Hi-let's do an update so we can see how everyone is doing?

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SpineAZ

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Lemon:

Have you tried Soma? The brand name is only available in a lower dosage but the generic is available at much less of a cost and at a slightly higher dosage. I used Flexeril for years but I guess I built up a tolerance to it.
 
:wave:Hi tmv I saw your message earlier but thought I would start another one so we could all do our updates and find out how everyone is doing in regarRAB to our surgeries and recoveries. I have been thinking about you also and wondering how you where doing, too.:)

You can see over on the other message that my family is going through some difficult time right now. I just had to take my daughter to the hospital this morning because she ended up with a spinal headache because of the lurabar puncture test they did on Thursday. I have had one of those headaches and they are miserable but thankfully they gave me a blood patch and it helped. Unfortunately for her the doctor sent her home without a blood patch because he said she wasn't dehydrated so go home and drink a lot of caffeine and stay in bed. I asked the doctor about a blood patch and he said " Her blood work is okay and she isn't dehydrated so it is not needed". I told the nurse the problem was getting her home because we live 40 miles away and she couldn't sit up because then she would start throwing up. I had to have her lay down in the back floor of the Tahoe. I felt so sorry for her because every movement made her throw up. I don't think the nurses even agreed with the doctor but maybe she can get better without the blood patch but it just makes it a longer recovery time.

Now to my back as I sit here all night with a heating pad on it. I am still having more trouble then I expected after the surgery. I have started having sciatic pain on the right side now and they also think I am having trouble with the disc above the surgery site. I still get groin pain every now and then and when it happens I have no control over bladder or bowels. My PA says it has nothing to do with my back but that is not what I hear from other people or information from the internet. I thought being in my pool would help but I really have to watch what I do because I can't swim the regular way with the kicking of my legs because then I am down for a few days with terrible back pain. I told her I could walk around the pool and it didn't seem to bother me that much. I have started having a lot of problems again with my cervical spine and I need to call her but with everything else going on with my family I have put it off. Of course, the PA has told me numerous times that I will have pain the rest of my life and never completely fixed! I told my Rheumatologist that I have been very discouraged because all the surgeries I have had, the lurabar, cervical and elbow are still having severe pain and nurabness.:dizzy: He just shook his head and said " I bet you are!" I can't stand very long without my right leg going completely nurab on me so I don't know what is causing that. We have had such a strange summer this year with a lot of rain, extreme heat and then really cool temperatures so it has played havoc with my body.

How have you been doing? Are you still having problems too? Please let me know.

I would really like to hear from everyone on how they have done since there surgery so chime in and let us all hear from you.

Linda:angel:
 
Hey Linda!
I never thought about kicking to swim! I guess if you're majorly fused, it's gotta be hard to kick properly, since you don't have spine movement. Good thing I'm not that into swimming. I have lousy eyesight, so it's just not worth it. I can't see more than 4 inches without my glasses or contacts, so swimming isn't that fun! And my exercising is supposed to be weight bearing anyway, like walking, because of my osteoporosis. At age 51, I've gotten used to a good gym workout, a routine any 80 year old would be proud of!

I still have pain and take my Vicodin everyday. My doctor told me that I need to accept that I'll need it for the rest of my life. I'm okay with that. I'm still way better off than before my fusion. I'm a heating pad person, too. I have one that's 26 inches long and has an automatic turn off. Great to lay on!

I take care of my MIL now, who is in stage 6 of Alzheimer's. That's a challenge! I've figured out how to get her bathed, dressed, and bed changed without doing more than I'm supposed to. There's an art to it, as all us spineys know. I have motion detectors placed strategically so that I can lay down when I need to and know if she's on the move. Everyday's an adventure! :D

And my youngest is in Marine boot camp, except that he's got pneumonia and is actually in the hospital! I know he's getting good care, but I ache that I can't see him while he's sick. :(

That's pretty much my life right now. I'm not complaining! Life isn't always easy for anyone, but it's still good!

Thanks for starting this thread, Linda!

:wave: Emily
 
I have been ok some days and terrible on others. I still have some leg pain not nearly as bad but its still there. Just seeing about urolgist now with blood in urine and high glucose in urine. Thought it was kidney stones as that has been hurting my back even more.

Was worried how you have been with your infections?
Keep me updated sorry i havent been around but i have been voluntering at church alot.
 
had my back double fusion back in June 2006 and Im doing very well. most days I have to remind myself I had the fusion
or I will forget my limitations as far as bending and lifting and overdo things.

so Yes, There Is Life After Fusion :)
 
Great thread!

