Life after scoliosis surgery :-)

[LindaRacine]

Unless your surgeon tells you otherwise, I would caution anyone from trying to bend down and touch their toes until they're AT LEAST 6 mos. postop for kids and 12 mos. postop for adults. Screws and hooks can be pulled out with some force.

--Linda

[Theresa]

Hi Linda, Thanks for the words of encourgement! Don't worry though, I WILL NOT overdo! Right now it feels like I have a pulled groin muscle and quadracup (sp) muscle. Also it feels like the muscle around the waist on the left side is pulled. The nurses and doctors said it was probably from the position that I was in. They had me in a knee to elbow position. When you picture it I'm not suprised that some more muscles aren't pulled. I guess I just assumed that I would be laying flat on my stomach. Learn something new every day.

[LindaRacine]

Hi Theresa...

If you had anterior surgery, it's possible that you've got the early signs of an incisional hernia.

Your comment about positioning reminds me of a very funny story. Some years ago, I was talking to a woman who was about to undergo scoliosis surgery at UCSF. She was concerned about how awful she would look, being positioned naked on the table. I told her that once she got to the hospital and they started the I.V., she'd be given versed, which is a fabulous drug that is not only a tranquilizer, but an amnesiac, and that she probably wouldn't remember being positioned on the table. She thought about it for a minute and said "I wish that Dr. Bradford would take a hit so he wouldn't remember what I'll look like in that very unbecoming position."

Regards,
Linda

[suejeryl]

linda, that is a very funny story indeed! after surgery my thumb and first two fingers on my left hand were completely numb. i brought it to the attention of my surgeon on our first post-op visit, sure that i had some unusual incident to report, and he looked at it and said, "that's very unusual. usually it's the pinkie and ring finger!" we all think we're so special, don't we?

[Theresa]

Hey Linda, This was posterior only. The incision is from about the middle of the back down to the butt crack again. I ended up not needing the iliac crest graft because they took out a little over an inch of my spine at the L3 level so they used that bone for graphs. Once again they said they had problems getting me positioned just right. The doctor says everytime he sees my spine he can't get over how deformed it is.

[Lavinia]

Blair

Blair - thanks for the info - I finally get a (first) physio appointment in August, so will ask about the myofascial release, it sounds like what I need. Sorry to nag, but how do you find writing? It is something I did a lot before, but find really painful to do now. Do you need to find a different way of doing it that keeps the upper back quite straight? And where are your remaining aches and pains?

A million thanks,

Lavinia

[blairf83]

I tend to get spasamy if I sit for too long, particularly at a desk. But I have simply learned to sit up really straight and look down at the desk or at the computer screen using just my eyes, not my entire head and neck. I also sit on an exercise ball when at my desk at home. Somehow that is more comfortable for me. My physical therapist also gave me some neck and shoulder stretches that I can do. If I notice myself getting stiff, stopping for a minute and doing a couple of the stretches can lengthen the period that I can tolerate sitting.

My biggest painful spot is my left shoulder. But... It's not entirely scoliosis surgery related. It has had a lot of trouble with spasams since I was ten years old. Following my surgery, it really intensified. But it seems to be settling back down and is actually at this point better than it's been in several years. If I do a lot of activities that will twist a normal torso much (running, mucking out my horse's stalls, etc...) my ribs will get sore. But that's usually a pretty short lived problem. Taking really deep breaths to make sure that I don't get more tense from it, gently bending and stretching, and then a little rest generally fixes it. My lumbar spine gets sore sometimes too... But again, it did that before surgery. In that case, ibuprofen and occasionally muscle relaxers do the trick for me.

One person I know has also had good luck with an NMES/TENS unit. It's a little box that has wires running to little patches that you stick to sore muscle groups. Electrical currents run to the patches and I guess interrupt the body's pain reaction. I get a little relief from mine...... But it's just not as effective for me as it seems to be for her.

Another thing if you have somebody around who doesn't mind rubbing your back that works REALLY well for me is one of these: http://www.infinitelights.com/nukklesmassage.html
They feel FANTASTIC. I've had other massager type things that I've just thrown away. The first time I used it, I was practically in tears it felt so good! My sister keeps trying to sneak off with it. But I won't let her
I found mine a little cheaper at the local Bed Bath and Beyond store.

In a couple weeks, I will start getting worked on by a chiro who uses myofascial release (he won't be adjusting anything... just working on the muscle imbalance/spasams I have...). I am starting working for my horse trainer, and since it's a pretty physical job, I'm not letting my spasams get ahead of me. Stopping them before they get bad in the first place is definitely the way to go.

[dakotamidnight]

Theresa: I noticed your in Corpus Christi, I'm in san antonio!

Who is you doctor, because I need to find a good one for my surgery

[Theresa]

Hi Dakotamidnight,

I am in Houston, Texas. My Doctor is Dr. Charles Reitman with the Baylor College of Medicine. He has also had Dr. Darrell Hanson in on my surgeries. I had my surgeries at St. Lukes down in the med center. Dr. Reitman has rights at quite a few hospitals. If you pull up Baylor College of Medicine Orthopedics, Houston and then look at the physicians it'll have their numbers listed. MamaKay from Austin used Dr. Hanson for her daughter's surgery. Feel free to ask any questions.