Whazzup wrote:Susi - it is sooooo good to see you back on SGT.
Did they fuse your lower back, or just remove a bad disk and clean up the rest? Did they inject any of that newfangled stuff between the disks to lubricate them?
No fusion, I had a complete disk replacement. I am now the proud owner of the very first spinal disk model they made. They are in trials (which they could have put me in), testing a brand new model. You know the Europeans have been doing replacements for a LOT longer than we have here in America. I think they have been going on in Europe since 1988 or so. Fairly new here!
I will have to get the exact specs on the thing. I have a prosthesis now, that I have to *declare* when I go through security at the airport. There are metal parts and I will ring them bells!
"Ah do declare, Ah have one of them there prosthetic thingys in my back!" hehehe
To describe the thing: The disc replacement has a metal and some sort of synthetic top that attaches to the vertebral bone above and also a metal and synthetic edge that secures to the vertebra directly below the blown disk. IF the thing fails someday, I will then have to have a fusion, resulting in less range of motion and more stiffness in the back. This gives me a little more movement and is as close as you can get to still having your own.
But as most of age, many of us will need fusion or a replacement or learn to live with whatever pain we have. It can vary. Mine was intolerable due to the fact that my disk had NO fluid left in it, it was completely dry and flat, it had a crack all all the way across it and it was fragmenting. The doc had to clear out the debris very carefully and discovered 2 nerves beneath it, that were being flattened by the bone above, since there was no nice soft disk to cushion it. That was probably the real source of the peripheral pain. 2 nerves squashed!
I had a feeling they would find one nerve under there, but he was surprised to see 2.
The MRI's NEVER show everything, especially if it is deep inside. My disk did not look that bad, but when they opened me up and looked at the real thing, it was much worse than he thought. Ity took longer for him in the surgery because of the fragments and the bone spurs that had to be shaved off. So it was NOT an easy surgery by any means.
Age and genetics are the two biggest factors in developing bad disks. Both my parents have back problems and my mom had a fusion of her back in the 1940's!!!!! Can you imagine how brutal that had to be? She was in the Coast Guard at the time and the military docs performed it!
EEK! during WWII and having the military docs fuse your spine....She was in the Cooks and Bakers of the Coast Guard. LOTS of heavy lifting there.
Vixen, you need to pay more attention, oh yeah...this IS the attention deficit thread...I have had a terrible back for years, finally had the surgery! YAY!
I am sorry you only had male nurses, hobie! You would have liked my nurses and Nurses in Training that took care of me, especially the one with the mohawk that entered my room at 2AM. She beng backlit, I saw the outline of a person and then when she turned sideways, there it was, the biggest baddest mohawk you ever saw! It was cool 80's!!!
But the docs were the cutest! Especially that curly haired one that rubbed my feet and smiled when he did...
Even my spine surgeon, a brilliant man, is quite handsome in scrubs....I said the word fart in front of him and he cracked up. I have never seen him laugh before. He is always so serious. After surgery, I had the whole floor of nurses laughing and cracking up. All the doctors would come in and know I was gonna crack some joke. In the surg prep area, every doctor on my team walked away laughing. I had THEM in stitches. Ba dum bum. Ka ching!
The scariest thing I remember was in recovery: I heard the nurse saying "Breathe, Susan. C'mon breathe." I guess the meds suppressed my breathing real low.
When I remembered that later, it spooked me. I guess they let Ralph into recovery...I don't remember. He told me that I was breathing sooooooo.... shallow!
But I am back...now I have to go lie down again. I am only up in front of the computer for minutes, not hours for now!
I will be back later or tomorrow. My back is starting to ache. It is really, really sore. The incision (about 6 inches long horizontal across my left abs) still hurts a great deal!
OWIE! I'll take a pic of it and share. I KNOW you all just WANT to see it so badly!
It actually looks great and is healing as it is supposed to.
I missed you all so much! Even you Grumpy! hehehe J/K....you know I love ya!
Susi-Q