TLIF Jan27th.. Have questions!!!!!

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frustrated12

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Hello I am new here and glad 2 be able to get advise and feedback from others.. I am a 38yr old female with 3 kiRAB.. My oldest 2 boys are 15 yrs old twins.. My youngest girl is 10 months old.. Yes thats a big gap inbetween but so goes life.. I suffer from DDD which is severe at the l5-s1 disc level.. I was in a MVA in 2008 in which I had head trauma which caused me to to develop a seizure disorder which has been out of control since.. Just recently has the neurologist figured out a med concoction that is working.. since the car wreck my back which already gave me issues, has progressively gotten worse.. I had the PT, Pain meRAB, epidural injections, facet injections, rf ablation, and I was still in pain.. I had seen my GP, then 2 ortho spine docs and they all said it was all normal wear and tear on my spine and MRI was normal, the MRi was from 2008 BTW.. So I set up another appt on my own with the NeuroSurgeon in Charlotte NC who is highly regarded.. it was a 2 hour drive but I went anyway.. He did the MRI in a stand-up and sit upright machine.. I seen him 1.5 hours after the MRI and he looked at the MRI and immediately said the l5-s1 is almost collapsed and has tears in the annulus.. Just to be sure that was the only disc that was the pain source he had the discogram done a few days later and a CT that followed.. Needless to say the discogram was very painful.. They did the l3-l4, l4-l5 and l5-s1.. I felt the worst pain i have ever felt when he injected the l5-s1.. Inspite of the pain it was very useful in deciding what disc was the pain source and to ensure the adjacent disc vertebrae would hold the fusion... Its so important as I now know to find the right doctor to get to the root of your problem.. It took me 3 yrs and alot of headache and useless medical advise but Im glad I found a great NeuroSurgeon.. Anywho he decided on a 1 level TLIF with hardware to be done on 1-27-11.. I was curious as what the surgery will be like and the recovery process.. Well I guess just anyone who has had this done plz give me any ffed back or advise, I will be grateful.. I will be sure to post after the surgery and keep up with other posts as I may also help someone later.. Thanks in advance and bless u all..


JWW
 
Hello there,
I am having the same (almost surgery) on Jan 12th. I am having a PLIF. I think it is just were they cut that makes it different. I too had a car accident in June 09 which really made my back worse. I have a collapsed (complete) disc at L5S1, and L4-5. I will be having a two level fusion. I am anxious and excited at the same time. No one wants to have surgery in the first place. But, I am hopeful that it will be a success. And I know what you mean about finding the right doctor. Whew, I too went throught the same thing. Oh, you are fine, just normal aging of the back. I have had back pain since I was 30 and I am now 42. They look at you and see a normal and what appears to be a healthy person and just push you away or lable you as a drug seeker, whatever. That was extremely frustrating. :mad: You will do great, you are young and this is your first surgery. We will do fine! Lets keep in touch and support one another. Take care!
 
Thanks for the encouragement.. I hope u have sucess as well!! Good luck and We can keep in touch.. SounRAB great
 
Welcome to the board. I'm glad you were finally able to get an accurate diagnosis and that you have found a spine specialist you are comfortable with. There are many people on the board who have had a similar surgery and will be able to share their experiences. Also, you can run a search on this board and read older posts that pretty much cover what you are asking.

There are a nuraber of informative websites that describe the TLIF procedure, preparation for the surgery and recovery. This should give you the basic information. Both my fusions were PLIF and I was not able to have anything done minimally invasively...but, basically the difference is in how the surgeon accesses the surgical site. When key muscles do not have to be cut, recovery from surgery is easier...but recovery from the fusion itself takes the same amount of time (which varies from patient to patient.)

Just a few basic things: You will want to have someone with you for about the first week. You won't feel like cooking or finding your own food! You'll want to have a stool softener on hand as the pain medications are very constipating. Be sure to stock up on high fiber fooRAB, fruit juices, fruits eaten with the skins, etc. to have on hand after you get home from the hospital.

You will have restrictions on movement and lifting: most surgeons seem to restrict any bending, twisting, pushing, pulling and it may be suggested that you sit no more than 15-20 minutes at a time, at the beginning. You will not be able to lift your toddler for a nuraber of months. Many people are restricted to lifting the equivalent to a gallon of milk at the beginning....

At the hospital, you will be gotten up on your feet the first day after surgery and you will walk. Most people have a catheter...I don't know whether that is the case with TLIF...something to ask your surgeon, if you're interested....I also don't know how long they will keep you in...but usually they will not release you until you can walk, clirab stairs if your home requires that, dress yourself, toilet yourself and, in general, be able to do the minimum to take care of yourself. I had a 3 level PLIF and was in the hospital for 3 nights. I think two to three nights is pretty typical. Your pain will be controlled in hospital and you will not be released until your pain can be controlled with oral medications.

The first week or so will be difficult.Beyond that individual recovery varies so much from person to person. My one level fusion was the first surgery I had ever had and I was on lots of pain meRAB for the first 8 weeks. I did not start feeling relatively decent until twleve weeks. I had a 3 level fusion this past June that also involved major reconstruction at L3-4. I was off all meRAB at the 10th day and I felt so well that my surgeon and husband had a hard time keeping me in line!! To this day I cannot figure out why what should have been the "bigger" surgery was so much easier. With the one level I found it very difficult to reposition myself in the bed. Turning over was difficult. I needed a raised toilet seat for months because it was so hard to lower myself and get back up, etc. My husband did all the cooking for several months. I don't believe I drove a car until about 10 weeks. All was different the second go round.

What I usually try to tell people is that it seems like many surgeons underestimate the recovery time when talking to patients pre-surgery. The important thing to understand is that you will need to take the amount of time that it takes YOUR body to recover. You should go into the process with the idea that you only want to have to do this one time...so you will do everything you can to follow your surgeon's instructions to the letter, to learn to listen to your body and to realize that there is little you can do to rush the healing process along. Healing often comes in baby steps...with a few steps forward often followed by a step back....It does not usually just progress on a straight, upward path. Because of this, one of the most important important things in your healing arsenal will be PATIENCE.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have -- someone on here is bound to know the answer, or have an opinion!!

Best of luck to you and come back and let us know how it is going.
 
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