Some of my loyal readers and friends will remember the neck surgery I went through in November of 2005. I had two fractured disks. They removed the bone shards, replaced them with cadaver bone, and bolted me together with a titanium plate. It wasn't loads of fun, because they had to go through the front of my throat and the hospital care was very poor.
I get to do it again.
This time, there's another disk that has deteriorated to the point that I'm in constant pain, suffering from tennis elbow and neck spasms. The surgery will have to happen soon. I just found out about it today.
The up-side is that maybe this will be the last surgery I have to go through. The down-side is that I already thought I was done with the problem.
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17 comments:
Good luck w/ the surgery. You don't have to have any of those disks fused, do you? Ouch.
well dad burn it.....surgery sucks.
Sorry to hear you need more surgery. I hope it's the end of it!
Titanium huh? High tech! Now all you need is some bionic implants and a cool sound effect when you run fast or jump over a wall or something.
You must LOVE airport security. I would be very suspicious of you setting off the metal detector.
Anyway - hope the operation goes well, and you recover quickly and all. Summer is almost here and stuff!
Saur,
Gee whiz you are falling apart faster than most women your age. I suggest you start to drink more milk.
Good luck with the operation.
If you need me to keep your blog going just let me know.
Ouch. surgery is never fun. I'll be praying for you. Keep us posted.
oh, yuck Saur. Be positive and I'll be praying for you. You have lots and lots of support here. :o)
May it go well and you heal quickly and easily. If you can find out how fill out a personal care preferences form at the hospital and insist on steril procedures being used in your room.
Hugs and praying for you
you've supported me, and I support you. I pray that everything goes well. I have bone spurs up in that area, and I have resisted surgery for awhile (I found a really good Physical Therapist who has reduced the pain to about a 1--)
Yes, I remember the first time. I hope this is the last one. Keep us posted.
Oh I am sorry to hear about this. I hope it is the last time because the time to take to heal does not always come when we can afford to give it! You already have so much on your plate! I pray for you my friend to have a quick and easy recovery for this. Keep us abreast of when and what!
I'm sorry to hear that sweetheart. I have faith that all will turn out well - I know that you are strong. Pain sucks.
Mike
Everyone, thank you so very much for your well-wishes. Yes, it will probably involve another fusion. However, there are now artificial cervical disks on the market. They may only be in the test phase now, though, which means that I will be stuck with one more cadaver bone grafted into my spine, bolted in place with another titanium plate. The problem is that as my neck is further immobilized, it puts further strain on the healthy disks which may result in even further surgery.
Right now there are no easy answers, but I have to do something to stop the pain so that I can continue to be functional. I wish it was optional, but it really is not.
I'll keep you posted as I learn more.
Again, thank you for your support. It means more than you know.
Love coming at you from across the pond!
What causes these problems in the first place? Are you just born with it or is there something we can do to prevent it?
R2K, well, no one really knows in my particular case. I had a couple of bad car accidents, but nothing that really signalled the beginning of the problem. The pain gradually intensified over many years. Because it did, there was never a point when I decided it was "unbearable". Instead, I learned to adapt to it to a certain extent.
When it got to be excruciating, I had a doctor tell me that it was all in my head and I needed some simple muscle relaxants and that I was just taking life "too seriously". When those failed to help, and he continued to tell me the same thing, I went to a chiro in desperation. The chiro took one look at my x-ray and refused to treat me until I got my doctor to put me through an MRI.
After the MRI, it was determined that there was damage... and I was sent to a specialist. However, instead of ordering tests that would show exactly what was going on, the specialist only ordered physical therapy repeatedly (3x) over a couple of years.
Finally, I went to a doctor that actually knew what he was doing who performed the proper test and discoverd that I had 2 severly fractured disks and 1 not-so-severly. He removed the 2 bad ones, bolted them together, but the strain is apparently too much for the one not-so-bad and it's now become very bad.
So...to sum it up... the way to prevent it is to get help immediately at the onset of symptoms, and keep going to new doctors until one of them solves your problem. If I'd done that, there would be less damage today.
Daniel, thank you, my friend. It means a great deal.
awww...i hope everything turns out ok and that maybe this will be the last time for real~!
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