I had an L4/L5 fusion 10 weeks ago. This surgery eliminated a stabbing-knives pain I had in my back, but has done nothing so far for my leg pain. The surgeon said I had a big bundle of scar tissue wrapped around my nerve roots from a previous surgery that he had to cut away.

He sent me to PT to do nerve root flossing to prevent the scar tissue from reforming, but since starting a couple of weeks ago I've had tremendous sciatic pain and am only sleeping 4-5 hours most nights. I talked to the PT about it, and decided to continue at a light pace due to the risk of scar tissue reforming. Also, I have had a terrible pain which I believe is my SI joint on my left side which is also the side where my sciatica pain is. I have had this pain since my sciatica started 1.5 years ago, but it has gotten much worse since starting PT. I discussed the SI possibility with my PT, and she said she wouldn't even be able to test me for it since I had the fusion recently. I'm really starting to wonder if SIJD isn't causing my sciatica since three back surgeries now haven't had any affect on my leg pain at all.

I am still unable to sit at all and recently requested an SSDI hearing. I've still somehow been able to keep my chin up through all of this, although I'm not really sure how.
 
Hey Emily:wave: even my PA was surprised about the swimming and wanted me to test the results. Well, I can tell a difference when I do the kicking versus just walking. My Dad had Alzheimer's so I know what you are going through and I do feel for you and your family. It is such a sad disease and I admire you being able to take care of her at home. We tried with Daddy for about 2 years and then we had to put him in a home and we moved him with every different stage until he ended up in a nursing home. We lost him 2 years ago and I still miss him so much. It was sad to see him go down the way he did. Sorry to hear about your son and hope he is feeling better. I know what you mean about being better then you were, but I still get down when I can't do all the things I want to ,but yet I know I am also very lucky.

:wave:Hi tmv and yes I am still having trouble with urinary tract infections and no one can tell me why but yet I know I have a neurogenic bladder which had been diagnosed over 25 years ago. I need to stay on Macrodantin which is an antibiotic daily to keep everything going right but I haven't been back to my urologist so I am out of medicine again. I just battled another infection over the weekend so I need to go see the doctor again. Hope you get to feeling better soon. Have you been able to find out anything about all your infections?

:wave:Hi Spine AZ also sorry things aren't working out too great for you either. I can certainly relate also to your neck problems, too. I am having a hard time turning my head because the pain is so severe in my neck and my medicine just doesn't seem like it is doing the trick. Good luck on your ablation and let us know how it works out for you. I also understand about the Disability because I had to go on Disability after my last neck surgery so I wish you are the luck.

lemonflavor how did you find out you had problems with your SI? I keep thinking that is why I am having the groin pain but the PA at the neurosurgeon's office says nothing from my back would cause groin pain but does the SI cause groin pain? I hope you can find something soon to relieve your pain because it is so hard to make it through the day when you are in so much pain. Just remeraber that we are all here for you.

Brenda I am so sorry things have not been going well for you either:(. As I stated earlier I so relate to so many of you on the problems you all are having, too. When I started having sciatic pain on the opposite side that I had before my surgery and also the groin pain the PA looked at me like I was crazy but she knows me well enough that I only complain when I actually do feel bad so I think that is why she changed my appointments to every 3 months instead of every 6 months. I also wish you good luck with SSDI. I never thought that I would have had to file disability and leave my job because my insurance was the only thing we had so if my husband doesn't get a better job soon with benefits then he will be without insurance next year. He will be 62 years old in Septeraber.

Thanks everyone for the updates and I wish better health for everyone. Just hang in there and remeraber that this board is definitely a life saver for so many of us.:angel:

Take care
Linda
 
:wave:Hi lemon and thanks for the information. I need to check into this but we don't have good PM physicians in this area and I will need to check about a Physiatrist in our area. I really couldn't understand my PA saying the groin pain couldn't have been caused by my previous back surgery of L5S1.(???)

tmv I hope you can get some help soon on the urinary problems because you sure have been battling those for a long time.:( I still think a lot of this could be caused by our surgeries but then I know that I had a neurogenic bladder way before my back surgery. I am battling another UTI today but that is because I haven't been back to my urologist so I can get my antibiotics refilled. I still have so much going on with my daughter & husband so right now they are the priorities. In fact just found out today that my husband scheduled a procedure on Sept. 21st which is the same day I had an appt. with the neurosurgeon's PA so now I need to reschedule.

