Hey everyone, I am home & feeling pretty sore.
Surgery went well & the surgeon got a surprise when he found nothing left between C5 & 6, or what was left was where it was not suppose to be. Also C7 is not to good or C4, but C4 may be ok. So much for MRIs. He did tell my husband I must have been in some pretty bad pain, you think?
For those of you who remember I was having some nasty headaches. Before surgery he was not so sure the C area could be causing these headaches but after surgery he said could have been. I have had a slight headache & after the first couple days my left hand hurts some. I am hoping it is all due to the swelling or something from surgery & gets better. It will be worth it if the headaches stay gone.
I am struggling abit here with all of this. Have to say this is hard. Throat is pretty sore & already pretty bored. I am going to see about a video game or 2, yep, have no clue how to play but willing to give it a shot.
My head feels like a bowling ball sitting on a toothpick,lol. I have missied you all.
Any advice on how to stay comfortable? especially while trying to sleep. Thus far that seems to be the toughest thing for me is finding a good postion to sleep in.
This is pretty uncomfortable. I believe I have read here that the collar & not moving the neck takes some getting used to. I am counting on that. My shoulders are sore & the rest of my back can ache like mad.
Could not get out of bed by myself first couple nights/mornings. Laid there like a fish out of water trying to figure out how to get myself in the sitting position. Did you all struggle with the same? Was there anything that you found made it more comfortable for you?
I was in so much pain before surgery I was not able to prepare as well as I wanted. Alot of what I planned on doing never got done. So now I am trying to find somethings to keep me busy.
I have had showers daily & that about wears me out. Before surgery I had all my hair cut off & I am glad I did. I had hair that went past the shoulders & now it sits where the brace is. I got lucky & found someone who did a great job & I am so glad I had it done.
I so hope you all are well & that you enjoyed your holiday & have a happy & healthy new year. God bless, Sammy
welcome home sammy!!! i have been thinking and of course also worrying about you too. ya know,before every sinlge spine surgery i have had i always got a perm done just so i could put everything up on one big ponytail and not have to actually 'do" anything with it. good idea getting that haircut.
sooo,you had a major deterioration of those discs there(would explain one hell of alot)?? what did they do there just place the bone to fill that in for fusion then? what about the cord compression,is that now a done deal too? believe me,when i had to have my cord surgery and my neurosurgeon prefaced a sentence with the words"depending upon what we find when we cut you open", i was like well don't you already know that from my MRI? he replied that there is simply alot of stuff that just wont or does not actually show itself upon any even really good MRIs. it is merely a 'scan' of an area and not an actual 'picture' ya know? this is one big reason that people can actually have alot of problems or pain with things going on within their spines but no one believes them just because it did not actually show up on the MRI. kind of sick really when the specialists just KNOW how the MRIs themselves can be ya know? hopefully things will continue to get better for you sammy. considering what you had going on before that surgery,what you experienced and are experiencing post op really is not out of the norm for you and your symptoms. how much difference can you feel yet between the really bad symptoms you had pre op and now?
one thing about trying to get comfy with the dang collars espescially while trying to sleep is finding good support in the areas that don't really 'feel' supported or becasue of posistion,the collar itslef is digging into certain areas? i always kept a bunch of wash cloths and hand towels next to my bed so i could grab one and just kind of 'tuck' it into an area that was bothering me? sleeping in kind of that sitting up type of posistion also helped me too. one problem i personally had with my first collar was right at the back of my head where that collar stopped,it would go numb all the time since it was pressing into the back of my head and no support right where it stopped? so i laid a folded towel right where that collar stopped and my head started just to kind of keep that same depth there? that really helped alot and numbnes finally stopped. you are just going to have to try different things sammy til you hit on the things that give you the most comfort while wearing that thing. hopefully you finally got a good fit?
well,i gotta go let out the pony dog,he is sitting here whapping me with his mit/paw,i think he is going to hurt me if i don't get up,lol. just wanted to say i am glad you are back hon. i was worried about you. just take things nice and easy and don't try and do stupid things like i did,K? please keep me posted sammy,take care sweetie,Marcia
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3-22-01,herniated C-6-7
11-20-01,placement of hardware for failed fusion
9-22-03,removal of cavernous hemangioma that was inside spinal cord. Neuro damage to L hand L leg and R leg.
