I'm Back (well sort of)
Hi all.First for all thanks for all the well wishes. I had the operation on Tuesday 1-16. It was a 3 1/2 hour surgery. I was
finally released on Thursday 1-18. That night was the first good night of
sleep I had since the operation as there was no hospital staff to wake me up
every hour through the night. My right leg is somewhat numb and I need a walker to get around as it will
not consistently hold my weight. I had been confined to the 2nd story of
house for the past few days but decided I had enough of the confinement so I
got downstairs like I got upstairs on Thursday....on my butt and one step at
a time. With 312 unread messages (after I filtered out the ones from the a-holes,
including the non boating golfers) I have a lot of reading to do |
JimH
Jan 21
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| But then I would have constant diarrhea and nausea! |
JimH
Jan 22
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| They went in through the back in my case. Sorry to hear about your condition. There is some progress in the US on
replacing discs with artificial discs, but the FDA has not yet approved it.
It is apparently being done in Europe though. This would eliminate the
need to fuse your vertebrae. http://orthopedics.about.com/cs/backpain/a/discreplacement.htm http://www.spineuniverse.com/displayarticle.php/article1671.html http://www.spine-health.com/research/discupdate/artificial/artificial01.html |
JimH
Jan 22
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| Thanks. It is approved in the US now but I don't think any insurance
companies are paying yet. They won't do a double so it doesn't matter for
me anyway. |
James
Jan 23
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| Good show.
--
***** Have a super day! ***** John H |
JohnH
Jan 21
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| Wishing you a full and speedy recovery. |
Chuck
Jan 21
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| Thank you Chuck. |
JimH
Jan 22
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| Glad to hear you came out in one piece. Hopefully all the rest is
temporary. I missed the details of your surgery plans. I have back issues
as well. What did you have done? "JimH" <pfffffffft@noone.com> wrote in message |
James
Jan 22
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| Thanks James! The official name of the surgery was "disk decompression" with a bone
opening procedure (I don't know the technical name of that operation). The surgery concentrated on L2-L3, the spinal area where a herniation and
bulging of the disk was causing my leg numbness and leg/back pain.
Additionally, the bone channel which the nerves pass through had a very
small opening (a condition I had since birth) compounding the problem. The
doctor cut away the herniation and opened the bone channel allowing more
room for the nerves to pass through. You can be in the best of shape and still develop back problems. |
JimH
Jan 22
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| agreed! |
Tim
Jan 22
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| You obviously did not see the AMA article that showed how this condition
could be alleviated by registering as a Democrat and voting for Hillary
Clinton for President in 2008. |
Harry
Jan 22
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| The you'd have a pain in the a**. 8>) |
D.Duck
Jan 22
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| They go through the front or the back? Minimally invasive or regular?
My troubles are l4-l5-s1 but if I get surgery it will be a double
fusion. I don't have enough disks left there to fix. |
jamesgangnc
Jan 22
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| harry, It does work on having a stonger back and a stronget backbone..
No doubt! But you didn't read the warning about side effects like "Perpetual
Diahrea.." |
Tim
Jan 22
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| That's a no-extra-cost feature. |
Harry
Jan 22
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| It's always a good thing when you get out of a hospital alive! As long as your middle leg isn't numb... |
Harry
Jan 21
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| As a matter of fact it is. My knee is week from side to side and I cannot
raise my leg when sitting of lying down more than a few inches. Although I
am obviously concerned I was told that this condition will improve and
eventually vanish. The Orthopedic Surgeon who did the operation is world known. He operated on
Cal Ripken's back. Christopher Reeves flew into to Cleveland to consult
with him. The only reason I was able to hook up with him (and so soon) is
that my sister works for the ortho department for the same hospital and is
in tight with the Dr's head nurse. |
JimH
Jan 21
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| Congratulations.
We had a scare here also. My mother got the flu and we think she inhaled a
bit of her vomit overnight and she quickly developed pneumonia.
It looked tricky...especially when the medical team wanted a meeing with the
family. After four days the meds finally cut in and she improved steadily.
After a 12 day stay she was released back home on the 18th. At this point
she is only able to do three laps of our hall, kitchen, living room & dining
room 'oval track' but we'll work at it. |
Don
Jan 21
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| Well, take it easy. Don't do anything stupid that jeopardizes your
recovery. |
Harry
Jan 21
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| OMG! Glad to hear she is improving......pneumonia can be fatal. I will
keep her in my prayers Don. |
JimH
Jan 21
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| Let me see - recent back operation - goes down stairs on butt. Yep, sounds pretty good to me! :>) Hey, glad you are ok man. Take care of yourself and don't do anything
stupid like I would/did/have done/will do again. |
Short
Jan 21
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| Thanks Tom. Going down the stairs on my butt (lifting, then letting myself
down on the lower step using my arms and good leg) is actually the
recommended way of getting down stairs after back surgery as it eliminates
the chances of falling. To go up I just push myself up, step by step, with
my good leg. |
JimH
Jan 21
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| I sure hope he doesn't feel he has to respond to all 312 messages! Gosh,
that could wear out a filter!
--
***** Have a super day! ***** John H |
JohnH
Jan 21
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| Don, two houses down from us lived a lady about 90 years old. Her husband
died last summer, and many of us in the neighborhood would help out with
yard work, soup, or whatever, even though she had children living only a
few blocks away. Yesterday I looked out front to see the street filled with fire trucks. Her
house was burning. She died in the fire. We don't know the whole story yet,
the cause, etc. I thought I'd share the story with you just so you'd keep
things like that in mind with your mom. There are lots of things that can
cause a fire when a person gets old, slower, and forgetful. --
***** Have a super day! ***** John H |
JohnH
Jan 21
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| Thanks Jim. |
Don
Jan 21
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| We try too keep her 'wing' safe as possible. She sometimes does push her
knitting supplies up against the electric baseboard heater... (tight
quarters) but I always point it out to her and move the material away.
No cooking goes on in there, just the usual living room/bedroom type
appliances. |
Don
Jan 21
|
