Re: pain from graft site

[Guest guest]

HI, Diane, yes that spot bothered me for probably 3-4 months. When they did my

lumbar fusion, they actually went in through the surgical incision to take the

graft from the iliac crest, so there was not actually an incision site there,

but I tell you, that spot really was a bear for a few months. All gone now. I'm

5 1/2 months out. So I hope that happens for you.

Debbie

Diane <harmony52@...> wrote:

When any of you had your surgery, was bone taken from your Iliac Crest

(back of your hip bone) to use for fusion, and if so, does it bother you from

time to time? In other words, does it HURT? Mine does if I'm on my feet too long

or just had an extra busy day. Recently I had an x-ray done on it and nothing

'unusual' showed up so I guess it's one of those things you just have to live

with (unless any of you know of anything... =))

[Guest guest]

I had a two stage operation, 2 weeks apart. They loosened up the vertrebrae

within the curvature, ground that up and stored it for the actual fusion two

weeks later. There was enough there without having to go the iliac crest.

Lida

pain from graft site

When any of you had your surgery, was bone taken from your Iliac Crest (back

of your hip bone) to use for fusion, and if so, does it bother you from time

to time? In other words, does it HURT? Mine does if I'm on my feet too long

or just had an extra busy day. Recently I had an x-ray done on it and

nothing 'unusual' showed up so I guess it's one of those things you just

have to live with (unless any of you know of anything... =))

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[Guest guest]

Dear Diane, I had a bone graft taken from that site also. No, it doesn't bother

me. I think it did a little after surgery, but didn't notice anything after a

few months.

Lj

Diane <harmony52@...> wrote:

When any of you had your surgery, was bone taken from your Iliac Crest

(back of your hip bone) to use for fusion, and if so, does it bother you from

time to time? In other words, does it HURT? Mine does if I'm on my feet too long

or just had an extra busy day. Recently I had an x-ray done on it and nothing

'unusual' showed up so I guess it's one of those things you just have to live

with (unless any of you know of anything... =))

[Guest guest]

I had a bone graft from my left hip in 1988 and a bone graft from my right hip

in 2004. I have had constant burning from the left hip since 1988 but never had

any pain from the graft in 2004. Go figure.

Joyce

pain from graft site

When any of you had your surgery, was bone taken from your Iliac Crest (back

of your hip bone) to use for fusion, and if so, does it bother you from time to

time? In other words, does it HURT? Mine does if I'm on my feet too long or just

had an extra busy day. Recently I had an x-ray done on it and nothing 'unusual'

showed up so I guess it's one of those things you just have to live with (unless

any of you know of anything... =))

[Guest guest]

I had bone taken from the hip and from a rib- the chest tube and that incision

were far and away the most painful. The hip never gave me any trouble, but my

hip fat :0) is sore to the touch and has been ever since my initial surgery in

1996. I was warned ahead of time that the hip would be one of the most

bothersome things about the whole process, but they were wrong in my case. Bea

Diane <harmony52@...> wrote: When any

of you had your surgery, was bone taken from your Iliac Crest (back of your hip

bone) to use for fusion, and if so, does it bother you from time to time? In

other words, does it HURT? Mine does if I'm on my feet too long or just had an

extra busy day. Recently I had an x-ray done on it and nothing 'unusual' showed

up so I guess it's one of those things you just have to live with (unless any of

you know of anything... =))

[Guest guest]

Hola Diane

I had bone taken from my left hip when I had my Harrington rod surgery in

1989. It has been the cause of majority of my pain ever since.

I cannot touch the area, or let anyone else touch me there (seems to be

connected to my right fist if they do!) - I saw a surgeon for this in 1998

and he said that when surgery was performed they didn't hoover me out

properly and I now have bone chips floating around under the skin - every

now and then they get caught in between muscles and nerves and cause the

horrific pain that I feel - majority of the time when this happens I am

unable to get around at all - it swells a lot and because it is so sore I am

unable to wear knickers (my husband likes that though hehehe) - all knickers

that I have tried just cut straight across the scar area and just cause a

great deal of uncomfort, some high back knickers are OK but just not " sexy "

enough so I just don't bother - not wearing granny knickers just yet thanks!

I have not really found a solution for this over the years, I just deal with

it and don't touch it! I always liked heat as a form of pain relief and use

many different heat pads/patches, it eases the pain there but never takes it

away.

I have a picture of me on my blog and you can see my donor site -

http://scoliosisnutty.blogspot.com/2008/02/curving-again.html (click the

image to get it larger and you will see the scar better=

http://www.scoliosisnutty.com/page.php?pg=266

If you find a pain relief solution, let me know :-)

All the best

Nutty (Simone)

Diane < <mailto:harmony52%40suscom-maine.net> harmony52@...>

wrote: When any of you had your surgery, was bone taken from your Iliac

Crest (back of your hip bone) to use for fusion, and if so, does it bother

you from time to time? In other words, does it HURT? Mine does if I'm on my

feet too long or just had an extra busy day. Recently I had an x-ray done on

it and nothing 'unusual' showed up so I guess it's one of those things you

just have to live with (unless any of you know of anything... =))

[Guest guest]

did you have a seperate incision from the bone taken

from the rib or did they do that from the back?

