Cervical fusion surgery - Spinal Cord Disorders Message Board

kadinka8 · 01-29-2008, 08:20 AM

Hi, all. Dh is having levels C3-C7 fused tomorrow. Any idea how long that surgery usually lasts on the average? He swears he'll be out and about by Saturday. I'm thinking that's pushing it. What do you all think?

Thanks!

Backinthesaddle · 01-29-2008, 09:53 AM

Depends on the person and the doctor. My C4/5 fusion took 32 min and It took about 3 hours start to finish. I had no problems with recovery and basically continued my life. I had a 9mo at the time and lifted him and did all that stuff. I never had to wear a collar. I wore only a hard collar when I drove and that was just to protect the neck. My doctor gave a 20lb restriction and I think I drove in a couple days.

I was out of work though for almost a year due to the spinal cord compression and therapy and such. But have another one in a month or so and plan to be out about 2 weeks and then back to work. This surgery is for a nerve being compressed.

PNo · 01-29-2008, 10:49 AM

Hi - that is a lot of levels to have fused at once. It does depend on the person. The surgery will probably be around 2-4 hours. I had a 3 level that took about 3.5 hours. A 1-3 day stay in hospital - hopefully on the shorter side.

Yes dh will be up and about, but probably first week needing pretty good dose of pain meds and rest. It is unrealistic to think everything will be normal in a few days.

Encourage him to start slow and build up, give the body time to get healing and fusing.

Check back in after and let us know how it went.

Jayelsea · 01-30-2008, 01:40 PM

kadinka8, I truly hope all goes well with your DH but please remind him that this is a huge surgery. I can only speak from my own experience here but those 1st few days you do feel pretty good, then again that tends to have A LOT to do w/ the meds. I just had ACDF of C4,5 & 6 on Dec 19th. Though everyone says I had fun at Christmas LOL i don't remember a lot of it but I do know I was out and about. Now FF to the last few weeks... definite difference in pain and tolerance of movement. It's a very major surgery. I was out the next day after surgery but tried to lay low as much as possible. Once I started lessening my meds I took it day by day. ***good luck to your hubby*** hope all goes well and he has a smooth recovery.

~Jenni

barb101956 · 02-01-2008, 08:36 AM

hi,

new to this board. I'll be having ACDF soon and wondered about hipbone graft and how that affects osteoporosis?