Hello Everyone.... I am needing some help. Recently my husband underwent a complete myleogram from the lumbar to the cervical area. They could not visualize any dye above L2. He is in so much pain and is barely able to walk. He had a laminectomy with fusion inn 2002 from L3-s1. He did okay after the initial period but recently he has gotten so much worse. My question is:
1. What will they do for the blockage?
2. Have any of you had similar problems?
Thanks in advance

Sorry to hear that your husband is having so much trouble. Cannot address his specific needs other than to highly recommend that he deal with a true and very experienced spine specialist instead of a general ortho or general neuro surgeon. A spine specialist will indeed be an orthor or neuro surgeon, but will have completed an extensive spine fellowship and will have devoted their practice to just the spine for years.

Yes, the general ortho and neuro does work on the spine, but spend maybe 25% of their time on the spine, so are years behind the true spine specialist in option and ways to treat more extensive problems. Had I not switched to a spine specialist I would still be paralyzed and without lower bodily functions instead of being an active retiree. If you are not familiar with how to locate a spine specialist, please use the advanced search button feature at the top of the boards and either find the threads I started or look for the topic "how to find a spine specialist in your area".

Even finding and checking credentials, it still takes a few visits to find the doctor that is the best one for your husband, based on how they interact, what you and he want as far as the doctor treating the pain from beginning to end or referring to a PM, what you want as far as early PT to keep functions going or maybe past experience suggests you need longer recovery and PT much later.

Finally, you did not mention scar tissue from the earlier surgery, but if your husband is more fair complextioned, he should speak with his surgeon about using the anti-scarring gels to ensure a lesser risk of further complications from internal scar tissue.

Hope he gets relief from that pain soon.

The surgeons both ortho and neuro are "the best" or so I have been told. Both docs work together all the time. the ortho only does backs. My hubby is in so much pain that it is difficult to tell "normal" back pain or the new thing that is going on with him. Thanks for the information.

My husband saw the Ortho Surgeon Yesterday. He recommends that the surgery be performed ASAP. Next Tuesday, tenatively. Since my husband has a cardiac history they need to check the status of that first. That's why it is tenative. They will fuse T10-L2, posteriorly. It may be that the previous fusion is loose and he may be facing another surgery of anterior caging fusion of L2-S1 if the previous hardware is loose. My question is this:
1. Has anyone had this extensive of a fusion done and what were your results?
2. Could he end up paralyzed?
Thanks in advance for any information
becky

My husband saw the Ortho Surgeon Yesterday. He recommends that the surgery be performed ASAP. Next Tuesday, tenatively. Since my husband has a cardiac history they need to check the status of that first. That's why it is tenative. They will fuse T10-L2, posteriorly. It may be that the previous fusion is loose and he may be facing another surgery of anterior caging fusion of L2-S1 if the previous hardware is loose. My question is this:
1. Has anyone had this extensive of a fusion done and what were your results?
2. Could he end up paralyzed?
Thanks in advance for any information
becky


Becky,

My last fusion was T-10 thru S3, a total of 10 levels being fused by my spine specialist in Dec 2004. I just completed one year. Now, that said, I will note that all of mine was done in one surgery, so the hardware is all together and not done in sections as you are speaking about.

I had undergone previous fusions and they were stable, but once this massive job was required, all that had to be taken apart, the fused vertebrae separated, etc in order to perfectly align the total area. Without doing that more problems would have been in the future and we sure hope that this is my last spine surgery.

The big fusion thirteen months ago now, took more than 12 hours of surgery, and of course I was 58, which hopefully your husband is younger. Even though I had always bounced back quickly and had come out of the other surgeries feeling better than before under going the knife, this was an extremely different process. It was indeed an extremely rough go for about 3 months, and still a lot of adjusting to do afterward.

With that massive of a fusion, I do not bend anywhere except at the waist, and being older and having had hamstring injuries, even that isn't so easy. However, with my family behind me, I handled the recovery, having a wondfully skilled spine specialist who sent me home from the hospital with home health services coming 3 times a week to do physical therapy and then getting me into aqua therapy one month later was vital.

At one year I was back to doing most of my normal routine tasks, but must admit that I had to develop new ways to do many things. I have reachers of different lengths throughout the house, and I have to use a sock aid in order to get socks on. Tied shoes and trimming toe nails are still a major strain, but I eventually get there.

Best wishes for your husband and yourself. Hope you will let us know how things are going.

Thanks for the info Quietcook. It was most helpful. My husband is 54 and has significant medical problems. He is undergoing a heart cath today for clearance before the surgery. He is in so much pain and it hurts me to see him like this. They are going to put him to sleep for the heart cath due to him not being able to lay down straight, because of the pain.

I am the only one working at my house so it is important for me to know about the recovery from this operation. Which you provided the information. Thanks. Any other hints that you can think of would help as we proceed through this difficult process.
Becky

Thanks for the info Quietcook. It was most helpful. My husband is 54 and has significant medical problems. He is undergoing a heart cath today for clearance before the surgery. He is in so much pain and it hurts me to see him like this. They are going to put him to sleep for the heart cath due to him not being able to lay down straight, because of the pain.

I am the only one working at my house so it is important for me to know about the recovery from this operation. Which you provided the information. Thanks. Any other hints that you can think of would help as we proceed through this difficult process.
Becky


Becky,

Although I'm about 5 years older than your husband, it seems that we share a number of similar problems. I had a heart attack when I was 41, which was brought on by a severe asthma attack. I have a number of health issues, which I'm telling you just to assure you that he can do great.

Hopefully he is a strong willed individual, which I can assure you helps out in so many ways. Probably not what you want to hear sometime if you two aren't agreeing on something, but a big plus when you are dealing with health issues.

Know you both face some tough days ahead, but together you will both be stronger. My mother was my support as I had just lost my brother, but I was also blessed with wonderful neighbors. Let any family or friends you have help you as often as you need them. People like to be needed.

If you husband doesn't have a shower chair for use, you may wish to get one of those. Stores like WalMart pharmacy carry them for about $30-35, or you can order them online. They also carry reachers, although not the kind I could use, as I am missing an elbow. There are many styles of reachers, some with hooks added to the end along with the grabber tips of various shapes, and they come in varying lengths. For those and a variety of shock aids I did a search online for living.aids and found a number of sites I could order from. The one thing I did not order, but possibly should have was an aid for use when going to the bathroom. Not bending, I initially had to have assistance, but eventually got to the point that I could reach. Your husband may not have that problem, since his hardware may be in sections and he may have some movement.

The good news is that should you need to order items, you can order 24x7 and the shipments came quickly. There were lots of handy items, but fortunately just the reachers and sock aid were what I required.

Best wishes and both of you will be in my prayers. Let us know how he does with the heart cath and his back.

well, Husband underwent a cardiac cath on Thursday. This was in preparation for the back surgery, since my husband has a known heart history. Surgery has been postponed for awhile. He had to have a stent put in. The pain in his back and legs continues. He is almost chairbound. I will let you know when the surgery will be rescheduled.