New here, revision surgery needed.

[JayMoe]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forums. I'm Jay, I'm 21 and from London. 2.5 years ago I had my first set of surgery to straighten my back. Unfortunately, part of my rods failed and and came away from my neck (My fusion is from C5-T12) so had been sticking out of my neck for a while now. Yesterday i got conformation that i would be having this out and getting a bone graft put in in its place. It won't be a long surgery, I'll apparently just be staying over night to monitor me after the surgery and from there it'll just be waiting on the wound healing.

I was wondering if anyone could give me any information on what to expect from this and any tips on what to do to help with recovery.

Thanks in advance,
Jay

[titaniumed]

Jay

I just wanted to welcome you to the forum.....

So sorry about your neck situation (or is it upper thoracic?) Do you know what level they plan to fuse?

What has happened to Scoliosis Support? I see the site is down.....

You should throw up your x-rays for NSF members to see....

Your old friend,

Rod Stewart

[JayMoe]

Jay

I just wanted to welcome you to the forum.....

So sorry about your neck situation (or is it upper thoracic?) Do you know what level they plan to fuse?

What has happened to Scoliosis Support? I see the site is down.....

You should throw up your x-rays for NSF members to see....

Your old friend,

Rod Stewart

Thanks Rod,

Its my problem child hook at C5. They'll be removing the hardware from C5-C7 on the left side and then just fusing with bone without any new hooks. Think it is so this does not happen again.

Not too sure what happened to SSO, i think the site licence has expired, but not too sure as i don't have contact with the owner to get it sorted out.

I'll fish them out and then throw them up on here.

Jay

[Pooka1]

Hi Jay.

Sorry to hear of your need of revision. I hope it goes smoothly.

I hope SSo comes on line again. That site is different than this one and there clearly is a need for SSo.

The loss of ToniBunny was a big blow to both sites. We may never recover.

Best regards.

[JayMoe]

IMG_20140623_103205854.jpg
IMG_20140623_103216128.jpg
IMG_20140623_103300058.jpg

Copy of my x-rays.

Thanks Pooka1

It really has impacted our community hugely. It hasn't been the same since her passing. I hope so too. I liked the community we had over there.

Jay

[titaniumed]

Jay

The ACDF neck fusion is what I was offered should I need to have my cervical levels fused. They go in from the front with a small slit off center, down low on the neck.

http://www.spine-health.com/video/an...ion-acdf-video

I have not had this procedure, but many here have.....you should ask your surgeon what he intends to do.

Tonibunny is sorely missed....We e-mailed each other many years ago on the subject of the child teen parent relationship of years past (1970’s and 1980’s) involving scoliosis, that revealed much of the same difficulties. I think that what I will say is that she was a true survivor starting out as a young child, against some bad odds. She had little parental support, and was on her own. I also had the same thing happen, but she had it happen much earlier in her life and she endured multiple thoracotomies and had the scars under her armpits on both sides left and right. I have read that this procedure is the most painful surgery humans can endure. Having both our parents offering little support (or negative support) shaped us, molded us, with some bitterness,(that we hide) but not for our scoliosis brothers and sisters.....I understand why she wanted to offer so much support to the scoliosis community.

When we have to pay dearly for our scoliosis through severe surgeries, all we want is some acknowledgement for our hardships. Its not much to ask, but others that should be supportive, should be supportive. This should include family members......

Ed

[JayMoe]

Jay

The ACDF neck fusion is what I was offered should I need to have my cervical levels fused. They go in from the front with a small slit off center, down low on the neck.

http://www.spine-health.com/video/an...ion-acdf-video

I have not had this procedure, but many here have.....you should ask your surgeon what he intends to do.

Tonibunny is sorely missed....We e-mailed each other many years ago on the subject of the child teen parent relationship of years past (1970’s and 1980’s) involving scoliosis, that revealed much of the same difficulties. I think that what I will say is that she was a true survivor starting out as a young child, against some bad odds. She had little parental support, and was on her own. I also had the same thing happen, but she had it happen much earlier in her life and she endured multiple thoracotomies and had the scars under her armpits on both sides left and right. I have read that this procedure is the most painful surgery humans can endure. Having both our parents offering little support (or negative support) shaped us, molded us, with some bitterness,(that we hide) but not for our scoliosis brothers and sisters.....I understand why she wanted to offer so much support to the scoliosis community.

When we have to pay dearly for our scoliosis through severe surgeries, all we want is some acknowledgement for our hardships. Its not much to ask, but others that should be supportive, should be supportive. This should include family members......

Ed

I don't think that is what is going to happen. All I do know is that they're probably going from the back where my original scar is and snip off the part of the rod and hook has come out, as it is pressing up and out of my skin etc. they then intend on putting a bone graft where the hardware was and then closing me up, As my discs are doing fine. Everything fused up good and proper despite my Neurofibromatosis. (none of the issues that could occur happened which im very thankful of.)

I see where you're coming from. My parents have offered quite a lot of support. but in some areas not so much. My father thinks that because i run and play squash, this is what made my hook come out, despite telling them several times i had these issues well before i started running and playing. as some say crap happens. this has occurred for some reason and it's getting resolved, hopefully it is the end of my scoli journey.

Jay

[titaniumed]

I see....Most constructs will stop in the upper thoracic, its not too often that you see the rods go right up beyond T1 (posterior) and into the neck.

You will have to ask your doctor for your hooks after they are removed....

Any idea on the date?

Ed

[JayMoe]

I see....Most constructs will stop in the upper thoracic, its not too often that you see the rods go right up beyond T1 (posterior) and into the neck.

You will have to ask your doctor for your hooks after they are removed....

Any idea on the date?

Ed

I had that thought already to ask for the hook they are taking out.

No idea of a date yet, still waiting for the letter. I have asked for it to be over the easter break. so some time over the last 3 weeks of April, hopefully it'll be over the first two weeks as im busy the last weekend as im going to con

Jay

[Chihuahua Mama]

Welcome to the forum, Jay. I was especially interested in the problem you had with the childhood hook, as I also had a severe problem with mine (I just had small vertebrae, so they used a hook. In my revision surgery it was removed but it had pierced the dura.

Normally I would think they would do this posterially, not from the front. My (new) rods extend to T3 but not to the cervical area. I do have a cage at C-6, C-7 due to a herniated disc years ago, and they went through my throat. My surgeon told me to be careful about eating steak in the future....I had no idea what he meant until scar tissue formed and while eating steak, it caught in my throat and my son had to perform Heimlich! Not much fun when it was our first dinner together after he was released from the military! What a way to end a dinner, lol.

Again, best of luck.

[JayMoe]

Welcome to the forum, Jay. I was especially interested in the problem you had with the childhood hook, as I also had a severe problem with mine (I just had small vertebrae, so they used a hook. In my revision surgery it was removed but it had pierced the dura.

Normally I would think they would do this posterially, not from the front. My (new) rods extend to T3 but not to the cervical area. I do have a cage at C-6, C-7 due to a herniated disc years ago, and they went through my throat. My surgeon told me to be careful about eating steak in the future....I had no idea what he meant until scar tissue formed and while eating steak, it caught in my throat and my son had to perform Heimlich! Not much fun when it was our first dinner together after he was released from the military! What a way to end a dinner, lol.

Again, best of luck.

Thanks for letting me know what you went through. sounds like it'll be quite similar. I did have an anterior with my posterior, but this is because of my top curve being very sharp and too stiff to put rods on. to this day my throat can hurt, especially if i speak a lot during the day. think this is due to them moving my throat and windpipe to be able access it properly, could not really speak for a month after it.

[kennedy]

Welcome to the fourm jay