--- Beverlee <bea_simmons@...> wrote:

> I had bone taken from the hip and from a rib- the

> chest tube and that incision were far and away the

> most painful. The hip never gave me any trouble, but

> my hip fat :0) is sore to the touch and has been

> ever since my initial surgery in 1996. I was warned

> ahead of time that the hip would be one of the most

> bothersome things about the whole process, but they

> were wrong in my case. Bea

>

> Diane <harmony52@...> wrote:

> When any of you had your surgery,

> was bone taken from your Iliac Crest (back of your

> hip bone) to use for fusion, and if so, does it

> bother you from time to time? In other words, does

> it HURT? Mine does if I'm on my feet too long or

> just had an extra busy day. Recently I had an x-ray

> done on it and nothing 'unusual' showed up so I

> guess it's one of those things you just have to live

> with (unless any of you know of anything... =))

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

>

>

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

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[Guest guest]

Jumping in here on the rib incision question: I had a rib removed in the

anterior portion of my surgery. It involved collapsing of the lung and later the

insertion of a chest tube. They took out the chest tube during the posterior

surgery. So glad, because I was afraid they would remove it while I was awake!

The rib was removed and mixed with bone morphogenic protein (BMP) and cadaver

bone to make up the fusion material. I guess it worked. I'm fusing (or fused)

and I have no pain from it. I do admit to some tenderness in the area where the

rib was removed, but it is nothing really.

Patti

Re: pain from graft site

did you have a seperate incision from the bone taken

from the rib or did they do that from the back?

--- Beverlee <bea_simmons@...> wrote:

> I had bone taken from the hip and from a rib- the

> chest tube and that incision were far and away the

> most painful. The hip never gave me any trouble, but

> my hip fat :0) is sore to the touch and has been

> ever since my initial surgery in 1996. I was warned

> ahead of time that the hip would be one of the most

> bothersome things about the whole process, but they

> were wrong in my case. Bea

>

> Diane <harmony52@...> wrote:

> When any of you had your surgery,

> was bone taken from your Iliac Crest (back of your

> hip bone) to use for fusion, and if so, does it

> bother you from time to time? In other words, does

> it HURT? Mine does if I'm on my feet too long or

> just had an extra busy day. Recently I had an x-ray

> done on it and nothing 'unusual' showed up so I

> guess it's one of those things you just have to live

> with (unless any of you know of anything... =))

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

>

>

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

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[Guest guest]

You were really lucky!! I had a two-stage one, also, three weeks apart

for me but I guess they needed more than the salvaged from the first

stage so went for the hip! I was told later that a lot of people

seemed to complain about pain at that site (iliac) down the road MORE

than they did the spinal surgery, overall! Great.... NOT!

Diane

[Guest guest]

Ummmmmm....... I don't think so! I had my surgery in 1989!!! =(

[Guest guest]

Well, on the upside..... at least in your case only ONE hip

hurts!!! ;^) I guess we're the same then

[Guest guest]

Your 'hip fat'?? Well, I've got PLENTY of that, too, so maybe it's

that, LOL!!!!! All I know is that it's kind of 'in the hole left' by

where they took the bone out (I can actually push and feel the sides of

where the bone is missing...). In the first surgery, they removed six

ribs and ground those up, too, to use for the fusion! Obviously, I

must have had to have a lot of bone to fill in around the rods being

fused from T1 - T12 (I always thought that that sounded like a

tremendous amount of area to be fused, but around here, it's 'pretty

average', ha!) I'm not as unique as I thought I was, LOL! ;^)

Diane

[Guest guest]

My son had a rib used for his 1st surgery which was done anterior so the rib

could be removed as part of the process. For his 2nd, surgery, he had graft

material taken from his hip. The surgery was done posterior and a 2nd incision

was required to remove the bone from his hip. He has had no pain from that

site.

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[Guest guest]

Pain in the graft site is my number one complaint. I am unable to

stand for more than one minute without having pain. I had my fusion

10 years ago. It was significant, C6-L2, anterior and posterior on

the same day.

When I saw my ortho for followup this past fall, I asked what could

be done for the pain. They wrote a prescription for therapy. All

the prescription said was that it was general back, heat, and so on.

The presription named every possible back therapy.

I took my prescription to the Medical College therapy department,

figuring that they would be experienced with therapy after fusion.

