silly question...

[bluestone]

I dont usually post-I did for a while when I was looking into having surgery but I just had to reply to this.

I had my surgery for a 72 degree curve a month ago-posterior fusion T2-L4 with a Costoplasty.
I am amazed at how my body looks! My back is so flat and I had a dreadful rib hump, and its so straight (my surgeon said he got an amazing correction).I also have a waist which ive never had-ive been stretched and have gone from 5"3 and half to 5"5.

Now family and friends have seen my before and after pics they didnt know how scrunched up I was. I cant wait to wear srappy summer tops!

My only downside is I have a very painful hip/groin which is holding back my recovery and I pray its not permanent.

[BadKitty]

What does your doctor say about the pain you're having? Could it still be part of the healing process?

[bluestone]

My surgeon said he isnt suprised I have a lot of pain there because I have to remember I have had one of the biggest ops a person can have.
The hip pain is also the same side I had my costoplasty-my rib hump has been reduced dramatically.
It could alos be that my hip is now sitting in a slightly different place and the ligaments may have been stretched.This could explain the groin pain I get along with the hip pain.
I have been making myself walk more and it is starting to ease.

[BadKitty]

It sounds as though it's probably the kind of pain that will ease in time, especially since your surgery was so invasive. Moving the skeleton around drastically does indeed stretch ligaments, nerves, and almost everything else involved. My doc told me that this type of pain takes longer to go away because it can also move around and change as your body adapts to its new angles. Seems like I have pains in new places almost every day (but I'm only 5 weeks out, with a surgery that was not even CLOSE to being as extreme as yours). I try to think of them a "healing pains" - it actually helps a little.

Hopefully the pain you're feeling now will eventually become nothing more than a bad memory -- in the meantime, hang in there and keep up that walking, one of the best things to do for it. In fact, I'm on the way out the door right now .....!

[Heidiv2]

It's crazy how different I look. All I have heard since returning to work is "you've lost weight (2 lbs, not enough to change anything) and you are a lot taller". People who told me that they could never tell before now say that they cannot believe the difference, especially following me down a hall. I never realized how much it would be noticed, especially in nursing scrubs.