bought it earlier - my husband is having colonoscopy tomorrow!

Sue-san :-) Oh, you would think that people in the Bay Area are used to all the different names, but you'd be surprised. If I make a restaurant reservation, I always call myself Jackie. Much easier than hear people calling me Trina, Urina (lovely!) etc. My family is used to it - when we go out, they expect a hostess to call: "Jackie, party of three" :-) So, when we meet with you next month, look for Jackie, party of four.

Irina...haha, I typed in Urina and it spell checked to Irina! So, no gross jokes jokes from me! Colonoscopy tomorrow for Your husband, the thought of the procedure brings back such fond memories. Hope that he and you get some sleep tonight! My sister took her husband out for Mexican food afterwards and a week later she said to him, "Great Mexican restaurant wasn't it" and he responded, "We went where?" Save your money and do a drive through burger stand.

Looking forward to seeing you and Dave for a real dinner, Susan

[titaniumed]

TED, how are you?

I’m good.....No problemo...... The back is fine, the rest of the body is falling apart now. What are you going to do? Paying my dues I guess....

I think after you get your hernia fixed, you should be good to go. If your back pain is subsiding now, that’s a really good sign. After you get this hernia repaired and healed up, by that time you will be doing a whole lot better......I did my recovery with a broken shoulder and arm, and at 8 months had that repaired then did PT for the arm......It really helped with the back, kind of a combo thing, delayed 8 months. After getting all the small issues taken care of at 14 months, arm repaired, and gall bladder removed, I was doing much better.

Susan, I know its hard with the hernia, but how far along with recovery do you feel you are at, at 7 months?.....I felt I was around 70% give or take 10%

And Irina, how far do you feel you are now?

Ed

[susancook]

Great question...how far healing am I? Now, that TED, is a good question. Compared to preop when I was laying on the stinky floor at the airport in Nadi, FIJI writhing in pain? Light years! Since surgery? I recently pulled something in my upper and lower back taking off a sock. Sounds ridiculous, but I am still in pain 2 + weeks later, but it is getting better. If I had to commit, I would say 70 percent healed is about right. The hernia has me frustrated as none of my clothes fit in spite of not gaining weight since June....I have lost 6#s in the past 3 weeks....not impressive, but in the right direction! The protuberant lower abdomen is gross.

That was good for me to think about, so thanks for asking the question. I still want to gain strength in my R leg and want the aching in my back to subside. I have taken little pain meds since about 3 months postop. When I look in the mirror and see the huge scar on my back, I am amazed that I am doing as well as I am!

Susan70percent, and my menopausal pregnancy

[titaniumed]

Ahhh, I had the same thing happen dealing with the socks. I also had a soft tissue injury at 23 months post that hurt like the dickens! I was told it was a soft tissue injury, 14 days of 9 and 10 level pain, 1” circle right off the side of my L3 area.....It went away on its own. Recovery and building soft tissues later in recovery is a slow process. Its unfortunate that we all just seem to “test” the limits at some point.

I lost 18# in 2 months on a gall bladder diet. Wasn’t trying to lose weight, I was trying to curb the gall attacks which hurt like hell and last for 6 hours. It must have been the bean soup....I wouldn’t be here without the bean soup! Ha ha. Limiting fats seems most logical with gall issues.....

I had to throw out all my jeans and pants after my scoli surgeries since my waist size grew 2 inches after surgery. This was also after losing 40# in 40 days.

All this stuff is temporary, you know that. A royal pain while doing it, but keep smiling because it only gets better!

Ed

[Irina]

I’m good.....No problemo...... The back is fine, the rest of the body is falling apart now. What are you going to do? Paying my dues I guess....

I think after you get your hernia fixed, you should be good to go. If your back pain is subsiding now, that’s a really good sign. After you get this hernia repaired and healed up, by that time you will be doing a whole lot better......I did my recovery with a broken shoulder and arm, and at 8 months had that repaired then did PT for the arm......It really helped with the back, kind of a combo thing, delayed 8 months. After getting all the small issues taken care of at 14 months, arm repaired, and gall bladder removed, I was doing much better.