Zero so glad to hear that things are going well for you and very encouraging to hear that someone had good results. Don't overdo.:)

Linda:angel:
 
I'm facing my first bilateral lurabar nerve ablation on Tuesday. It appears the level above my fusion from 16 years ago may be moving slightly so if the ablation doesn't work I'm not sure what it next. No solution right now for my neck pain but I've been attending PT 3x a week for back/neck hoping to get better - but if not to have the therapist help define for the doctors what the dysfunction is!

I'm out on Short Term Disability and since I maxed out FMLA I got a letter saying "retro to 7/20 you have no job to return to". Oh joy.
 
Hi Linda,

I'm new here and couldn't figure out how to email you personally. I saw an old post of yours about burning between the shoulder blades and you said something to the effect that you had an EMG and that the nerves were dead. I was wondering how long you had this burning when you found this out. I have had constant burning myself in the same area and it is so debilitating. I had an anterior discectomy at 4/5 and 5/6 and my spinal cord was being pinched. I had this burning before the surgery. The surgery was done, but my spinal cord is still being pinched with flexion and extension so this may be what the problem is, but we won't know for sure until we free it with a laminoplasty. Any info you could give me would be great. Thanks.

Jennifer
 
PM Doc (physiatrist) injected nurabing medication into the SI joint as a diagnostic tool. The nurabing medication helped the pain. (It only lasts a few hours.) So hopefully the ablation will help when recovered. Same was done for facet joints but it made no difference there. I've got DDD too so there's all kinRAB of stuff going on like most of us here.

SIJD can cause groin pain. My surgeon's PA doesn't know much about that stuff or PM so if yours is like mine I would consult with a physiatrist. My surgeon basically does xxxxectomies and fusions and that's about it.

Thank you.
 
I've had two ablations in the last two weeks on the SI joints. I'm really struggling because the recovery is very painful. They told me some people are fine after a few days and some people need 4 weeks for recovery. Guess which one I am! I'm trying one muscle relaxant after another and haven't found one that works yet and now is when I really need it. I just have to hang in there.
 
Hi Jennifer welcome to the board but sorry that you are still having problems. I think you can PM me by clicking on my board name but I will try and answer you anyway.

I had my first cervical spine surgery in October of 2002 for 4/5,5/6 and the second surgery was done in Oct. of 2006 for the 6/7. I had experienced the burning pain for a couple of years before my first surgery. When it became unbearable I went to my GP and when he did just the normal neck x-rays he told me then he couldn't see any of my discs so he referred me to the neurosurgeon. I saw the neurosurgeon for at least 18 months, had physical therapy and received several Kenalog injections before I finally couldn't take it anymore. I thought it was fixed with my first surgery and then about 2 years later it started burning real bad again. I was afraid to take a medical leave from work because new computer systems and everything else so I put it off again until 2006. I had the EMG done on 6/07 which was 8 months after my last neck surgery. It was at that time the Neurologist told me that I had permanent nerve damage. He was actually checking me for nerve problems in the lower arms but when he got to my left side he kept going up higher and higher and then asked if he could check my upper back and that is when he found the damage. The neurosurgeon had kept telling me I needed to wait at least 18 months before they would classify it as permanent. It can be so painful at times so I know what you are going through.

How long has it been since you had your surgery? I am going to have another myelogram done this Thursday for cervical and lurabar. I told my PA that the burning is getting worse again and nurabness in my left hand all the time. She always smiles and states that I will always have problems. My job consisted of being on the phone or the computer all day long and at times multi-tasking and doing them both at the same time and cradling the phone. I am now on SS disability and even to this day I have trouble talking on the phone for very long because my arms go to sleep and I am constantly switching arms because of the pain in my shoulder.

I hope you can get some relief soon because I do know how you feel. The burning would get so bad that I became so irritable and I don't think anyone wanted to be around me. I hope this answered some of your questions and sorry I went on for so long.:)

Gentle Hugs
Linda:angel:
 
hi i had the same to the T surgery you had just on the 12th of this month could you tell me how u r doing
 
I have been told i dont have an infevtion they havent found out the reason for the blood in urine and my glucose in urine is 57. Still waiting on urologistappt. I have taken multiple atibiotics and nothing.

I really hpoe things are better for you all!
 
Hi Chrissy and welcome to the board but sorry you have had to have surgery. If you would please post a new thread of your own in regarRAB to your surgery and the reasons for your surgery it might be easier for me to respond to your question. Are you saying you had surgery on the Thoracic Spine?

Thanks
Linda:angel:
 
Zeroman,

I'm trying to decide if I should have fusion. You had your fusion 3 years ago and you still have to be careful bending, lifting, etc.! Although I'm truly glad that you're happy with your results, this, to me, doesn't bode well for the process.
 
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