Son's 4 weeks post op --- HELP - Spinal Cord Disorders Message Board

dinkyfish · 05-09-2004, 07:12 AM

I wrote a thread a couple of weeks ago about my son's accident and the surgery he had to have. He had an anterior and posterior fusion on his C5-6. He's mainly had lots of pain in the back of his neck where his 6-inch incision is. That has pretty much gotten under control, although the stiffness is something the doctor told him would probably never go away. Anyway, the reason I'm posting is yesterday he was terrified because he had a place behind his ear down to his neck that he said felt literally like it was on FIRE. We gave him cold rags, etc. to put on there. Still didn't help. I'm not sure whether this is something to do with his nerves and will pass or do I need to call the neurosurgeon on Monday? He's really scared, and quite frankly, so am I. Please ANYONE let me know if you've experienced this and what it might be.

Thanks!

Diana

secondfiddle · 05-09-2004, 09:52 PM

Dinky-for the amount of money *we* pay these surgeons to fix us up, we deserve to call them for anything that concerns us!

I have not had that particular experience you describe, but the muscle spasms can do some strange things, and are different for each of us. Actually, now that I think about it, I did have an episode yesterday of a different kind of pain around my left ear toward my neck that was quite sharp, almost felt like a headache in that area but more sudden and intense. It only lasted a few minutes though.

Is this something that is continuing, or just an on-and-off thing, or just happened once for 10 seconds? Personally, I'd try heat, thinking that might settle down the muscle a bit (if that's what it was). If not, I'd ice it. If it continued or was different somehow or just if I was concerned, I would definitely call the doc. I'll be praying for your son