Wife's C6-7 fusion and post op pain - Spinal Cord Disorders Message Board

alsvjames · 02-04-2004, 09:03 PM

Great board!!!

I am looking for help. My wife had fusion of C6-7 with graft and plates. Her scar is bigger and in a different locaiton than she though so this brought her down. Beyond that she still has the arm, and sholder pain that she had before due to the herniation of the disc. She had the herniation for almost two years. We put off surgery as we were trying to have a baby. Good news is we now have a four month old girl and bad news is that after 5 days post op my wife thinks the surgery was a waste!! I'm telling her and the doctors are telling her the swelling and inflamation is probably causing the pain to still persist, she does admit it is less intense than before the surgery.

We see the doctors in 5 days and will have x-rays in 3 weeks to look at the hardware.

I hoping someone reply's and say's yes the pain was still there and went away over a few weeks. We could use a little encouragment.

irish34 · 02-04-2004, 09:37 PM

You have found the perfect place to be for such answers. You will find others who can answer those for you. Try looking into some other threads as there have been many same scenarios as yours in the last few weeks.
I am awaiting the surgery--3 weeks, so unfortunatley I have no advice.
I wish you and your wife much luck and I will keep you in my prayers.
Irish

Esmo77 · 02-05-2004, 06:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alsvjames

Great board!!!

I am looking for help. My wife had fusion of C6-7 with graft and plates. Her scar is bigger and in a different locaiton than she though so this brought her down. Beyond that she still has the arm, and sholder pain that she had before due to the herniation of the disc. She had the herniation for almost two years. We put off surgery as we were trying to have a baby. Good news is we now have a four month old girl and bad news is that after 5 days post op my wife thinks the surgery was a waste!! I'm telling her and the doctors are telling her the swelling and inflamation is probably causing the pain to still persist, she does admit it is less intense than before the surgery.

We see the doctors in 5 days and will have x-rays in 3 weeks to look at the hardware.

I hoping someone reply's and say's yes the pain was still there and went away over a few weeks. We could use a little encouragment.

Personally, I am still in some pain after 12 weeks but it is not the same pain as before the surgery. I had the same surgery as your wife. This is not a quick healing process I have been told. The best advise I have is not to get discouraged and give it time. Do not lift or overdo as that will set back the healing process and by all means, try not to get too discouraged. I see very small improvements weekly. She just needs to give her body time to heal.

alsvjames · 02-05-2004, 07:16 AM

Thank you, yes getting her to rest and stay positive is hard. She is yin gto hold our daughter. We just weren't expectingthe pain to be in her arm again, time will tell
thanks for the thoughts

Quote:

Originally Posted by Esmo77

Personally, I am still in some pain after 12 weeks but it is not the same pain as before the surgery. I had the same surgery as your wife. This is not a quick healing process I have been told. The best advise I have is not to get discouraged and give it time. Do not lift or overdo as that will set back the healing process and by all means, try not to get too discouraged. I see very small improvements weekly. She just needs to give her body time to heal.

DonnaKay · 02-05-2004, 09:30 AM

Not only is your wife's body recovering from childbirth ... even worse she has the neck surgery to deal with. It sounds like your wife needs help 24/7 so that she doesn't do *anything*. Someone needs to hand her the baby, change the baby's diapers, etc. I have had great success with my last surgery (in November) ... but I had the pleasure of holding a baby (not mine) the other night and my neck hurt just from looking down at the baby while feeding it. If I had to do that over and over my neck would be killing me. Your wife needs to put the baby in something (like a bouncy seat in front of her on a table) to where she won't have to look down so much - hard, I'm sure, but maybe raise the area where the baby is changed ... I don't know. This is a difficult situation since she just had a baby. As the baby gets heavier and more active, it will only aggravate things. Does your wife work outside of the home as well?

I'm just thinking this woman needs some REST! That will help the healing process.