All the department had was a recently graduated therapist who was

immature and unrealistic. I went to the first session and she gave

me exercises that I was unable to do. I went to the second

appointment to report that the exercises were infeasible and we had

to find different exercises. I was assigned to an assistant to the

therapist for that 2nd meeting. The assistent refused to let me talk

to the physical therapist and told me to keep doing the exercises I

said I couldn't do. I went to the appointment desk and asked for my

prescription back and said that I wouldn't be coming back there for

any more therapy and told the appointment desk why. They wouldn't

give me my prescription back, so I walked out without therapy,

without my prescription to go someplace else and with total and

absolute frustration.

My back still hurts and it has in that spot for 10 years. I've been

trying to do differnent things in the weight room at the YMCA, after

I swim my mile every day, but nothing has helped.

Supposedly, the pain is supposed to go away on the illiac crest if

one does core stabilizing exercises. E.G., situps, crunchies, tail

wags (a stupid, stupid exercise). Try doing a situp if you're fused

from C6-L2 and it doesn't work.

At least when I had my surgery, I was within 6 years of being

eligible at work to take full retirement and full pension. My work

had the rule that at age 55 and 30 years of service, one could take

retirement and begin to collect benefits (pension and insurance)

without any reduction in the benefits. I took the retirement because

I could no longer tolerate the pain over the illiac crest, among

other reasons. I am a lucky scoliosis patient in that I was able to

perserve all the way to retirement. It was not easy, but it was

better to make it those last few years to retirement than to give up

the early retirement potential.

So, if you want to get rid of the pain in the illiac crest, the

textbook answer is to do strengthing of the body's core. Abdominals,

sit ups, crunchies, etc., and that is supposed to eliminate the pain

according to the textbook.

One thing that I still use for pain is my TENS unit. I still had

some pads for the electrodes and the unit that was prescribed for me

still works, so if I know that I'm going to go somewhere where I need

to spend some time on my feet, I use the TENS unit. That helps to

some degree, but I still need to sit.

Since I have the pain, I'm not walking for exercise and my weight has

gone up despite the fact that I do swim one mile at the YMCA every

day and also do the weight machines on two days a week.

Good luck with the pain.

[Guest guest]

Hi. I had the rib removed and that was how they got to my spine from the front.

I was not informed before surgery that that was going to be done. I knew the

front approach would be done, but not that they would take the rib. The hip was

a separate incision- I believe I saw a note where that bone was taken from the

back incision. I wish I had known to ask about that possibility- just one less

area to heal. It's all a learning process and I think how fortunate people are

to be able to talk to so many patients ahead of time through this group.

Gail Merri <p0etiss@...> wrote: did you have a

seperate incision from the bone taken

from the rib or did they do that from the back?

--- Beverlee <bea_simmons@...> wrote:

> I had bone taken from the hip and from a rib- the

> chest tube and that incision were far and away the

> most painful. The hip never gave me any trouble, but

> my hip fat :0) is sore to the touch and has been

> ever since my initial surgery in 1996. I was warned

> ahead of time that the hip would be one of the most

> bothersome things about the whole process, but they

> were wrong in my case. Bea

>

> Diane <harmony52@...> wrote:

> When any of you had your surgery,

> was bone taken from your Iliac Crest (back of your

> hip bone) to use for fusion, and if so, does it

> bother you from time to time? In other words, does

> it HURT? Mine does if I'm on my feet too long or

> just had an extra busy day. Recently I had an x-ray

> done on it and nothing 'unusual' showed up so I

> guess it's one of those things you just have to live

> with (unless any of you know of anything... =))

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

>

>

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

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[Guest guest]

what was it like for him when they took it from his

rib, my son is suppose to have that in his upcoming

surgery.

--- KnightonND@... wrote:

> My son had a rib used for his 1st surgery which was

> done anterior so the rib

> could be removed as part of the process. For his

> 2nd, surgery, he had graft

> material taken from his hip. The surgery was done

> posterior and a 2nd incision

> was required to remove the bone from his hip. He

> has had no pain from that

> site.

>

>

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[Guest guest]

Hello Jeane,

I just dont understand why so many people in this world are SO unreasonable.

They have an obligation to return your prescription to you. Are they

earning money by keeping your scrip? i.e. submitting claims for further

treatments that you did not take?

Im in London so do not know how your system works, but that's the only

reason why a clinic would refuse to return a prescription that I can think

of.

Lida

Re: pain from graft site

I took my prescription to the Medical College therapy department,

figuring that they would be experienced with therapy after fusion.

I was assigned to an assistant to the therapist for that 2nd meeting. The

assistent refused to let me talk to the physical therapist and told me to

keep doing the exercises I said I couldn't do. I went to the appointment

desk and asked for my prescription back and said that I wouldn't be coming

back there for any more therapy and told the appointment desk why. They

wouldn't give me my prescription back, so I walked out without therapy,

without my prescription to go someplace else and with total and

absolute frustration.