Susan, I know its hard with the hernia, but how far along with recovery do you feel you are at, at 7 months?.....I felt I was around 70% give or take 10%

And Irina, how far do you feel you are now?

Ed

Hi Ed,

Thank you for asking. It's hard to measure the percentage of recovery and say that I am X% back to normal because there is a new normal.

My stamina is probably 90% back to normal. If we talk about my ability to walk and stand still - I am 200% back to normal - before the surgery I could walk for about a mile and stand for 5 minutes and was in pain. Now, I can walk for as long and as fast as I want, until my feet get tired. Same with standing - no problem. I am over the moon with that!

Sitting - didn't have any problems before the surgery, could sit for as long as I wanted and I had a desk job. Now, my tailbone aches after 2 hours of sitting and I have to take a break. But hey, everybody should take a break after 2 hours of sitting, surgery or not. I sit better in some chairs than the others. So, sitting is probably at about 60%, but it improves every day.

I do have occasional aches mainly in my upper back and sometimes 'bear claw', but it is WAY better than before the surgery.

Self-esteem? 200% better!!! Could not be happier with how my back looks! I am noticing that my husband became more jealous since the surgery :-)

[titaniumed]

90%? Wow!, that sounds pretty good. I didn’t recover that fast.....

It seems that you are extremely satisfied with your surgery, and I’m happy for you. It was good that you were active here posting and prepping for the big day. You did have all your ducks in a row.

The old “bear traps”, I call it that because they “grip” and “hold”, and I do get them, usually in November when the storms approach. We will see once again if this happens, it will be my 6th season of the bear traps. If it happens this season, I will consider a move or fly south for the winter. I’ve been thinking about moving to a warmer climate anyway.

Try not to make the hubby too jealous.....(smiley face)

Ed

[susancook]

Fell last week, anyone use Tramadol?

I fell last week when I was on an up escalator arm in arm with a girlfriend and she lost her balance and fell backwards on top of my brother and pulled me with her. At first, I was generally sore. I started Ibuprofen 600 three times a day. My main problem is now when I walk, I have a tightness between my scapula and a tightness at the very bottom of my spine. The tightness is painful and I need to stop every 1/2 block to rest for a short time. Bummed. The Ibuprofen does not seem to help much, and I wonder if anyone has used Tramadol? I really do not want to restart narcotics again. I want to get walking again and get my endurance up, but am disappointed that I tire so easily and am in pain.

I see Dr. Hu in a few days for my 6 month follow up and I am sure that she will do X-rays. I was feeling so well and not ready for a setback. I am really bummed.

Susan

[Susie*Bee]

I have taken tramadol. I believe it is an "in between" or step-down pain reliever. Not the hard stuff. You should be fine with it. My only problem with it is if I take it at bedtime and then it keeps me awake. I don't know if others have that side effect. I don't take it very often, but it doesn't begin to cut the pain if I have a migraine or something like that, but I guess that is a whole 'nother ball game. Anyway, it doesn't seem very strong to me.

[leahdragonfly]

Hi Susan,

Sorry to hear about your fall...hoping you will feel better soon.

I am familiar with tramadol. Like Susie notes, it is pretty weak. For me it was useful paired with tylenol, but it is definitely not strong. Kind of like a super-Tylenol. It did the same thing to me as Susie mentioned, keeping me awake at night. During the day it made me feel sort of slow and a little stupid. I just so dislike the feeling I get from narcotics. But maybe it could be useful to you in the short-term here. Have you tried laying on a heating pad or even ice? That might help since this sounds like a soft-tissue injury.

Take it easy,

[titaniumed]

I always thought it was supposed to be where “we” fall, and pull someone else down. (smiley face)

I’ve never taken tramadol....and would be hesitant to re-start back up if your clean. (I say this since I was recently reading about Jerry Garcia at Serenity Knolls) His addiction, along with his 300# weight, LSD, Heroin, hot dog and milk shake diet.....that’s quite a diet. Garbage in, good music out....(I can’t figure this out)

Try to take it easy.....You know I suffered with daily fatigue till I was 2 years post. I sure miss those daily naps!

You will re-heal....

Ed