spina fusion vets, please tell me if this is normal

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tetonteri66

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That's a relief. When my mother had a knee replacement, it took her several days to fully recover from the anesthetic. We had a terrible time with her and had to hire a sitter to keep vigil over her at night. She didn't know where she was and was very confused, and didn't really realize she'd had surgery. But then the fog lifted and she was fine. Hopefully things will be better from here on out for your father.
 
Hi,
My dad is on his first day post op of his spinal stenosis surgery. He has swelling in both eyes and skin missing from his nose. He thinks they may have dropped him.

The surgery was longer than expected by 2 hours. The doctor said this was the case because my dad had a really thick bone that took a long time to chip away. The doctor said they had to put in an extra cross bar where they removed that bone.

My dad thinks they dropped him post op and had to reopen him to fix damage caused by being dropped and thats why the surgery took longer and thats why he has facial injuries.

So, my question is did anybody who had this surgery receive any facial injuries? If you were dropped post op, do you think it could damage the screws or force a doctor to install a cross bar?

Any input would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks
Bob
 
I've had a nuraber of spine surgeries and I've had swollen eyes and bruising in the lower eye area after each of the surgeries. It goes away after a few days.
 
There is no reason I can think of that a spine surgery patient should have injuries to his face. I'm not sure just how you can find out what happened but you should question his doctors closely. I would also talk to the hospital administrator to try and get his cooperation in finding out if anything unusual happened during or following surgery.

I do know that I would not let this go until I was satisfied....that may mean speaking to an attorney. Also, take pictures of the injuries before they fade. If your father was dropped and injured, then you will need a lawyer. One word of caution.....do NOT say anything to anyone if you do decide to get legal help. You don't want the hospital to be prepared, because believe it or not, I have heard of huge coverups involving the entire surgical staff and CEO's so that they don't get sued.

Please stay in touch and let us know how your dad is doing and whether or not you are able to ferret out the truth.

Much luck.

Carol
 
Same here with the swelling. My face was so swollen I could'int recognize myself! And even family merabers thought they were in the wrong room when they saw me. I also had blood in my hair from probes they put in to monitor nerves. And a huge welt on my left thigh and acrossed my chest....they really strap you down so there is no movement at all. Hope the rest of recovery goes good.
Rich
 
Oh, boy, am I red in the face! :o Talk about jumping the gun. But really, I am a veteran of 7 (maybe 8...would have to think about it) spinal surgeries, several of which were fusions and I have never had a mark on me other than where the scalpel was used. Lol. I am really erabarrased as it never occured to me that there could be this type of injury to the face.

Anyway, I'm glad that your dad wasn't dropped and also glad to know that this can happen. I'm sure I will end up having more surgery as I have arthritis in my spine and it keeps growing bone spurs. If I should wake up with a bruise, I'll know why! :p

Carol
 
Awww Carol,don't be erabarrased!!! It just never happened to you and thats all the better:) I can't explain it but two indentical people can have the same surgery and one has more trauma then the other. Like me, My first surgery was scoliosis when I was 15,hardly any swelling. My second surgery was at age 48,less levels but thats when I had all the swelling and welts! My Dr siad he was doing fine with my procedure,all the screws and hardware were in place except for the last screw. My old rod was in the way so he had to remove everything, then remove some of my old fusion to get at the rod and cut it away....then start putting all the hardware back. This extended the surgery to 9 or 10 hours. My last surgery was a 360 and I looked fine after surgery and was out of bed that nite! Go figure lol

So don't be red faced!!!! lol Rich:)
 
Actually Carol, I can.

You are laying face down on a donut for many hours - amost 8 in my case. I was so swollen-with black eyes that my hubby wouldn't let me have a mirror for the first week. It could be that with the work they did, there was was alot of pressue that caused this. Where on your dad's back was this done?

I would certainly check this out if you are uncomfortable. But what reason does your Dad have for thinking that they dropped him? Does he remeraber something? Is he black and blue elsewhere?

Please keep us posted.
 
I talked with a neigrabroador who is an anesthesiologist and presides over many spinal surgeries. He said that the patient is placed with the face in a pillow that has areas cut out for the brow bone, nose, ears and chin and they remain there during the course of surgery. Some people end up with bruising. Despite their best efforts at padding, patients sometimes end up with bruises, broken skin, etc.

I ended up with a femoral nerve injury in my right thigh after my first fusion, due to the way I was padded on the table.

Also surgeries are unpredictable. There is a ballpark time for each surgery so they know how to schedule the operating rooms, but the surgeon never knows for sure what he'll run into until he gets in there. Some times there is scar tissue that takes a long time to cut around or get through. Sometimes there is a bleeder that takes more time. ETC.

Did your father have other bruising over his body? I hope the remainder of his hospital stay will be more positive and that he'll have an uneventful recovery.
 
I think it was normal swelling. I called his regular doc and he said it happens sometimes.

Dad was quite drugged and over reacting. BY the time I got back to the hospital, he was raising hell. He felt awful after he finally realized they were telling the truth.

Thanks for the help!
 
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