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[Guest guest]

None of those exercises should be done with a fused spine! Tail wags, I'm so

sure. It's amazing how ignorant pt's can be. I went to one last year who treated

me like I was some sort of freak, due to my lack of movement--she was so excited

she was calling people over and telling me to move my pelvis and bend to the

side, etc, and then when I asked her what my exercise program was she didn't

know. I never went back. I'll be damned if I'm gonna pay $30 per session for

direction from someone whose never worked with a fused spine before.

Re: pain from graft site

Pain in the graft site is my number one complaint. I am unable to

stand for more than one minute without having pain. I had my fusion

10 years ago. It was significant, C6-L2, anterior and posterior on

the same day.

When I saw my ortho for followup this past fall, I asked what could

be done for the pain. They wrote a prescription for therapy. All

the prescription said was that it was general back, heat, and so on.

The presription named every possible back therapy.

I took my prescription to the Medical College therapy department,

figuring that they would be experienced with therapy after fusion.

All the department had was a recently graduated therapist who was

immature and unrealistic. I went to the first session and she gave

me exercises that I was unable to do. I went to the second

appointment to report that the exercises were infeasible and we had

to find different exercises. I was assigned to an assistant to the

therapist for that 2nd meeting. The assistent refused to let me talk

to the physical therapist and told me to keep doing the exercises I

said I couldn't do. I went to the appointment desk and asked for my

prescription back and said that I wouldn't be coming back there for

any more therapy and told the appointment desk why. They wouldn't

give me my prescription back, so I walked out without therapy,

without my prescription to go someplace else and with total and

absolute frustration.

My back still hurts and it has in that spot for 10 years. I've been

trying to do differnent things in the weight room at the YMCA, after

I swim my mile every day, but nothing has helped.

Supposedly, the pain is supposed to go away on the illiac crest if

one does core stabilizing exercises. E.G., situps, crunchies, tail

wags (a stupid, stupid exercise). Try doing a situp if you're fused

from C6-L2 and it doesn't work.

At least when I had my surgery, I was within 6 years of being

eligible at work to take full retirement and full pension. My work

had the rule that at age 55 and 30 years of service, one could take

retirement and begin to collect benefits (pension and insurance)

without any reduction in the benefits. I took the retirement because

I could no longer tolerate the pain over the illiac crest, among

other reasons. I am a lucky scoliosis patient in that I was able to

perserve all the way to retirement. It was not easy, but it was

better to make it those last few years to retirement than to give up

the early retirement potential.

So, if you want to get rid of the pain in the illiac crest, the

textbook answer is to do strengthing of the body's core. Abdominals,

sit ups, crunchies, etc., and that is supposed to eliminate the pain

according to the textbook.

One thing that I still use for pain is my TENS unit. I still had

some pads for the electrodes and the unit that was prescribed for me

still works, so if I know that I'm going to go somewhere where I need

to spend some time on my feet, I use the TENS unit. That helps to

some degree, but I still need to sit.

Since I have the pain, I'm not walking for exercise and my weight has

gone up despite the fact that I do swim one mile at the YMCA every

day and also do the weight machines on two days a week.

Good luck with the pain.

________________________________________________________________________________\

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[Guest guest]

I have a different question. I was recently fused to my sacrum (L5-S1). I had

previously been fused from T4-L5 almost 3 years ago. I remember that surgery as

being very painful, but by 6 weeks I was more or less off pain meds. Now, 6

weeks out of surgery, I'm still hurting quite a bit in the hips. (I actually had

a 2 part surgery, because I also had a revision of L20-L4 where I hadn't fused).

But all that seems ok. I have 3 incisions, which don't hurt much, and my back is

tender but not bad. But my hips! If I accidently hit something with my foot,

like one of my dogs' bones, or step into a slight dip in the ground, or if one

of my dogs bumps my leg, OMG. It sends a searing pain up through my right hip

and hurts for a long time. But it's my whole pelvis area I guess that hurts. So

my question is, who else who has been fused to S1 knows how long it takes to

stop hurting so much? And is this normal amount of pain?

Re: pain from graft site

did you have a seperate incision from the bone taken

from the rib or did they do that from the back?

