Spinal fusion.

Caoimhín

Hi all,

Well i had the operation to fuse my spine and remove the troublesome disc yesterday. (ruptured disc at L4 - L5) It has been by far the most painful of the 6 operations (in 5 years) and the screws in my spine became loose last night so i has to go down to be opened up again!

Still, hopefully it will be worth it and maybe this will be the end of 8 years of chronic back pain..

im a bit doped out of it now on a morphine drip but i will keep you all informed about my progress.

Kevin.

mickman

my god, that sounds terrible

best of luck

Caoimhín

Ah its not so bad, there are people much worse than i am.

Its all the tubes and wires hanging out of me that is a pain. Cant get to sleep in the hospital either .

Thank you for your kind words Mickman.

Eoineo

Best of luck Kevin. I was wondering when your operation was due.

I finally got to see the consultant 2 months ago & have started intensive physio again in the hope that fusion won't be necessary. Fingers crossed anyway.

magnumlady

Best of luck Kevin. You'll be feeling much better soon. Just hang on in there.

Caoimhín

Eoineo wrote: »

Best of luck Kevin. I was wondering when your operation was due.

I finally got to see the consultant 2 months ago & have started intensive physio again in the hope that fusion won't be necessary. Fingers crossed anyway.

Do what ever you can Eoineo to avoid a fusion. It is not a very nice experience although I have great respect and faith in my surgical team.

Thanks again for your support lads, it helps to know others are experiencing the same difficulties. pm me anyone if you want a chat or info about the procedure.

kelle

I hope you have your second theatre visit over with now and can beging the road to recovery (not a long one please God)

Good luck Caoimhín, and keep us posted.

Caoimhín

kelle wrote: »

I hope you have your second theatre visit over with now and can beging the road to recovery (not a long one please God).

Thanks Kelle, yeah my second trip to the op room was short, only 3 hours and the screws were tightened. Basically the surgeons removed all the old discs, grafted syenthic bone onto the vertebre and screwed a cage around them to allow it to fuse.

I was in a lot ofpain for the first 48 hours and on a morphine drip,with 6 tubes hanging out of me for various reasons.

Im ok now, still on a lot of pain meds and in bed but all the tubes are gone and im back reading the paper and watching some TV.

It will mean a few months of rehab and physio, but thats nothing new to me.

If it works (and the pains in my legs and hips are gone already) then it is worth doing. Luckily, i am self employed and was due a holiday so i can take the next 2 months off to recover.

Do not enter into any spinal surgery without exausting every other option available.

Personaly, i have and would stay away from all chiropracters, herbalists and other quacks as they could make things much worse.

I am available through PM or email if anyone wants to discuss back pain or related surgery (i do have 11 years practical experience in the field now!!)

Thanks again for all your help and encouragement.

Kevin.

Caoimhín

Hi all,

Well I got out of hospital last night. I cant praise the staff enough, all helpful, caring and professional.

Im still very sore and have two 8 inch cuts in a V shape running down my back. Also, they forgot to tighten the screws during the first fitting so once i was awake they had to wheel me back down to the operating room, open me up and finish the job. The metal staples look mad!

Its hard to say so soon but the leg and hip nerve pain is certainly gone. Im left with pain from the operation now which is an improvement on the sharp, drilling nerve pain.

Ill be about 10 days in bed, taking some strong pain meds and another month or so before i can get back to work. Driving is a big no no for a few weeks.

So although it is early to say, im glad i got the fusion done, the surgeon said i should have had the fusion done after my second discectomy, (I had five over 4 years!).

Hopefully it will be the last of my 10 year odyssey of back pain and i cant say im unhappy to see it almost over.

If i can offer any advice to anyone who is going through this, that is to avoid surgery in the first place if possible but if you are still suffering then insist on getting an MRI and a referral to see a neurosurgeon. They are right however to take some anitflamatories, painkillers and rest. If i had followed that advice years ago i migt not be th

I say neurosurgeon because my first operation was done by an orthopaedic surgeon and he made a total mess of it (cut the Dura and Pia Mater, leaving scar tissue and giving me stabbing headaches for life) I wouldn't sue though as i dont buy into that.
When the disc ruptured again, my GP told me that it was just bad luck (then took her €50). After five "bad luck" discectomies, an MRI and spine specialist diagnosed me with degenerative disc disease.