((((sammy01))))) Welcome back to the otherside. I have not had the surgery that I should have had by now HOWEVER, a few years ago I had a hysterectomy where I discovered I could not get myself out of the bed either. From that point on I slept in the lazyboy. If you have any kind of recliner try that.....you feel so much better knowing it's within your own control to get UP if you need to.
Good luck I surely hope as the swelling subsides you find yourself PAINFREE!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hi Sammy and welcome home! I am so glad to hear your home and things went well with the surgery. Now the hard part comes...the recuperation period! I was thinking about you all during Christmas and was glad to see your post today.
Have to tell you, my Christmas was a disaster....my daughter fell in the grocery store and broke her hip. My son had no sooner arrived home, and her and him went to the grocery store to pick up a few items the Saturday before Christmas, and lo and behold....it happened. She was operated on 4 hours ate the fall, has 4 pins in her hip, but did get home for Christmas Eve. Now she is here with me, and will stay here for another few weeks...along with my son who is not going back to S.C. for another week or so! I am at my wits end!!!!!
Enough about us....just wanted to say I wish you well. Take good care of yourself and rest and relax so you will get better. My thoughts are with you! I sure hope 09 is a much better year for all of us!!
Thank you all & nice to meet you nap.
Chab, my goodness I'll bet your exhausted! Your poor daughter. that had to of hurt like mad, not to mention it being Christmas. We need to do christmas over again. Mine was not much better but you my friend must of been at your wits end. I hope your daughter has a speedy recovery, god bless her.
Make sure you take care of you.
Marcia, still got the horse? Girl I am sore. This is hard. I want to yank this sucker off about 150 times a days. My shoulders hurt, the right one more then before, along with the left hand I am thinking it will get better, I hope, along with some nice muscle spasms.
I am managing alittle better to log roll out of bed.
My husband is not the best at remembering what was said to him. I had my sister go along but the surgeon came out & took my husband in a room after surgery. He did say C7 will need to be done in the future & if I get really lucky they may be able to avoid C4. I will of course find out more at my 2wk follow up. He did remove some bonespurs, & if I recall he only mentioned 1 before the surgery. He used the artificial disc & pretty much said it was worse then he thought & went in & cleaned it up. Nothing was left between the discs & what there was was into the spinal cord. He told my husband I had to bed in some major pain. Of course this was after telling me before surgery not to up my meds & how bad the meds were for me & so on.... I did wonder if he remembered that little conversation.
I had the same feeling on both sides after surgery & no tingling or numbness. The left hand stuff started to appear my second day home. My shoulder really hurts & I am hoping its from the surgery along with perhaps neck brace.
My husband is driving me crazy for some reason he thinks I should be pain free, must be the way the surgeon explained it to him or something. This hurts like h***.
I have to say Marcia I'll take the big black sling anyday over this cervical collar. I will try some tricks today, its hurting my ear & yes where the collar sits at the head. I swear I think its alittle to big for me, I could have probably used a peds. Can you remember how long you felt like crap after your cervical surgery?
I will tell you all this, after finding out the condition of the cervical I want that lumbar looked at as soon possable. I am not sitting here wondering. These doctors all act like its no big deal but I am the one suffering & whose career is on the line here. This has taught me to speak up for myself when it comes to doctors. As much pain as I was in I could not get anyone to listen. Those last 2wks were a nightmare & all I heard was its probably the pain meds making you ultra sensitive to pain. Now we know & I would not want to be in the next doctors shoes who attempts to make me think its in my head.
I am thinking if it was that bad & I managed to get out of bed & do my thing day to day on top of trying to work then I can handle some pain.
I am so happy to hear from you all, you have made my day. I hope you all have a great new year & know that I am thinking about you all.
god bless & heres to good friends. Sammy
PS. Sky if you are out there I am worried about you & hope all is well.
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