Been told i will end up in wheelchair

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mcmanic

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Hi all, not new to forum (lurker) but now have major problem. Basically my T7,T8 spine at sometime during my life (am 40y old male) has decided to spring a disc not in the usual direction of left or right but backwarRAB into my spine. Not only this the jelly substance inbetween has been forced out and created a mushroom area into my spine covering half of each vertibrate left and right and has turned to bone!. Apprently the neuro consultant guy said this was extremly rare and was suprised i never felt it and was in no more pain that i am. Pain wise i am on usual tramdol and pregablin for pins and needles and burning and i can walk a little if i take it easy.

Anyway he say's operation is high risk, they have to go in from front - left side, remove all my inside's and deflate my left lung then cut away half of T7 and T8 vertibrate so they have access to this hardened boned thing which his gone 3/4 through spine. Now he said either i may die on Operating table, or the will get it out but i may get no improvement due to prolonged damge to the spinal cord but would still be like i am now or it'll make things worse and i'll be in a wheelchair anyway

Also to top all this of and why this wasn't sorted a year ago was back in October last year i had a heart attack which required a stent and then again in May this year i required more heart work for another stent (kissing stent) and my last stent to be restented due to it blocking up again. Also the Doctor has said this also make's my surgry more riskier and my blood thinners of Plavix and Aperin will have to be stopped till after operation, All of this has side tracked all my inital symptoms and it's only now after MIR and Cat scan that finally i have a result of why i've been in pain but as you can see i haven/t really a clue what to do and i hate hospitals, tubes down throat, bed pans and the boredom when noo ne around to speak to,



I'm angry, upset and just want to know why me, my family and frienRAB all want to me to go hospital route but i just don't know being it so rare on the findings and that it actually is involving the spinal nerve.

what would you do?
 
Wow! That is quite a problem and I can easily see why you are hesitating. Are your docs recommending the spine surgery despite the elevated risks? I know I often feel a bit dismayed at how my frienRAB and family rush me towarRAB a surgery. I've had several and each one gets harder. Every recovery takes longer. My last surgery was drop-dead painful and I think I may have a true PTSD from it. I can't think about those few months and stay calm. I, too, am now faced with docs who tell me I need to consider more surgery and other painful procedures. I just get my mind around the idea and I think about the hospital and lying there with that dang call button and waiting for the nurse..... Yuck. But I have never faced a surgery with risks like yours. Do you have confidence in your docs that they will give you the best possible odRAB given the risks? SQ
 
i'm seeing my normal Doctor this friday who's going to be shocked. The impression i got when Neuro guy told me was that he kept saying hi risk operation like he wasn' that keen for me to have it, kept saying there was many complications, you know usual story. Me myself i have no faith in hospitals anyway (uk). all i've really known is people go there and die like my nan and step dad, so really do not like being inside them. TBH even though i was only told two days ago i feel as if there is no support or anyone i can really talk to to answer my questions. I just fear i will die what with my problems on a operating table.
 
I've been having so many medical issues over the past 6 years that I, too, sometimes lose hope and wonder what is has all been for. But I do believe I had to do the fusion surgeries. I wasn't scared going into the first. I now hear the usual list of surgical risks and it scares me silly. The reason they tell you about the risks is because some unlucky people are behind the statistics. And I no longer feel very lucky.
But that said, surgery can still be the best medical choice. Maybe your regular doc can help you assess the opposing risks? Risk of permanent nerve/spinal cord damage versus cardiac/surgical risks? I'm facing similar choices though less critical - I think. I had MRI today of cervical spine. They tell me I risk permanent nerve damage, too. Thing is I still am very functional and surgery feels so awful that it's easy for me to rationalize putting it off. Ok so I have pain and some muscle loss and some nurabness. It stinks but I can still drive and work. Can I really agree to a surgery knowing I could again have med reactions, internal bleeding, and blood pressure problems like the last time? I don't know. Right now the threat of "permanent nerve damage" doesn't feel very real- to me. What about you? What does the risk of that feel like compared to your fear of the surgery?
Driving back from the hospital today my husband told me about the comments a family friend made recently on hearing I was still having spinal problems. The friend instantly told my husband what I had to do to cure myself (surprise, surprise, he recommended the book he read that cured his back problem 15 years ago). My husband was appalled but replied with civility and asked me how I stand it - all the comments and "shoulRAB" people toss at me. I confess I do sometimes rebel but I usually detach and thank people no matter what they offer. I can do it because I know they do not know, at all, what I am dealing with. When I need peer support, I come here.
But don't get me started on the medical systems - yours or mine. I started off thinking our system was wonderful. Then I blamed myself for not being a strong enough self-advocate. I am now pretty jaded. I am a very assertive patient. I have excellent providers. Everyone I see is full of good will and a desire to help and give me top-notch care. Comparatively I think I have it good. And I still am in lots of pain and I fall thru the cracks all the time. One mishap or screw up or misunderstanding follows the other. So, I really do understand your reticence. I no longer take a single medical thing lightly. I do think caution is the better part of valor, here. And I think you are wise to fully investigate and to keep the option to decline surgery. SQ
 
Found this searching, figured I'd share my experience.

I was having trouble walking and it was found to be a herniated disc between the same levels, T7, T8. I was pretty much walking with just a walker when they finally found it on the MRIs. I went for the surgery on sept 14th, was in horrid pain for a few weeks, but its manageable now. I went from being hardly able to stand up myself to walking without any help already. I went for the surgery quickly after having multiple doctors tell me without the surgery I'd be paralyzed and also end up without bowel or bladder control.

While the idea of the surgery is scary, especially with the idea of having a lung deflated and a rib removed, I trust what they said was correct after seeing the difference just after a month and a half, and I'm glad I didn't weight.

After the surgery I found the main pain areas were the incision and the missing rib very much more-so than the area of the spine they worked on.

My doctor told me the reason I recovered so well is because I caught it quickly and I'm young, but that if you wait too long it will screw up your chances of getting better at all, just prevent it from getting worse.
 
glad to hear your getting better xirian . Out of interest how ld was you. Also i have to take in consideration my heart problems and lack of any real exercise after the heart operations due to this damm spinal problem. Nobody told me about taking a rib out either!

I will be see a cardio consultant on Dec1st to have a chat with him with my wife and my mum asking questions about health and risks.
 
I think the "ld" was supposed to be "old?". If so, I'm 21. While exercise may be out for you, you'll need to at least walk after the surgery if you get it, they kept yelling at me that I wouldn't heal if I didn't move, which was mostly impossible in that state. If you go through, invest in handle bars for the bathroom and a bath chair before, so that you don't have to have anyone worry about it after.
 
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