Im so happy now that its all over (hopefully) and my surgeon is a genius, and indirectly saved my life...

The one thing that i wish existed, and would have helped me so much, is a device to be invented that could be used by a doctor to accurately show the actual level of pain someone is in. The amount of times i went to a doctor in total agony only to be arrogantly dismissed as a drug seeker.

If any doctor/trainee GP reads this, any sort of pain medication, pills or tranquillizers can be bought on the street or the internet quicker and cheaper than a trip to a GP. I was suicidal at times with back pain and after being dismissed by doctors and pompous surgeons as a drug seeker or attention seeker. The joy i felt when the MRI showed the disc had disintegrated and i needed emergency surgery.

I think for some reason many doctors and surgeons are so arogent and self sure of their diagnosis that they make up their mind without even listening to what the patient has to say.

Personally i think most doctors and surgeons chose that career for the percieved status/or their parents pushed them into it. Many have no bedside manner and only seem interested in making as much money in as short of time as possible. There isnt a trace of human empathy in many of them.

Again, in saying that, there are many good doctors and surgeons out there. Now, before other doctors leap to the poor doctors defence, I concede that there are many poor practician in my own profession, as there are in all professions. However, for some reason, the medical profession leap to the defence of their fellow professionals. Strange that, I wonder if they would consider Doctor Harold Shipman as a misunderstood but good doctor simply bullied by the press and courts.

The point i am making is for anyone with serious back pain is to get a second and even third opinion. Insist on an MRI and a referral to an expert. That way you might avoid 10 years of hell like i did. If needs be, refuse pain killers like i once did to prove that that is not what you are after.

Sorry for the rant everyone, and thanks for the encouragement. I hope my story helps others suffering from chronic back pain.

Although i fully expect this post and thread being locked as i showed [some in] the medical profession to be money grabbing to the point that they would gladly do harm to a patient if they thought they would make some more money out of it.

If anyone finds themselves in a similar position, PM me and i will offer any advice, contacts or even if you feel alone and just want to share..

tbh

glad to hear there's light at the end of the tunnel Kdizzle, you're entitled to a bit of bitterness I'd say - hope it's all good from here on out, let us know how you get on.

Caoimhín

tbh wrote: »

glad to hear there's light at the end of the tunnel Kdizzle, you 're entitled to a bit of bitterness I'd say - hope it's all good from here on out, let us know how you get on.

I guess i am a bit bitter tbh, but the point im trying to make is that you know your own body far better than anyone else. Pain is your bodys' way of telling you something is wrong so it shouldn't be ignored.

If you are suffering ten demand to be treated or referred to someone who can/will help.

Doctors are only human too, they make mistakes, have bad days and maybe some have been duped into narcotics.

I will leave it with this, if you feel in your heart and soul that something is wrong, dontsh early be dismissed by a busy doctor who wants to finish early.

You only have one body, dont trust doctors or take their word as final. please always get a second and even third opinion.


T

Eoineo

Caoimhín wrote: »

I will leave it with this, if you feel in your heart and soul that something is wrong, dontsh early be dismissed by a busy doctor who wants to finish early.

You only have one body, dont trust doctors or take their word as final. please always get a second and even third opinion.

Couldn't agree more. Believe it or not I'm glad I ran out of funds for my (v. expensive) private consultant. I'm finally getting answers that are realistic and a treatment plan that is realistic. I hope that it continues this way with the Public System.

K - I'm delighted you have no more hip or leg pain. I can only imagine how "good" that feels. I say "good" because I know you've other pain and rehab to go through but hopefully you are getting to a point where you can manage your condition.

Thinking of you.

Caoimhín

Eoineo wrote: »

Thinking of you.

