Re: Lumbar Spine Surgery and alittle OT

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

First, let me say thank you to all who responded to my post about H1N1. I

have recovered from the flu and now I don't need a flu shot! Also, I was so

fortunate to get strep throat with the flu so after 2 visits to the ER I

finally got some treatment. I am back to work and feeling LOTS better!

Now, for the fusions.I have not had the lumbar fusion but I have had the

cervical fusion. My husband had the lumbar fusion, posterior but I have

heard that the new thing is anterior. Recovery time for hubby (who is

healthy) was 6 months. Then his return to work was on light duty. It's

rough as you already know but I pray that the surgery goes well. My husband

still has occasional back pains but NOTHING like it was before the surgery.

Best of luck and let us know how it goes once you are able.

_____

From: [mailto: ] On

Behalf Of cynthiadew1

Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 2:23 PM

Subject: [ ] Lumbar Spine Surgery

I've been lurking on the list. I wanted to post this information on what has

been going on with me. One, to see if anyone else has had a

Anterior/Posterior spinal fusions, and what their experiences were with

recovery. And two, to remind list members to get checked out if they are

having pain in lower backs, necks, or unexplained pain in their limbs.

Granted when I first started with this pain, the pain pre-dated my dx of RA,

the treatments for the spine were not what they are now.

Well last year was fusion for my cervical spine. This year it is my lumbar

spine. My new MRI has a laundry list of issues: DDD, stenosis of my spine

and foramen, arthropathies, hypertrophies, hemangiomas, and something

described as a nonspecific heterogeneous appearance to the bone marrow which

may reflect sequela from infiltrative process considering the patient's

clinical history. What I know and is easy for me to understand without doing

a long search on the internet is that my discs are all dried out and

compressing, I have bone spurs everywhere, my facet joints are bone on bone

on two levels, and I'm tried of the pain!

So, imagine having pain in your groin. So you go to the Rheumy and have

x-rays and he doesn't see anything wrong with your hip joints. A little wear

on your cartiledge but nothing that would cause the pain you are having. You

have pain in knee, again the x-rays look okay. There is some swelling in

your knee, so you get a cortisone shot. No relief from the pain. So you go

to your orthopedic surgeon. Last year he did cervical fusion, which improved

the function and pain level of my right arm at least 80%. So over the past

couple of months, I started and have slowly gone up to 1200 mg of neurotin

daily to deal with the referred pain from either my cerival or lumbar areas.

Which helps cover up the pain, it does not treat the cause of the pain. I am

still in pain, but it's 'better' than it was. Since getting the pain kind of

under control, that is when a CT and MRI was done. My Surgeon wanted to see

if something had gone bad with the cervical fusion. Luckily that cervical

spine fusion looks great. The levels above and below, will in the future

have to be dealt with, but that is just one of the joys of RA affecting the

cervical spine. This year we are dealing with the lumbar spine. It is messy,

and my surgeon is going to do a anterior and posterior fusions with rods,

screws and such. Hopefully this will do two things, stabilize my spine, and

reduce the pain.

I am having surgery next Tuesday. I have a surgeon I trust. He is a Spinal

Reconstruction Specialist, and only works on spines. I am staying in the

hospital for 4 days, and will go to a rehab hospital for a week or so

directly after that.

Again, has anyone else had this type of surgery? I know last year several

people answered my post, and I am grateful for their reponses. Just knowing

someone else has done this before with RA and is doing okay eased my mind a

lot. Thanks

[Guest guest]

, I'm so glad that you're finally over the flu and the strep

throat that followed. It's no fun being sick. I get my regular flu

shot this Thursday. I don't know when our health department will have

the H1N1 vaccinations ready, but I plan to get one of those, too.

Sue

On Oct 6, 2009, at 10:44 PM, Lalis wrote:

> Hi All,

>

> First, let me say thank you to all who responded to my post about

> H1N1. I

> have recovered from the flu and now I don't need a flu shot! Also,

> I was so

> fortunate to get strep throat with the flu so after 2 visits to the

> ER I

> finally got some treatment. I am back to work and feeling LOTS

> better!

>

[Guest guest]

I'm glad you are OK now, !

Not an MD

On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 9:44 PM, Lalis <drack2@...> wrote:

> Hi All,

>

> First, let me say thank you to all who responded to my post about H1N1.  I

> have recovered from the flu and now I don't need a flu shot!  Also, I was so

> fortunate to get strep throat with the flu so after 2 visits to the ER I

> finally got some treatment.  I am back to work and feeling LOTS better!

>

>

>

> Now, for the fusions.I have not had the lumbar fusion but I have had the

> cervical fusion.  My husband had the lumbar fusion, posterior but I have

> heard that the new thing is anterior.  Recovery time for hubby (who is

> healthy) was 6 months.  Then his return to work was on light duty.  It's

> rough as you already know but I pray that the surgery goes well.  My husband

> still has occasional back pains but NOTHING like it was before the surgery.

> Best of luck and let us know how it goes once you are able.

>

>

[Guest guest]

I'll be wait in line with you, Sue.

Not an MD

On Tue, Oct 6, 2009 at 10:20 PM, marysue <marysue@...> wrote:

> , I'm so glad that you're finally over the flu and the strep

> throat that followed. It's no fun being sick. I get my regular flu

> shot this Thursday. I don't know when our health department will have

> the H1N1 vaccinations ready, but I plan to get one of those, too.

>

> Sue