Anyone Had A Spinal Fusion Done?
- Thread starter KyCatFan_rivals45723
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Well just had my first checkup and everything is looking good. Here are a few pics.
First view of incision after they removed the tape.
Side view where you can see the donor bone between the vertebrae.
Front view where you get a good look at the plate.
The plate is made of titanium. I'm curious if titanium will set off metal detectors? Will be more interesting going into government buildings and to the airport if so. I go back in about 2 months and about 4 months until part 2 of surgery in my lower back.
First view of incision after they removed the tape.
Side view where you can see the donor bone between the vertebrae.
Front view where you get a good look at the plate.
The plate is made of titanium. I'm curious if titanium will set off metal detectors? Will be more interesting going into government buildings and to the airport if so. I go back in about 2 months and about 4 months until part 2 of surgery in my lower back.
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It hasn't set off anything for me! Btw, recliner was the only thing I could get comfortable in for about 4-6 weeks
Pretty much the same thing for me. Went and bought some material and stuffing and cut out a design to fit my recliner better and got my mom to sew it together for me and have a more comfortable recliner experience. It isn't a great design, but it works great. No experience in designing pillows. [laughing]
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I end up dozing off for a couple hours and wake up at like 2 am every night and try and go lay in bed and stretch out. Unfortunately I move around a lot when I sleep and it is hard to turn over without pain and wakes me up or keeps me awake. Even the muscle relaxer and hydrocodine combo doesn't work very often. Mostly just makes me feel out of it. Hopefully it gets to a point soon where the sleep starts to improve. Thanks again for all the support from everyone.
The titanium won't set off a metal detector. Also make sure you don't overdo it with the pain killers, its pretty much a low dose heroin with high addiction rate. Glad to see you're recovering well.
I actually barely take them now (haven't taken a single pill probably in the last 3 days). It has been a week and a half since I got out of the hospital and I've only taken about 6 or 7 out of the 120 they gave me so far. I was just hoping they would help knock me out and get some better sleep, but that wasn't happening so I stopped taking them for now. I guess I have been so use to pain that it isn't bad enough now to warrant taking pain meds all the time.
I'm surprised no one mentioned the better alternative than fusion; cervical disc replacement surgery. Google it. They go in through the throat; like the fusion, but instead of fusing vertebra together, they put an artificial disc in, with only a few screws if any. It fits between the vertebra and can rotate a little; left/right/forward/back. Seems to me to be far superior to fusion. From everything I have read, it is a quick recovery, and no pressure on the discs above and below the replacement discs. With fusion, in a high percentage of cases, the adjoining discs will need surgery, as all the pressure is on them after the fusion. Plus, with fusion, I was going to have to buy a $5,000 out of pocket net cost (after insurance) bone growth stimulator, and had to wear it for 9 months. I cancelled my fusion surgery, and am waiting to get the replacement surgery as soon as I can work out some personal details. Remember to visit Doctor Google, and see what you think.
My insurance claim for the cervical bone stimulator was denied for some reason so I am doing without. The neurosurgeon just said to make sure to get plenty of calcium and it should be fine. I guess the insurance company doesn't think it is a necessity even though the orthopaedic surgeon ordered it. I go back to the orthopaedic surgeon for a follow up in 7 days and then it will be about 2 months after that before I have another appointment.
Everything seems to be going great though. The pain is nowhere near as bad as I expected. The worst part is mostly swallowing because of the incision. They said it probably will take 4-6 weeks to get it back to normal.
Everything seems to be going great though. The pain is nowhere near as bad as I expected. The worst part is mostly swallowing because of the incision. They said it probably will take 4-6 weeks to get it back to normal.
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I fell over 10 feet into a pit, after 4 back surgeries, a spinal fusion was done. This was in 2005.
It was a very long surgery.
I am into my 60's and there is limits to what I can do.
The gentleman who had one and plays golf, my hats off to him. I had to quit certain movements and swinging a bat, club was one of them.