Thanks Eoineo, that means a lot. And you are right, the surgery was the easy part as i was asleep

The difficult bit is all the physio and treatment tohelp me get right again both physically and mentally. Luckily i have lots of good friends and family who understand and help.

Thanks again, and if you, or anyone needs a chat about back pain or contact details for GOOD doctors just PM me.

Kev.

madge06

Hi everyone,
looking for some advice,have suffered with my back for the last 10njection years
so far I have had 3 micro disctectomies,9 epidurals and countless facet and nerve blocks
Am under pain management at the moment but am sick and tired of being told that try this block/injection it will work..Also diagnosed with DDD..

L4/5 DISC is now completely gone,so really think it is now time for a fusion

On oxynorm 10mg 3 times a day
Baclofen 10mg 2 a day
co-proxamol3 a day
anxi calm 10mg 2 a day

I am so fed up with these tabs as i have no quality of life at the moment and due to see a surgeon on the 2nd july
Has anybody got any advice please

Spook_ie

madge06 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
looking for some advice,have suffered with my back for the last 10njection years
so far I have had 3 micro disctectomies,9 epidurals and countless facet and nerve blocks
Am under pain management at the moment but am sick and tired of being told that try this block/injection it will work..Also diagnosed with DDD..

L4/5 DISC is now completely gone,so really think it is now time for a fusion

On oxynorm 10mg 3 times a day
Baclofen 10mg 2 a day
co-proxamol3 a day
anxi calm 10mg 2 a day

I am so fed up with these tabs as i have no quality of life at the moment and due to see a surgeon on the 2nd july
Has anybody got any advice please

I have 'only' had 2 microdisectomies, thankfully its a case of so far so good and I was happy with my neurosurgeon. Look up 'apache' she had a tough journey and she ended up having a fusion so there may be some advice from her postings.

chatjunkie

madge06 wrote: »

Hi everyone,
looking for some advice,have suffered with my back for the last 10njection years
so far I have had 3 micro disctectomies,9 epidurals and countless facet and nerve blocks
Am under pain management at the moment but am sick and tired of being told that try this block/injection it will work..Also diagnosed with DDD..

L4/5 DISC is now completely gone,so really think it is now time for a fusion

On oxynorm 10mg 3 times a day
Baclofen 10mg 2 a day
co-proxamol3 a day
anxi calm 10mg 2 a day

I am so fed up with these tabs as i have no quality of life at the moment and due to see a surgeon on the 2nd july
Has anybody got any advice please

Hi Madge,
I had a two level lumbar spinal fusion last December. Six months on now and am doing great. Off all painkillers two weeks afterwards. Was walking up to seven miles a day after six weeks. Walked a half marathon after four months and wasn't even a little tired afterwards. Before the operation I couldn't even walk around the supermarket so suffice it to say the operation was a major success. Recovery wasn't half as bad as anticipated either. The vast majority of the credit must go to the surgeon though, he did an amazing job! Any questions at all, just ask. Hard to find many success stories on the web but I truly am one :-D

madge06

Thanks so much for replying,just hoping that the surgeon I go to see has some answers for me as it has been going on 10 years..

chatjunkie

madge06 wrote: »

Thanks so much for replying,just hoping that the surgeon I go to see has some answers for me as it has been going on 10 years..

Who is your surgeon Madge? Can send you on a recommendation if you're looking for one. Can't speak highly enough about mine. He is definitely the reason for my great success story

superd1978

Guys, sorry to drag up an old post, but i am due for spinal surgery in 6 weeks time, and really worried reading horror stories on the internet.

I have advanced degeneration on the C5/C6, pinching on my nerves.

Has anyone any updates on their fusion situation, good, bad or ugly?

I dont actually have any pain, per se, but have intense numbness in my shoulders and ribs, and my body has basically collapsed around this tension, struggling to walk at this stage, knee and hip not in a good place due to tension and imbalances above.

After 6 years and a number of treatments, my surgeon reckons i will benefit greatly from c5/c6 fusion.. but im worried i could completely screw up my life if things dont go well... alternative being just manage the current situation, which is not great, but bearable.

I just want to be able to run and be active again