Hi all :p

I am 4 weeks out from my PLIF with all of the fancy hardware and such. 6 inch scar and 3 inch scar due to bone graft. The brace rubs the 3 inch scar and is so irritating! Between that and itching, I am going a bit nuts. I will likely be addicted to benadryl before it is over.

My brace rides up my rib cage when I sit and doesn't offer much support for the lower lumbar region as a result. I have one of those big stiff bulky braces. How long do we have to wear the brace? I don't go to the doc until next week and really want to know now.

Also, they prescribed Lyrica as one of my pain meds. I will be out of it tomorrow and am having trouble getting answers from the right doc. Has anyone had to take more than the initial prescription i.e. longer than 30 days?

Thanks much and I hope all of you are having good days. Those with surgery tomorrow, good luck to you!

Sincerely,
LJ

llincoln, thanks for remining me how awful that brace is .. j/k
I would seem to think it was 12 weeks of the brace .
The itching does drive you nuts, I wore my wife beater and my skin had lines from my shirt and drove me crazzy, a nice clean T-shirt made of cotton is the best.

I'll have one in a little over 2 weeks..:mad:
I told the nurse I didn't want it , but she said. tuff !
Hows your pain ?
Good luck
Dan

Hi Llincoln, My doctor allowed me to ditch mine at my 8 week checkup last week. However, I am quite dependent on it, it really helps me stay straight.
brenwill

My pain isn't too bad for the most part. If I overdo it my back will really hurt on the right side for about a day and 1/2. My right leg always hurts from the Charlie Horse and nothing medicine wise touches that. I am taking oxycodone 10 mg 2 to 3 times a day but I think I am almost ready to stop taking those on a daily basis. I want to. That doesn't mean my back is ready for me to ha ha.

Thanks for your responses!
LJ

Hey Lisa,

Glad to see you are up and on the puter!! Sorry about the itching...

Just wanted to stop by and say hi, will be going on vacation next week...may not be around on the puter until Aug....(unless I can get my hands on one at someone else's house.)

Hope that you continue to make progress....maybe put a call into Dr.'s nurse and explain about the charlie horse....and the need for additional meds...if you are thinking about stopping the oxycodone, that sounds like a bit of progress...just don't do it too soon...back has something to say about that too!!

Going for an MRI of the thorax tonight...they want to see if there is a compression problem there...BUT, I don't have any pain coming from that area....oh well, the insurance company will really love me!! Seriously, I am a bit discouraged, the MRI's of lumbar and cervical show some stuff, heriated disc with fragment in upper thorax...but I don't have pain in that area, then the lateral herniation in lumbar touching L4 nerve, but they say cause I have more pain on the right, that that doesn't seem to be the problem...duh, yeah, it does too hurt on the left....just more on the right....then the other herniations up from the L4...they are small, but they seem to think they aren't the cause, well something is....but Dr. N. doesn't seem to want to do any tests on the discs....he is just looking for compression....
I just have about given up....it's too upsetting....have had this problem for almost 4 years now....guess I get to keep it a while longer....

Don't want to depress you....

I'm happy that you are on the road to recovery....and hope that it can go a bit faster for you. Maybe when you see Dr. N. next week things will get moved along faster for you...hope the itching lets up!

Take care...

Sage.

Hi Sage,

It is so good to hear from you. I am sorry to hear things are still difficult for you. Have you been to Pain Management yet? I saw Dr. Tiede there and he is the one who performed the Diskogram to determine which disks were actually causing the problem. It is common for the cervical disks to cause problems in strange areas of your body. You would think it would hurt around the area but most often it doesn't. You must STRESS to them that yes both sides do hurt. I had a doc I wasn't real thrilled with say the same thing to me and I wanted to knock him out. You are at the frustrating stage it seems. Be very frank with Dr. N. Don't let him rush you or anything. He shouldn't but remember it is your time and we wait forever for these appointments in hopes to get relief.

Enjoy your vacation and know that I am always thinking of you!

LJ

Thanks Lisa,

Glad to hear that you are progressing....hope it goes fast....by the time I get back on the puter, you should almost be as good as new!!!! (several weeks)

Got my meds today from the insurance company...thank goodness. Had 3 phone calls into the insurance company to see if they could get the meds here in time for us to leave.. Went for the MRI of my thorac area last night, got the report & films today. It's very frusterating that the MRI I had taken 2 weeks ago at the Mayo showed a herniated/extruded/fragmented disc at T2-3, and the MRI I had taken last night at a local MRI place shows that T2-3 is fine, no herniation, not extruded/no fragment..... NORMAL????? Similar findings for T10-11 - normalish at Mayo....but small herniation/bone spur/"disc complex" on the MRI taken at the local MRI.... I have 4 other MRI's and they all do the same thing....one place shows problems(lateral herniations/touching nerve etc)....the other shows none, or very minor stuff.....HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN??????????? This is in both the cervical & lumbar areas....very strange.... No wonder they can't pin point the problem, what is causing pain.... Dr. N. was looking for compression because of my symptoms...and isn't doing anything else. NO other tests...nothing...basically sent me back to pain management. Now my pain mgmt. Dr. is saying, gee, not more tests from him...either..... He gave me the meds. to take 4 times a day.. I will be going back to see him Aug. 22....but he has basically given me an ultimatum, if my medication doesn't bring the levels down to 1 or 2....we find another Dr. to look (surgery, in the lumbar L4-5 & L5-S1, fusion....where there are problems...which don't match my symptoms)...or we put in the spinal stimulator. Not a good thing....don't just want surgery to explore, but am getting desperate enought to try that, and I am sure I do not want the stimulator, after reading about the problems they develope..( I also get abdomenal adhesion, and have had surgery for them in the past, so I don't want to stir that mess up again). If I don't do either of those things, he basically suggested I go to another PM, who might have new ideas. Now that adds a little more stress to my life.....

Geez, I feel bad dumping this on you. I'm sorry.....

Change of depressing subject!!! Are you walking?? How far? What is Dr. N. saying for you now?? Has the itching subsided??? Hope that you family are babying you, and doing all of the Mommie stuff!!

Please take care, get well, and then you will be out running around....

Sage...