Best advice I can give you is to fight off taking any pain meds. They wanted to put a pain pump in me, tried something called Fentanyl (not sure of spelling) but that stuff was bad. Made me not want to do anything but stay in bed.
Took the patch off one day and within hours I was in the emergency room throwing up something awful. Stuff came out of me that my wife said no human could have inside them. Doctors said it was the vial off the bottom of my stomach; I was having withdrawals from that crap.
To this day I take nothing.
Get out and walk. Walk, walk, walk.
If you can play golf, do so. Keep active.
I own my own business and get up everyday at 4 am. My daughters keep asking why? Let your guys handle things. If I stay still, I hurt.
Keep moving. Keep active. Get good shoes, not Nike's and Addias. Get good ones like Brooks and there are others out there that are good.
Learn to deal with some pain.
Sit in hard back chairs when you can.
After all this, I can still hang with my younger workers. I don't lift the heavy stuff, but I wont back away from my part.
You can be just as good as ever before. You must stay positive.
Good luck young man.
It was a very long surgery.
I am into my 60's and there is limits to what I can do.
The gentleman who had one and plays golf, my hats off to him. I had to quit certain movements and swinging a bat, club was one of them.
Best advice I can give you is to fight off taking any pain meds. They wanted to put a pain pump in me, tried something called Fentanyl (not sure of spelling) but that stuff was bad. Made me not want to do anything but stay in bed.
Took the patch off one day and within hours I was in the emergency room throwing up something awful. Stuff came out of me that my wife said no human could have inside them. Doctors said it was the vial off the bottom of my stomach; I was having withdrawals from that crap.
To this day I take nothing.
Get out and walk. Walk, walk, walk.
If you can play golf, do so. Keep active.
I own my own business and get up everyday at 4 am. My daughters keep asking why? Let your guys handle things. If I stay still, I hurt.
Keep moving. Keep active. Get good shoes, not Nike's and Addias. Get good ones like Brooks and there are others out there that are good.
Learn to deal with some pain.
Sit in hard back chairs when you can.
After all this, I can still hang with my younger workers. I don't lift the heavy stuff, but I wont back away from my part.
You can be just as good as ever before. You must stay positive.
Good luck young man.
Well it has been a little over a month. Recovery is going alright. Still not sleeping very well, but my lower back is adding to the issues. I have about three months until I can get that taken care of. Here is an updated photo of the incision area. It is still a little swollen and swallowing feels weird still.
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Well it has been a little over a month. Recovery is going alright. Still not sleeping very well, but my lower back is adding to the issues. I have about three months until I can get that taken care of. Here is an updated photo of the incision area. It is still a little swollen and swallowing feels weird still.
How old are you? From the pic you look relatively young. Always thought these fusions were for the old guys.
42. Back is pretty shot from previous jobs. Pretty much last resort time. My lower back is worse than the neck area but they had to do neck first because there could be compression on that area while doing surgery on the lower back.
I was 35 when I had mine done. 38 now, they wanna go posterior and do it bc my fusion failed! Hope you're still doing well, and 42 is also young to have this procedure done.
Jason is 100% correct. I had C-3 thru C-5 disc and bone spurs removed with cages installed. PT has been a life saver and was huge in restoring flexibility. I do the exercises three times a week and am doing o.k.
My little sister just had lower lumbar spinal fusion surgery done in early February. She's still recuperating and is still in a lot of pain. As far as I know, the surgery went fine, but the full benefits of the surgery are still undetermined.
Rabid it takes about three months to heal and my experience with lumbar surgery was eighteen months to feel 100%. I had mine in 1982 and have worked ever since. Surgical techniques have vastly improved since 1982. Good luck and prayers to your sister.
Well I am about 5 days away from the lumbar fusion. The cervical fusion has done well. The pain is pretty much completely gone (only really aches a little if I look down at a book or phone for to long) and just have a little bit of loss in range of motion but not to much. So I'd say it was a successful procedure.
I go in for the other surgery on Tuesday. It will be about 3 days in the hospital from what I was told. I believe they said it will be at least 3 months for it to heal. Hopefully this will get me back to close to normal again. If not, at least lower the pain level down quite a bit.
