angelfan

Hi Empi,
Finally saw your post that you wanted to hear from me re my posterior surgery. Four level laminectomy with fusion done 18 months ago. Prior to surgery, suffered from severe dizziness, leg weakness, muscle twitching, shallow/difficult breathing, difficulty swallowing, electric shocks in my arms/legs, and so on. Saw three neurosurgeons and new the best when I met him! He told me I really had no choice but to operate as I could become paralyzed, or just stop breathing as the cord was so severely compressed. Anyway, the surgery was scary, but I am OK today . I was in the hospital 7 days, and I would be lying if I said it was easy. It was very hard for me, and I read some posts from people who had anterior surgery, and I can't believe how well they do immediately after. This surgery is BIG, and it will take time to recover. The muscles have all been cut, and they take long to heal. They used my own bone (taken out in the laminectomy) for the fusion. I have two rods and eight screws from C3-4-5-6. My surgeon says it will be a matter of time that I will need surgery for C7, but that will be anterior surgery, and that will be a breeze for me after what I had done. My parents had to move in to care for me, along with my wonderful husband. I have three children, so they all needed help! Anyway, I would say that about 6-8 weeks post-op was when I finally felt like this had been a good idea. My range of motion is very limited, and I still suffer from pain in the shoulder/chest/neck area. However, most of the neurological problems have disappeared, thank God! Anything else I can tell you, I would be happy to! God Bless!
Angelfan