Guest guest Posted January 14, 2008 Report Share Posted January 14, 2008 Jeri, Your excitement is contagious! I am so excited for you! Sounds like you are in excellent hands. I can’t wait to see the “before” and “after” photos. - From: [mailto: ] On Behalf Of bocce_fun Sent: Monday, January 14, 2008 4:36 PM Subject: [ ] Pre-surgery work up finished! :-) Jeri update If this sounds a little giddy, it is. I am SO glad to be done with my pre-surgery workup.... a couple of reasons. It took from 9am to 3:30pm. Now there's no turning back. Oh, one more thing -- a margarita would taste good right now., I donate my 4th (last) pint of blood at Red Cross in about half an hour. What fun that is! Cookies, lemonade, pizza, crackers w/cheese. I have always had one son or other or hubby with me cuz of snow/ice/wobbly after donating/wobbly cuz of numb feet. There were some things I wasn't rock-solid-sure about; now I am. ALL my hardware will be taken out. Wedges will not be in cages but will be cut from donor shins. Allograft is a more mysterious way to describe that and a bit easier to think about. I've been unsure if some of the terms I see in this forum refer to me. Now I know. I'll get laminectomy because of stenosis. At first appt he didn't use those terms. All hardware will be removed. I'll be fused from T3 - S1. Because I'm going to be fused to S1, he doesn't want any bending or turning at all... I will not be up to walk AT ALL until I'm at the skilled facility because they have a tilt table. I will not be partially sitting up in bed... I will not be laying on my side in bed...but turned just enough to prevent pressure points. He doesn't want me bending AT ALL for about 6 weeks. In fact, he said that I'll arrive at my 6 week checkup on a stretcher, and rolled onto the exam table. Man, am I glad I'll have prism glasses! I tend to break things, so maybe I'll order a second pair now... hubby can keep them safe so he can give the second pair to me if I break the first pair. I've got to be at hosp by 5:30, surgery starts at 7:30. It'll take 10- 12 hours to do both A & P. He'll do it all in one session unless he gets tired. He said he needs at least 4 hands... I was worried that he'd let a resident take over for a period of time. Nope. And the resident will be either a 4th or 5th yr resident or a fellow. Now I finally know what a 'fellow' is! And I'm so relieved about that. He'll eat lunch and use the restroom while I'm being repositioned from A to P or vice versa. Hubby and both sons (19 & 21) were with me. I really wanted the boys to understand what will happen, including all the details. Even 5 yrs ago, I wouldn't have requested that they go, but now, I would have been very disappointed if either one had opted out. He used a model to explain how screws work vs. the hooks I have in now. He patiently and completely answered every single one of my questions. I'll let you know if my opinion changes, but I feel completely comfortable that Dr. Cliff Tribus is right up there in the club with Drs. Bradford, Broachie, Hu, and LaGrone. He actually did his residency and/or fellowship with Dr. Hu under supervision of Dr. Bradford. Now that I understand more, I hope I can help anyone who knows less than me about all this... very few people who know less than me. Well, I'm off to my last visit to the vampire. Jeri Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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