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Hello Everyone,
I don't even know where to begin, I guess from the beginning huh?
My name is Jessy and I am 27 years old. I was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of 15, I wore a TLSO brace for a little over two years. My curvatures became worse and I was a candidate for surgery. My 1st surgery happened in April 1995, the doctor fused levels T4-L2. It was a success, so I thought! Somewhere around 1997 I complained to my mother that my back was bothering me and I felt as though the bars were going to protrude through my skin. Appointments after appointments and the doctors found nothing. No hook unhooked, no damage with the fusion. I finally became fed up because I was not able to sit in an upright position and when I pressed against that area only, I had sharp pains. Finally, the doctors took me serious and they performed a 2nd surgery in November 1998. I had partial rod removal, which left the fusion from T4-T9. They discovered that a hook became unhooked and that was the cause of my pain. I thought I was done with all the surgeries. A couple of years later I began to have pain again, I went to see the original surgeon who did the surgeries and followed up with him for a couple of months. I felt I was going nowhere with him becuase everytime I went there, it was the same story...he refused to do the surgery unless I was shrinking and my health was being impaired. I left mad and decided to search for a new doctor.
I noticed my body was leaning more towards one side and I was also hunched a lot. I also developed a lot of sharp pain with numbness and tingling all over my extremities. I went to an orthopeadic doctor (who specialized in the bones/spine but not scoliosis) He sent me through cortisone "Facet-Joint Injections", massage therapy, physical therapy and nothing worked. Finally he tells me as he is looking at my X-rays, "Sorry I can't help you anymore because what you have is arthritis of the spine and some degenerative discs". Basically, if I can live with the pain so be it. I refused to give up and deal with the pain and take pain killers and all sorts of meds everyday for the rest of my life. I came onto this website and I found real doctors who specializes in scoliosis.
I found the doctor who knew exactly what was wrong with me and did not talk down to me. I ended up seeing Dr. Frank Schwab and Dr. Jean-Pierre C. Farcy and they were excellent. They basically told me straight out that surgery had to be done, if not in a couple of years I would be walking around with a big hunch on my back and not being able to stand upright. They explained the surgical procedure to me and I ended up having a "Thoracotomy incision (I had a rib hump) with posterior harrington rod removal to spinal revision with bars and screws." My spinal fusion is from T2-L4 and I am currently a little over 3 months post op, and I feel great for a person who went through a lot. I still have a lot of pain, but not as bad when I first came out the hospital.
I was wondering from anyone who has had the surgery done, how do you sleep at night? Do you need pills to make you go to sleep? Currently I am taking Vicodin to go to sleep, but at times I feel as though that doesn't help and my body can go 24 hours without sleeping. My doctor prescribed me ultram 50mg, but it doesn't seem to help either. I feel as though my pain threshold has increased and that's why I need more medication. Any help would be gladly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jessy
Please feel free to make any comments and/or suggestions.
Surgery Pictures
I don't even know where to begin, I guess from the beginning huh?
My name is Jessy and I am 27 years old. I was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of 15, I wore a TLSO brace for a little over two years. My curvatures became worse and I was a candidate for surgery. My 1st surgery happened in April 1995, the doctor fused levels T4-L2. It was a success, so I thought! Somewhere around 1997 I complained to my mother that my back was bothering me and I felt as though the bars were going to protrude through my skin. Appointments after appointments and the doctors found nothing. No hook unhooked, no damage with the fusion. I finally became fed up because I was not able to sit in an upright position and when I pressed against that area only, I had sharp pains. Finally, the doctors took me serious and they performed a 2nd surgery in November 1998. I had partial rod removal, which left the fusion from T4-T9. They discovered that a hook became unhooked and that was the cause of my pain. I thought I was done with all the surgeries. A couple of years later I began to have pain again, I went to see the original surgeon who did the surgeries and followed up with him for a couple of months. I felt I was going nowhere with him becuase everytime I went there, it was the same story...he refused to do the surgery unless I was shrinking and my health was being impaired. I left mad and decided to search for a new doctor.
I noticed my body was leaning more towards one side and I was also hunched a lot. I also developed a lot of sharp pain with numbness and tingling all over my extremities. I went to an orthopeadic doctor (who specialized in the bones/spine but not scoliosis) He sent me through cortisone "Facet-Joint Injections", massage therapy, physical therapy and nothing worked. Finally he tells me as he is looking at my X-rays, "Sorry I can't help you anymore because what you have is arthritis of the spine and some degenerative discs". Basically, if I can live with the pain so be it. I refused to give up and deal with the pain and take pain killers and all sorts of meds everyday for the rest of my life. I came onto this website and I found real doctors who specializes in scoliosis.
I found the doctor who knew exactly what was wrong with me and did not talk down to me. I ended up seeing Dr. Frank Schwab and Dr. Jean-Pierre C. Farcy and they were excellent. They basically told me straight out that surgery had to be done, if not in a couple of years I would be walking around with a big hunch on my back and not being able to stand upright. They explained the surgical procedure to me and I ended up having a "Thoracotomy incision (I had a rib hump) with posterior harrington rod removal to spinal revision with bars and screws." My spinal fusion is from T2-L4 and I am currently a little over 3 months post op, and I feel great for a person who went through a lot. I still have a lot of pain, but not as bad when I first came out the hospital.
I was wondering from anyone who has had the surgery done, how do you sleep at night? Do you need pills to make you go to sleep? Currently I am taking Vicodin to go to sleep, but at times I feel as though that doesn't help and my body can go 24 hours without sleeping. My doctor prescribed me ultram 50mg, but it doesn't seem to help either. I feel as though my pain threshold has increased and that's why I need more medication. Any help would be gladly appreciated.
Thanks,
Jessy
Please feel free to make any comments and/or suggestions.
Surgery Pictures
CONNIE
I hope they find the cause of your problems and the reason why your body is feeling so weak and achy. Did you really go rock climbing?!?! Did it take a lot out of you to do extraneous activity? I wish my body is as strong as yours. Its a little over 3 months and I still have pain at the sites. The good news for me is that the doctor gave me the go ahead to go back to work. Lets see how my body is going to react to work, stress and my kids. I'm a Bilingual Speech Language Pathologist, and I work with multiply disabled preschoolers and adolescents. He's starting me out Part Time and I will gradually increase my hours back to Full Time if my body allows it.
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