Hello,
This is my first post, and the first time I have ever explored a scoliosis forum. The stories and info is kinda overwhelming.
I had my surgery in 1974 at the age of 17 (at HSS, Dr. David Levine). I had a 95 degree curve. Since then I have not paid much attention to my scoliosis. I have been lucky to have little pain and relatively minor limitations. I have a son, work I love, and an active life, including studying karate for years and teaching self-defense.
Anyway about 6 months ago I noticed a small draining lesion on my mid-lower back, right on the scar line. Long story short, an MRI showed a track leading to the hardware, so now the rods are due to be removed on 2/24 by Dr. Matt Cunningham, (at HSS, colleague of Dr. Boachie).
I'm still not clear what the track and lesion are or how/why it happened vafter all these years problem-free. Has anyone experienced this? Is the rod degrading? Is it an infection? I am not currently on antibiotics, nor am I ill, no fevers, no pain. It's hard to go under the knife when I don't feel bad at all, knowing I'll wake up in pain and need time to heal...
I see my surgeon next week for a final consultation and will prepare questions, but wanted to see if anyone here has been through this.
If so, how was the removal surgery? How long did it take you to get on your feet and back to work? Were you on antibiotics post-surgery? Physical therapy? Pain management? There's no plan to replace the hardware and though my fusion is strong, I worry about the future without rods. They've been a part of me for so long...
Thanks ahead of time for any responses.
Brooklyn
This is my first post, and the first time I have ever explored a scoliosis forum. The stories and info is kinda overwhelming.
I had my surgery in 1974 at the age of 17 (at HSS, Dr. David Levine). I had a 95 degree curve. Since then I have not paid much attention to my scoliosis. I have been lucky to have little pain and relatively minor limitations. I have a son, work I love, and an active life, including studying karate for years and teaching self-defense.
Anyway about 6 months ago I noticed a small draining lesion on my mid-lower back, right on the scar line. Long story short, an MRI showed a track leading to the hardware, so now the rods are due to be removed on 2/24 by Dr. Matt Cunningham, (at HSS, colleague of Dr. Boachie).
I'm still not clear what the track and lesion are or how/why it happened vafter all these years problem-free. Has anyone experienced this? Is the rod degrading? Is it an infection? I am not currently on antibiotics, nor am I ill, no fevers, no pain. It's hard to go under the knife when I don't feel bad at all, knowing I'll wake up in pain and need time to heal...
I see my surgeon next week for a final consultation and will prepare questions, but wanted to see if anyone here has been through this.
If so, how was the removal surgery? How long did it take you to get on your feet and back to work? Were you on antibiotics post-surgery? Physical therapy? Pain management? There's no plan to replace the hardware and though my fusion is strong, I worry about the future without rods. They've been a part of me for so long...
Thanks ahead of time for any responses.
Brooklyn
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