--- Beverlee <bea_simmons> wrote:

> I had bone taken from the hip and from a rib- the

> chest tube and that incision were far and away the

> most painful. The hip never gave me any trouble, but

> my hip fat :0) is sore to the touch and has been

> ever since my initial surgery in 1996. I was warned

> ahead of time that the hip would be one of the most

> bothersome things about the whole process, but they

> were wrong in my case. Bea

>

> Diane <harmony52@suscom- maine.net> wrote:

> When any of you had your surgery,

> was bone taken from your Iliac Crest (back of your

> hip bone) to use for fusion, and if so, does it

> bother you from time to time? In other words, does

> it HURT? Mine does if I'm on my feet too long or

> just had an extra busy day. Recently I had an x-ray

> done on it and nothing 'unusual' showed up so I

> guess it's one of those things you just have to live

> with (unless any of you know of anything... =))

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

>

>

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

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[Guest guest]

Just had to add a ditto to the anti-PT notes: I asked for PT to see if I could

get some relief from an ongoing round of pain that I couldn't shake. The PT was

young and inexperienced and had never seen anyone with a long fusion and was in

the dark about what to even tell me. She finally had me do some exercises that

caused more pain. I went back a second time and I did get a new PT. She started

telling me to do the same exercises that I was telling her I couldn't do. She

said I could work into them. Not! It was a total waste of time and I will never

go back. Actually it was worse than no help because my pain was increased. I

believe there is no education about scoliosis in their program. Maybe a PT that

works directly for a scolio doctor could be of help. Otherwise, I'll stay away.

Randie Meyer <taknitlite@...> wrote: None of

those exercises should be done with a fused spine! Tail wags, I'm so sure. It's

amazing how ignorant pt's can be. I went to one last year who treated me like I

was some sort of freak, due to my lack of movement--she was so excited she was

calling people over and telling me to move my pelvis and bend to the side, etc,

and then when I asked her what my exercise program was she didn't know. I never

went back. I'll be damned if I'm gonna pay $30 per session for direction from

someone whose never worked with a fused spine before.

Re: pain from graft site

Pain in the graft site is my number one complaint. I am unable to

stand for more than one minute without having pain. I had my fusion

10 years ago. It was significant, C6-L2, anterior and posterior on

the same day.

When I saw my ortho for followup this past fall, I asked what could

be done for the pain. They wrote a prescription for therapy. All

the prescription said was that it was general back, heat, and so on.

The presription named every possible back therapy.

I took my prescription to the Medical College therapy department,

figuring that they would be experienced with therapy after fusion.

All the department had was a recently graduated therapist who was

immature and unrealistic. I went to the first session and she gave

me exercises that I was unable to do. I went to the second

appointment to report that the exercises were infeasible and we had

to find different exercises. I was assigned to an assistant to the

therapist for that 2nd meeting. The assistent refused to let me talk

to the physical therapist and told me to keep doing the exercises I

said I couldn't do. I went to the appointment desk and asked for my

prescription back and said that I wouldn't be coming back there for

any more therapy and told the appointment desk why. They wouldn't

give me my prescription back, so I walked out without therapy,

without my prescription to go someplace else and with total and

absolute frustration.

My back still hurts and it has in that spot for 10 years. I've been

trying to do differnent things in the weight room at the YMCA, after

I swim my mile every day, but nothing has helped.

Supposedly, the pain is supposed to go away on the illiac crest if

one does core stabilizing exercises. E.G., situps, crunchies, tail

wags (a stupid, stupid exercise). Try doing a situp if you're fused

from C6-L2 and it doesn't work.

At least when I had my surgery, I was within 6 years of being

eligible at work to take full retirement and full pension. My work

had the rule that at age 55 and 30 years of service, one could take

retirement and begin to collect benefits (pension and insurance)

without any reduction in the benefits. I took the retirement because

I could no longer tolerate the pain over the illiac crest, among

other reasons. I am a lucky scoliosis patient in that I was able to

perserve all the way to retirement. It was not easy, but it was

better to make it those last few years to retirement than to give up

the early retirement potential.

So, if you want to get rid of the pain in the illiac crest, the

textbook answer is to do strengthing of the body's core. Abdominals,

sit ups, crunchies, etc., and that is supposed to eliminate the pain

according to the textbook.

One thing that I still use for pain is my TENS unit. I still had

some pads for the electrodes and the unit that was prescribed for me

still works, so if I know that I'm going to go somewhere where I need

to spend some time on my feet, I use the TENS unit. That helps to

some degree, but I still need to sit.

Since I have the pain, I'm not walking for exercise and my weight has

gone up despite the fact that I do swim one mile at the YMCA every

day and also do the weight machines on two days a week.

Good luck with the pain.

__________________________________________________________

Be a better friend, newshound, and

know-it-all with Mobile. Try it now.

http://mobile./;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

[Guest guest]

These scary stories about Pt are probably why I couldn't get my surgeon to order

Pt for nearly 2 months postop. They have all probably seen incidences of bad or

inexperienced PTs working with their Patients, doing the wrong thing. How can

they be sure that their patient will not have a bad outcome by the wrong PT

treating their patient? By not ordering PT and just telling their patients to

walk, walk walk. In my case, due to the continued sciatica I couldn't walk that

much. My PT was so helpful, but nearly 6 months after my surgery, my surgeon

still has precautions and will not release me to do various exercises that the

PT thinks I am finally ready for. My surgeon is SO conservative about this; she

probably has seen situations where an inexperience PT did the wrong thing.

