Telephone call

[Irina]

Jess

I can see that my remarks about pain were not clear...

I have become increasingly concerned about the fact that there are those who still have pain and some who seem to now have pain that did not previously...

Maybe I am being naive, but I thought most or all of the pain would be eliminated with surgery. And maybe this is the case but I am not seeing that spelled out...

Martha

Martha,

My doctor told me that there are no guarantees and she even asked me what would I think if I end up in more pain than before. She told me that some of her patients reported that they traded one pain for another. I was lucky - all my presurgical low back pain is gone, but I have some issues with my right leg... it tingles when I am in bed and feels a little off. I didn't have that before the surgery...

[susancook]

There is no guarantee concerning the alleviation of pain with fusion surgery. There are statistics about patients after scoliosis fusion that have more, less, and the same pain. I do not remember them, but they are no doubt many places on this forum.

I am very pleased with my surgical results and my preop pain which truly limited my quality of life was alleviated with the surgery.

Good luck, Susan

[mabeckoff]

Scoliosis surgery is not to take away pain. It is to stop progression of your curves

Melissa

[susancook]

Melissa,

Scoliosis comes in many forms with many etiologies. Since my scoliosis was secondary to multiple degenerative/ stenotic processes in my spinal vertebrae, my surgery was to alleviate pain. The only reason that I was admitted to the "Scoliosis Club" was because my discs collapsed asymmetrically. If they had collapsed symetrically, i would just be 4 feet tall and in pain. Certainly, there may have been a future worsening of my curve with time on the future, I doubt that it would have progressed a whole lot. The possibility of future degeneration in my spine seems inevitable, especially with my osteoporosis ( the Bain of many aging folks). Most of my surgery involved repair and rebuild while maintaining function.

I remember many conversations on line here with many of you who seemed to me to wonder why I was even in pain, much less seeking a surgical resolution. When I asked my surgeon on a scale of 1 to 10, how difficult did she say that my spinal surgery wold be and she said, "8". That blew me away from what I understood from this Forum.

Susan