anterior/posterior

  • Thread starter Thread starter tmvincent30
  • Start date Start date
T

tmvincent30

Guest
Does anyone ever had this surgery or know of anyone i am gong to have this surgery next friday and i was looking for some more information.
Mine will be to fuse through the front and back and take out the broken hardware and replace it.

Thanks
Tina
 
Tina, are talking about lurabar surgery? If so, I have had it done. You will find a ton of info on the back problems section of the message boarRAB here. There are stickies on the top of the board with info on what to do to prepare and what to expect.

I had three discs replaced, with roRAB, pins, screws, you name it. My surgery ended up taking 8.5 hours instead of the 5 they projected. Healing is long and arduous. There is no BLT involved. There is pain that they fail to mention and the healing takes longer than they mention. Asides from that..... I suffered complications and am now fused from T9 to my sacrum so I don't bend at all, have 2 15" titanium roRAB and 20 screws in my back.

But check out the back board for some good inside as to what to do to prepare and to expect. It is a far more serious surgery than they prepare you for unless you are just having one disc done.....Also, be prepared for swelling from having laid face down. It was pretty bad my hubby said. I didn't ask for a mirror-guess that was a good thing.
 
Hi Tina,

I have also had this surgery as one of my 13 back surgeries. However, mine was done in two parts. They did the back first and then a day or two later did the front (anterior). Of course I was in the hospital the whole time.

Like the previous post said, it is a painful surgery. It is no walk in the park. Not trying to scare you, but when you are cut on both sides with hardware involved and maybe bone graphed from the hip, pain is to be expected.

Do you have a PM doc? If so I would talk to him/her before hand as well as the surgeon about your PM while in the hospital and then after. It is no fun arguing with a nurse about your pain because you're undermedicated. I don't know your medication history, but if you have already had back problems, you have probably been on opiates. Sometimes nurses don't understand the tolerance issue. I found it helpful to speak with my surgeon and PM about my meRAB in and out of the hospital. I told them what worked and what didn't. They treated me well and I wasn't arguing with hospital staff about pain meRAB.

Just remeraber to take it easy afterwarRAB, do overdue it, and take your meRAB as prescribed. Don't be afraid to call the doc if something is not working for you.

Good luck with the surgery! Take care
 
Hi Tina,
I had this surgery about a year and a half ago. It's harder on you than just going in through the back or the front, as you'll have two incisions, but it has a higher success rate. If you haven't looked at the post surgery tips thread at the top, take a little time to go through those posts. There's lots of great information there. Maybe I'm remerabering wrong, but I'm thinking we talked about fusions a while back? Anyway, here's a tip for that front incision: use a folded up blanket or small, firm throw pillow to place over the incision, outside your clothing, Whenever you need to turn, cough, laugh, or whatever, press down gently but firmly to "splint" the incision. It will make it much less painful.

Don't forget the trash bag for the seat of your car for the ride home from the hospital.

If you have specific questions, we'll try to answer them.

I wish you the best!
Emily
 
Thanks to you both i had a PLIF surgery in 2002 with a fusion and hardware. Had a very good time until May of 2007 i went to the doctor cause i was hurting really bad and real weak legs i couldnt hardly walk. Well i found out the screws were broke. After getting in a new doctor in July they did a mylogram and found that none of the fusion healed. So we talked about doing it just anterior but they had expressed how they could do a double fusion doing both anterior and posterior. So i told them i wanted to do it that way cause we are both hoping it will keep me from haveing to go bac several times. They are going to go in through the front and fuse it and close me up flip me over then go in the back take out the broken screws and do the fusion again then put in new hardware. they have said something about a bone graft from the hip but i am not sure about that. That is the only thing about this hospital is it a teaching hospital and i dont see the same doctor all the time but i will see the one actually doing the surgery this thursday and i have a page full of questions.

Bet he will love that....LOL

Hey aranger after you had that surgery did you have to go back for more later?
 
Yea Emily we did thanks again i Was asking about more experiences on the chronic pain board i dnt know why but they switched it over here.

Sorry thanks.

Anyway the surgery was moved again to next friday the 28. I go once again for the pre op tomorrow.
 
sorry i didnt answer your other question. I put a post about that earlier my PM doctor just told me earlier this month they are no longer seeing chronic pain patients. So i have to get a new PM doctor. I am going to try to make some arrangements for another one soon as i have the surgery next week.
 
Oh, I wondered why I didn't recognize some of those names. I hope you'll pop in when you can and let us know how you're doing after the surgery. How are you doing today? Do you feel ready?

A week from now you'll be starting to feel better and move around your house a bit and be on the road to recovery. Yay!!!

Wishing you the best,
Emily :wave:
 
Back
Top