Debbie

Beverlee <bea_simmons@...> wrote:

Just had to add a ditto to the anti-PT notes: I asked for PT to see if

I could get some relief from an ongoing round of pain that I couldn't shake. The

PT was young and inexperienced and had never seen anyone with a long fusion and

was in the dark about what to even tell me. She finally had me do some exercises

that caused more pain. I went back a second time and I did get a new PT. She

started telling me to do the same exercises that I was telling her I couldn't

do. She said I could work into them. Not! It was a total waste of time and I

will never go back. Actually it was worse than no help because my pain was

increased. I believe there is no education about scoliosis in their program.

Maybe a PT that works directly for a scolio doctor could be of help. Otherwise,

I'll stay away.

Randie Meyer <taknitlite@...> wrote: None of those exercises should be

done with a fused spine! Tail wags, I'm so sure. It's amazing how ignorant pt's

can be. I went to one last year who treated me like I was some sort of freak,

due to my lack of movement--she was so excited she was calling people over and

telling me to move my pelvis and bend to the side, etc, and then when I asked

her what my exercise program was she didn't know. I never went back. I'll be

damned if I'm gonna pay $30 per session for direction from someone whose never

worked with a fused spine before.

Re: pain from graft site

Pain in the graft site is my number one complaint. I am unable to

stand for more than one minute without having pain. I had my fusion

10 years ago. It was significant, C6-L2, anterior and posterior on

the same day.

When I saw my ortho for followup this past fall, I asked what could

be done for the pain. They wrote a prescription for therapy. All

the prescription said was that it was general back, heat, and so on.

The presription named every possible back therapy.

I took my prescription to the Medical College therapy department,

figuring that they would be experienced with therapy after fusion.

All the department had was a recently graduated therapist who was

immature and unrealistic. I went to the first session and she gave

me exercises that I was unable to do. I went to the second

appointment to report that the exercises were infeasible and we had

to find different exercises. I was assigned to an assistant to the

therapist for that 2nd meeting. The assistent refused to let me talk

to the physical therapist and told me to keep doing the exercises I

said I couldn't do. I went to the appointment desk and asked for my

prescription back and said that I wouldn't be coming back there for

any more therapy and told the appointment desk why. They wouldn't

give me my prescription back, so I walked out without therapy,

without my prescription to go someplace else and with total and

absolute frustration.

My back still hurts and it has in that spot for 10 years. I've been

trying to do differnent things in the weight room at the YMCA, after

I swim my mile every day, but nothing has helped.

Supposedly, the pain is supposed to go away on the illiac crest if

one does core stabilizing exercises. E.G., situps, crunchies, tail

wags (a stupid, stupid exercise). Try doing a situp if you're fused

from C6-L2 and it doesn't work.

At least when I had my surgery, I was within 6 years of being

eligible at work to take full retirement and full pension. My work

had the rule that at age 55 and 30 years of service, one could take

retirement and begin to collect benefits (pension and insurance)

without any reduction in the benefits. I took the retirement because

I could no longer tolerate the pain over the illiac crest, among

other reasons. I am a lucky scoliosis patient in that I was able to

perserve all the way to retirement. It was not easy, but it was

better to make it those last few years to retirement than to give up

the early retirement potential.

So, if you want to get rid of the pain in the illiac crest, the

textbook answer is to do strengthing of the body's core. Abdominals,

sit ups, crunchies, etc., and that is supposed to eliminate the pain

according to the textbook.

One thing that I still use for pain is my TENS unit. I still had

some pads for the electrodes and the unit that was prescribed for me

still works, so if I know that I'm going to go somewhere where I need

to spend some time on my feet, I use the TENS unit. That helps to

some degree, but I still need to sit.

Since I have the pain, I'm not walking for exercise and my weight has

gone up despite the fact that I do swim one mile at the YMCA every

day and also do the weight machines on two days a week.

Good luck with the pain.

__________________________________________________________

Be a better friend, newshound, and

know-it-all with Mobile. Try it now.

http://mobile./;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR8HDtDypao8Wcj9tAcJ

[Guest guest]

Hi, Gail, He won't notice that a rib is missing and I don't think more than one

rib is removed to make 'fodder' for the fusion. I'm fused T2 to L5 and they

removed one rib. I don't notice it and had no pain afterwards from its removal,

and none since. As for the graft site on the crest, I have no pain from there

either. Being a kid, he should recover faster than I did, which was one year,

but I was doing about anything I wanted to do after 6 months. I ride my bike,

get on the floor to play with my grandchildren... And, I also have no pain from

the fusion, unless the top of the right rod pokes me under the skin, which used

to happen when I slouched (which happened because I was tired and sitting at the

computer), but never happens now.

