I had another appt today, still having a lot of hip pain. It started a week after the hardware removal, but my doctor doesn't think it's really related, though he's quick to say that with my unusual back we're in uncharted territory, so who knows? The bottom line is he wants me to see their "hip guy" and go from there, but in the meantime, he wants me to get another brace to see if it makes any difference. He told me last month to get my brace back out and wear it for a while, but I was afraid to, since I had such a hard time weaning out of it. I told him that, so he's ordering a soft one for me. Still not happy about it! :( At least my doc isn't afraid to say he doesn't know what's going on. I hate it when they don't know but are too proud to say so and make something up! I appreciate his honesty! And hey, he IS a spine specialist! If he was spending all his time trying to specialize in everything, he wouldn't be specializing in anything!

I'm not happy, but I'm still counting lots of blessings and ready for a special day of thanks! There's always something to give thanks for!

Back in waiting mode...

Emily

Emily, I am so sorry about your problems and pray that this is just a temporary setback.

Me, too, but it seems to be getting worse rather than better. My doctor hinted that this might just be part of the new me. He also mentioned trigger point injections. That'll be a new experience for me. Don't know much about them. Are they supposed to just mask pain, or are they supposed to kind of jump start some healing?

Hope you're directing Thanksgiving cooking and not doing it yourself!

Emily

Hello,

I just got out of surgery and got a small, soft brace. Why do some prescribe a soft brace, and some prescribe a hard brace??

Thanks

Depends on the doctor and on the problem. Some don't prescribe any brace at all. For me, I had (have) a severe scoliosis and they tried to reposition my spine as much as possible back towards center. The brace helped keep me where I was repositioned to while the bone fused. The hardware helped, too, of course, but with me it was important to give my spine as much support as possible to keep it in its new position. So the hard brace was better for me.

For some types of problems, I think it's more a reminder and restrainer to keep you from accidently bending or twisting. Either a soft brace or a hard brace can do that.

Hope you're hanging in there.
Emily

Hey Emily,
Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Sorry to hear about the brace :( I sure hope it helps. Your doc sounds so much like mine. Is he at HDH? If not, are we allowed to give the name of doctors on this site? I may be looking for a second opinion and your doc sounds great also. Hope you have a good week-end.


Deb

Hi Deb,
My doctor is at St. Mary's. His name is Jed Vanichkachorn and he's with the Tuckahoe Ortho Group. Sorry I can't list the phone number. He's a real gem, very gentle, great bedside manner, so knowledgeable, and funny, too! I don't think anyone could have done any better for me than he did. Dr. Simpson is the head of that group and I've heard good things about him, too. He assisted on my surgery. I'd recommend Dr. Van to anyone, but St. Mary's doesn't have such good nursing care. My sister just had surgery at Henrico Doctor's and said their's wasn't so good either, so maybe that's not really a deciding factor around here. Chippenham nurses were wonderful when my son was diagnosed with type 1 Diabetes and landed in their PICU, but the ortho doctors there didn't know what to do with me. They're the ones who gave me Dr. Van's name. (He goes by Dr. Van for the obvious reason! His wife is also a doc, an ob/gyn, and also goes by Dr. Van.) If you go to him, he won't know who Emily is. --Blush, blush -- Now you all know that that's not my real name. My real name is odd and very recognizable, would come up on any internet search because I had a small business at one time, so I chose the name I always wished I had when I started signing a name here. I'd love to know if you decide to go to him and what you think.

Michelle, how wonderful to hear from you! I hope things are still going well for you. Yep, my faith gets me through every day! Thanks for your continued prayers! Your many words of experience and encouragement were such a blessing when I was heading into my fusion over a year ago, now. I'm waiting on disability at this point. My doctor said this is about as good as I can expect to get, which is waaaay better than before the surgery, but still there's no way I could ever hold down a full time (or even a part time) job. He told me he'd be happy to fill out the paper work for disability and to go ahead and get the ball rolling. I should have applied years ago! How are you doing? Did your back hold up through the move? Are you working? Have you found good doctors there? What a lovely thing, to see your name pop up!

Take care,
Emily (well, kind of...)

Emily, I know my situation is not nearly like yours, but... I had trigger point injections all up and down the right side of my neck and back. From the bottom of my skull to my waist because it was so tight I couldn't turn, bend or anything. Muscle relaxers wouldn't touch it, massage only made it rebound with even tighter reactions. It was just a bear for weeks and months. The injections didn't hurt going in and felt great the first couple hours because of the local anesthetic. Then, the local wore off and I was SOOOO sore I was crying in bed for 2 days. But, then and since then I have been significantly better. Like better than I have been in YEARS in that area!!!! The hope is that the injections can kind of "train" the muscles to stay in a more relaxed state than that hypertonic state. If that sounds like your condition, it might be worth it. If I get that bad again, I'd go through the 2 days of pain again because the positive was totally worth it. I really wish you a good treatment. These weren't bad because they could be done in the office, no major needles, x-ray, and such.

Let us know what happens, OK?
- Margaret - my real name! (maybe I should pick my favorite fantasy name... :))

Hi Emily,

So sorry that your pain is back. You know, after my surgery my hip kept giving me problems as well. The neurontin helped tremendously for that and other issues as well. The dr.s didn't know why it was hurting like it was either. Some suggested that it was scar tissue.

I have had trigger point injections as well. With regards to my neck, it worked great and like chatterbox said, about 2 days of injection site pain, not bad at all for me though. If you are in the thinking mode right now of having it done, just know that is definately not like epidural whereas it hurts for sometime and pretty painful at times. This is like a breeze compared to that.


Take care Emily, I'll be praying you get some relief soon. (((hugs)))

I just wanted to add that I think my trigger points were bad because I had a whole bunch of vials injected at one time, 4 or 5 I think? They were in that long line muscle that runs just to the right (or left) of your spine from base of skull to your waist. I think if you don't have so much put in, you won't have that much tenderness. Regardless, it was still worth it. And, I would take some anti-inflammatory and ice preventatively next time! They didn't tell me and I learned the hard way!

Hi Emily,
Thanks so much for the info. I'm glad to know of another doc. Actually my stepson just had a laminectomy 2 weeks ago by Dr. Simpson (his second one...Dr. Simpson says the next time will be a fusion). He is doing very well and really likes Dr. Simpson. So it is nice to hear of someone else who likes that group. He also didn't get very good nursing care at Mary's. I had surgery at HDH and the care on the ortho floor was good. Sorry your sister had an unpleasant experience at HDH since I have a long time relationship with them. ;) I am thinking very seriously about getting a second opinion.
How is your brace holding up? Hope you had a nice Thanksgiving.

Deb