I go in for the other surgery on Tuesday. It will be about 3 days in the hospital from what I was told. I believe they said it will be at least 3 months for it to heal. Hopefully this will get me back to close to normal again. If not, at least lower the pain level down quite a bit.
Well tomorrow is the big day. Have to get up with the chickens and be at the hospital at 5:30 in the morning (not like I will get much sleep if any). Surgery is scheduled for 7:30. I'll be nervous as usual until the drugs kick in at the hospital. Just wish they would knock me out before getting to the operating room. Nothing worse than being half naked and surrounded by a group of people in a cold room with bright lights everywhere and waiting to be dissected. My first back surgery 8 years ago was less stressful and I was out before I made it to the operating room. I'll update you all after the surgery depending on how I am feeling.
Best of luck. My dad had the lumbar area done in the early 80s due to degenerative padding between the discs. I heard it's gotten better, but seems like a terrible thing. Prepare to hate getting into and out of cars.
First really bad experience I've had with the surgeries on my spine. I had muscle spasms afterwards in my stomach and back and then up in my neck. The neck spasms shot up into my head and felt like a severe migraine. They tried multiple muscle relaxers before having luck with valium to ease the pain.
The surgery was the day before my birthday and the worst part of it happened on my birthday. So it is safe to say that was my worst birthday ever. Doing much better today. Just having the normal pain from after the surgery. Been walking around a lot and supposed to go home today. I can't wait to get home and finish recouping there.
Just was signed off on my physical therapy requirements. It helps that I've been through this before. I'll keep you all updated on how the lumbar fusion goes in case some of you are interested.
The surgery was the day before my birthday and the worst part of it happened on my birthday. So it is safe to say that was my worst birthday ever. Doing much better today. Just having the normal pain from after the surgery. Been walking around a lot and supposed to go home today. I can't wait to get home and finish recouping there.
Just was signed off on my physical therapy requirements. It helps that I've been through this before. I'll keep you all updated on how the lumbar fusion goes in case some of you are interested.
About the only therapy he had me doing was walking, climbing a few stairs, and doing various leg lifting and bending exercises. I have some other ones I can do that are in a book about my procedure that are for when you are sitting or laying down.
This is going to be a tough recovery. One minute I can be on my feet walking around with barely any pain and the next I can't find a position that the pain is tolerable enough to try and get some sleep. There is like a magic spot that I can sit back in the recliner and feel comfortable, but dang it I can't hardly find it. I dozed off for about an hour and a half and was feeling great but of course I woke up having to use the bathroom and lost it. Been fighting it for the last 2 hours or so but can't figure out the magic spot.
I think I might get one of those inflatable donuts so I can lay back and take the gravity off the spine and then have the incision in the opening in the middle to take the pressure off the incision. I found out that there was another disc that was ruptured that he came across while working on the original problem area so hopefully that increases the chances of a long and less painful back.
This is going to be a tough recovery. One minute I can be on my feet walking around with barely any pain and the next I can't find a position that the pain is tolerable enough to try and get some sleep. There is like a magic spot that I can sit back in the recliner and feel comfortable, but dang it I can't hardly find it. I dozed off for about an hour and a half and was feeling great but of course I woke up having to use the bathroom and lost it. Been fighting it for the last 2 hours or so but can't figure out the magic spot.
I think I might get one of those inflatable donuts so I can lay back and take the gravity off the spine and then have the incision in the opening in the middle to take the pressure off the incision. I found out that there was another disc that was ruptured that he came across while working on the original problem area so hopefully that increases the chances of a long and less painful back.
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Ok time for a gross picture. I enjoy doing that to you all.
Right after I took the dressing off. Hope to have a good xray pic for you all soon.
Right after I took the dressing off. Hope to have a good xray pic for you all soon.