Lj

Gail Merri <p0etiss@...> wrote:

what was it like for him when they took it from his

rib, my son is suppose to have that in his upcoming

surgery.

--- KnightonND@... wrote:

> My son had a rib used for his 1st surgery which was

> done anterior so the rib

> could be removed as part of the process. For his

> 2nd, surgery, he had graft

> material taken from his hip. The surgery was done

> posterior and a 2nd incision

> was required to remove the bone from his hip. He

> has had no pain from that

> site.

>

>

> **************

> It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL

> Money & amp;

> Finance.

>

> (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001)

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

__________________________________________________________

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[Guest guest]

Our daughters ortho actually showed us the stretches she should do-

Over the years we have had only one good PT and that was when our DD was just a

tiny thing-every other experience the PT thinks they are your Dr and try to tell

to do things that you should not being doing-

I won't see a PT any more nor will our family-at least until they are required

to go through the same medical school and internships that my ORtho does-then we

talk. I have noticed though that OT's and Speech therapists do provide a lot

more positive therapy-

The PT clinics I have seen are the worse-my eldest had an SI issue the ortho

ordered PT. Well the PT was serving 10 different clients at the same time-she

literally set my child up with one exercise by herself for the 40 minutes

without even checking on her-at 400 bucks an houR!!! Rip off...and the exercise

was basically a leg lift that we were already doing at home-

THe whole PT thing needs stiffer regulation and much much more training. For

the few good PT's out there the rest of them are ruining it.

Diane(can you tell I have an opinion?)LOL

Re: pain from graft site

Pain in the graft site is my number one complaint. I am unable to

stand for more than one minute without having pain. I had my fusion

10 years ago. It was significant, C6-L2, anterior and posterior on

the same day.

When I saw my ortho for followup this past fall, I asked what could

be done for the pain. They wrote a prescription for therapy. All

the prescription said was that it was general back, heat, and so on.

The presription named every possible back therapy.

I took my prescription to the Medical College therapy department,

figuring that they would be experienced with therapy after fusion.

All the department had was a recently graduated therapist who was

immature and unrealistic. I went to the first session and she gave

me exercises that I was unable to do. I went to the second

appointment to report that the exercises were infeasible and we had

to find different exercises. I was assigned to an assistant to the

therapist for that 2nd meeting. The assistent refused to let me talk

to the physical therapist and told me to keep doing the exercises I

said I couldn't do. I went to the appointment desk and asked for my

prescription back and said that I wouldn't be coming back there for

any more therapy and told the appointment desk why. They wouldn't

give me my prescription back, so I walked out without therapy,

without my prescription to go someplace else and with total and

absolute frustration.

My back still hurts and it has in that spot for 10 years. I've been

trying to do differnent things in the weight room at the YMCA, after

I swim my mile every day, but nothing has helped.

Supposedly, the pain is supposed to go away on the illiac crest if

one does core stabilizing exercises. E.G., situps, crunchies, tail

wags (a stupid, stupid exercise). Try doing a situp if you're fused

from C6-L2 and it doesn't work.

At least when I had my surgery, I was within 6 years of being

eligible at work to take full retirement and full pension. My work

had the rule that at age 55 and 30 years of service, one could take

retirement and begin to collect benefits (pension and insurance)

without any reduction in the benefits. I took the retirement because

I could no longer tolerate the pain over the illiac crest, among

other reasons. I am a lucky scoliosis patient in that I was able to

perserve all the way to retirement. It was not easy, but it was

better to make it those last few years to retirement than to give up

the early retirement potential.

So, if you want to get rid of the pain in the illiac crest, the

textbook answer is to do strengthing of the body's core. Abdominals,

sit ups, crunchies, etc., and that is supposed to eliminate the pain

according to the textbook.

One thing that I still use for pain is my TENS unit. I still had

some pads for the electrodes and the unit that was prescribed for me

still works, so if I know that I'm going to go somewhere where I need

to spend some time on my feet, I use the TENS unit. That helps to

some degree, but I still need to sit.

Since I have the pain, I'm not walking for exercise and my weight has

gone up despite the fact that I do swim one mile at the YMCA every

day and also do the weight machines on two days a week.

Good luck with the pain.

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _

Be a better friend, newshound, and

know-it-all with Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile. /

;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR 8HDtDypao8Wcj9tA cJ

[Guest guest]

The PT department has to have a prescription for all of the sessions

they give. They would have to keep the prescription for the ones you

did get from them to get reimbursment from the insurance company. If

you go to another PT, you can call your doctor's office and have them

fax the order to your new PT.

I have been hurt by PT's in the past. A lot of them don't know how to

deal with scoliosis, pre or post surgery. I have not had surgery and

I have had trouble finding a good one. They want to treat me like any

other back pain. Fortunately, I have one now who specailizes in

scoliosis because she has it. I just found her by accident and feel

so lucky. She has given me information that I have been looking for

for 30 years. She has helped me understand my own body better than

anyone has before. Good luck.