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My wife hates when I post pictures of the incisions. I especially do it on Facebook to show my family what is going in. Man this is going to be the worst recovery of them all I think. I'm having horrible nights trying to sleep. Plenty drowsy from the valium and hydrocodones, but having bad shooting pains down the backside of both legs. I wasn't having leg pains with this problem before. If this persists I am going to have to call the doctor back up and see if there is some kind of problem. It might just be lack of sleep combined with working the legs so hard to keep from using the back as much.
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Man what I would give to be put in a medically induced coma for a couple weeks. Of course the insurance wouldn't pay for it I'm sure. It would help with recovery though.
What area did you have fused? L-5 C-4 ? I can't remember if you mentioned it before. That picture is pretty frightening.
I'm not thinking very clearly right now, but I believe this one was called an L5 S1 fusion. Sounds like they are doing some weird cellphone merger in my back.
How is your back doing now? I had a failed discectomy at the same level you had fused and now both my legs are just on fire with nerve pain. A fusion might be in my future but the long term outcome kinda scares me, especially only being 26. Also getting out of work for 3 months of recovery is gonna be hard to come by.
+1 on the update.
I had my 2nd round of lumbar steroid injections (L5 S1) 2 weeks ago and it hasn't seemed to work as well as previous (I've had at 12-15 or so over the last 7-8 years).....PT has helped this time around. Getting dry needle acupuncture this Thursday morning.
Trying to power through and get back into golf/tennis, just have to get on with life. I'm not having a discectomy or fusion unless it's extremely necessary.
Preds what happened with your discectomy?
Dr. William Brooks did L4 and L5 discectomy on me in January 1982 and I worked 32 years with very few major problems. Dr. Brooks shut me down in 2014. Inoperable scar tissue and spinal stenosis. I would do it again. It got to the point that I couldn't tie my shoes and was in misery. The surgery was a no brainer for me. I just couldn't see taking pain pills the rest of my life.
Long Post
I don't really have much nerve pain since I had both of my fusions done. Unfortunately I do have pain still most of the time unless I am sitting on a very padded couch or chair or sometimes lying down in certain positions. I now can't stand up for more than like 15-30 minutes without the pain progressively getting worse. Especially standing still like in a line or things like that.
Some walking is okay, but again if it is more than for like 30 minutes the pain gets worse. Also bending down, trying to get up off the floor, climbing stairs, and picking up stuff like 25+ pounds repetitively are a problem. I go in for a CT scan in August to see how the fusion looks. Probably nothing else they can do on their end to improve things.
My fusion in my neck is better, but also has some issues. I can't turn my head quite as much as I used to and looking up and down is uncomfortable. I can't sit with my head tilted down very long or lay on my pillow wrong or I start getting a bad headache.
My activity level has suffered drastically from the fusions. I don't do near as much as I used to. No more amusement park rides. I probably can't bowl anymore (something I used to love to go do). Long drives are an issue now. We use to go on long walks and that is out now. Spend most of my time just sitting on my couch (forced to become a couch potato) or laying in bed.
I have been off from work going on 2 years now because of the different treatments and surgeries. With them making me try every imaginable fix before having both surgeries, it ended up milking the situation out for much longer. I had a really physical job that I can no longer do now. I've been on long term disability, but it will be running out in about 3 months. The disability insurance place made me fill out paperwork for social security but it was denied and they are going to appeal it. So I'm not sure what I will be doing after those 3 months are over.
Everybody is different and my case might be more extreme than others. My doctor diagnosed me with degenerative disc disease and that might be making things worse. I never had much luck with injections and my discectomy was only a short term fix. Maybe if I had a less physical job it might have been fine at that point and no fusion would have been necessary. Even with the way things are now I would still do it all over again. The nerve pain was so excruciatingly bad that I had no choice and not being able to do as much is better than not being able to do anything.
The one thing I wish I would have done is spent these 2 years doing schooling at home. Then maybe I could have gotten something useful accomplished from the time off. Might have opened up other possibilities. Of course I did nothing and just figured it would fix the problem enough to go back to my normal work. I'd say have the procedure done and with your age you might recover better with less limitations on your life, but plan on a worse case scenario that you might have to totally change your work and home life. Good luck to you on whatever you decide on.