[Guest guest]

The thing I didn't mention in my comment about PT, was that I selected my own PT

because I knew him from the home care agency I used to work for. He's got just a

one man practice, he does his own billing, and there are no fancy machines or PT

aides that know very little. He does bodywork called Zero-balancing, which I

think has helped me alot, cranio-sacral, and gives me appropriate exercises

within the limitations of my RX, and supervises me doing them so he can critique

my form. He's been VERY helpful, especially since I am 3 hours from my surgeon.

I don't know what I would have done without Jim. But I had to beg and be very

assertive to get a script and finally when my surgeon realized he WOULD NOT let

me do any pelvic tilts (tail-wags?), only then did she know for sure that he was

not going to give me inappropriate exercises and jeopardize the surgery. One

good PT is worth a whole PT business with several PTs, aides, desk clerks and

lots of machines. You donot need all

that fancy stuff to make your core stronger.

Debbie

diane neuman <neumandiane@...> wrote:

Our daughters ortho actually showed us the stretches she should do-

Over the years we have had only one good PT and that was when our DD was just a

tiny thing-every other experience the PT thinks they are your Dr and try to tell

to do things that you should not being doing-

I won't see a PT any more nor will our family-at least until they are required

to go through the same medical school and internships that my ORtho does-then we

talk. I have noticed though that OT's and Speech therapists do provide a lot

more positive therapy-

The PT clinics I have seen are the worse-my eldest had an SI issue the ortho

ordered PT. Well the PT was serving 10 different clients at the same time-she

literally set my child up with one exercise by herself for the 40 minutes

without even checking on her-at 400 bucks an houR!!! Rip off...and the exercise

was basically a leg lift that we were already doing at home-

THe whole PT thing needs stiffer regulation and much much more training. For the

few good PT's out there the rest of them are ruining it.

Diane(can you tell I have an opinion?)LOL

Re: pain from graft site

Pain in the graft site is my number one complaint. I am unable to

stand for more than one minute without having pain. I had my fusion

10 years ago. It was significant, C6-L2, anterior and posterior on

the same day.

When I saw my ortho for followup this past fall, I asked what could

be done for the pain. They wrote a prescription for therapy. All

the prescription said was that it was general back, heat, and so on.

The presription named every possible back therapy.

I took my prescription to the Medical College therapy department,

figuring that they would be experienced with therapy after fusion.

All the department had was a recently graduated therapist who was

immature and unrealistic. I went to the first session and she gave

me exercises that I was unable to do. I went to the second

appointment to report that the exercises were infeasible and we had

to find different exercises. I was assigned to an assistant to the

therapist for that 2nd meeting. The assistent refused to let me talk

to the physical therapist and told me to keep doing the exercises I

said I couldn't do. I went to the appointment desk and asked for my

prescription back and said that I wouldn't be coming back there for

any more therapy and told the appointment desk why. They wouldn't

give me my prescription back, so I walked out without therapy,

without my prescription to go someplace else and with total and

absolute frustration.

My back still hurts and it has in that spot for 10 years. I've been

trying to do differnent things in the weight room at the YMCA, after

I swim my mile every day, but nothing has helped.

Supposedly, the pain is supposed to go away on the illiac crest if

one does core stabilizing exercises. E.G., situps, crunchies, tail

wags (a stupid, stupid exercise). Try doing a situp if you're fused

from C6-L2 and it doesn't work.

At least when I had my surgery, I was within 6 years of being

eligible at work to take full retirement and full pension. My work

had the rule that at age 55 and 30 years of service, one could take

retirement and begin to collect benefits (pension and insurance)

without any reduction in the benefits. I took the retirement because

I could no longer tolerate the pain over the illiac crest, among

other reasons. I am a lucky scoliosis patient in that I was able to

perserve all the way to retirement. It was not easy, but it was

better to make it those last few years to retirement than to give up

the early retirement potential.

So, if you want to get rid of the pain in the illiac crest, the

textbook answer is to do strengthing of the body's core. Abdominals,

sit ups, crunchies, etc., and that is supposed to eliminate the pain

according to the textbook.

One thing that I still use for pain is my TENS unit. I still had

some pads for the electrodes and the unit that was prescribed for me

still works, so if I know that I'm going to go somewhere where I need

to spend some time on my feet, I use the TENS unit. That helps to

some degree, but I still need to sit.

Since I have the pain, I'm not walking for exercise and my weight has

gone up despite the fact that I do swim one mile at the YMCA every

day and also do the weight machines on two days a week.

Good luck with the pain.

____________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _________ _

Be a better friend, newshound, and

know-it-all with Mobile. Try it now. http://mobile. /

;_ylt=Ahu06i62sR 8HDtDypao8Wcj9tA cJ