Re: Housekeeping after Surgery/Fusion to S-1

[Guest guest]

Hi Cam,

Its now 3 weeks to my revision surgery, I received a very long

letter (3 x A4 sides typed) of what I am not allowed to do after

surgery, as one friend quipped 'So, basically your not allowed to do

anything then' LOL.

As far as I am aware I will still only be fused to L2 unless my

surgeon finds a problem when he 'opens me up'. What I would like to

know is what would happen if you tried to bend forward as if you

were not fused?

I am not 'being funny', but I genuinely cannot work it out...I have

enough trouble putting on socks at the moment because my feet seem

sooo far away! I would just like to know what my possibilities are,

I hope I havent offended you by asking such a personal question.

Best wishes,

Kat x

[Guest guest]

Hi Kat...

Your question was addressed to me, but thought I’d answer anyway.

If you’re already feeling like you can’t reach your feet, you may not even notice any difference in flexibility after surgery. However, I’d urge you to follow your surgeon’s instructions to not bend, lift, or twist. If you were to use enough force to bend over before fusion takes hold, you could pull screws or hooks out of the spine. After surgery, you will probably be given tools to help you dress and perform minor tasks.

Regards,

On 10/17/06 4:08 PM, " kat_black2 " <kat_black2@...> wrote:

Hi Cam,

Its now 3 weeks to my revision surgery, I received a very long

letter (3 x A4 sides typed) of what I am not allowed to do after

surgery, as one friend quipped 'So, basically your not allowed to do

anything then' LOL.

As far as I am aware I will still only be fused to L2 unless my

surgeon finds a problem when he 'opens me up'. What I would like to

know is what would happen if you tried to bend forward as if you

were not fused?

I am not 'being funny', but I genuinely cannot work it out...I have

enough trouble putting on socks at the moment because my feet seem

sooo far away! I would just like to know what my possibilities are,

I hope I havent offended you by asking such a personal question.

Best wishes,

Kat x

[Guest guest]

Kat,

I am not sure if I understand your question....but I will try to

answer you. My original surgery I was fused from T4 to L4....and

that permitted enough bend and twist, even at one level to do just

about anything I wanted.

Being fused to the sacrum means essentially that the spine is

attached to the pelvis....so after the fusion is solid, for me,

everything from T4 to my " sit bones " has to move in the same plane

at the same time.....if it didn't, I would risk doing damaging the

discs above my fusion I suppose. But the real answer to your

question is that now, 19 months after surgery, I can't bend forward

in the torso at all...anymore than you can bend forward from mid-

thigh....unless you snap your thighbone. My spine is now solid bone

and it will not bend.

So between surgery and the the one year mark where they will

hopefully tell you you have a solid fusion....you really have to go

by what your surgeon tells you. When they say no bending, no

housework, no car accidents....they mean it....anything that could

disrupt the fusing process and you could be back a square one....and

we don't want that. So find househelp, or friends or family and make

sure they read your instructions and follow them.

A lot of my energy and work this past year has been directed toward

strenghening and stretching what is left. After the recovery from

surgery (and the sedintary period leanding up to revision), somehow

I lost a lot...and well stretch hamstrings are now the only thing

that is going to get me to my feet or the floor, or whatever. If it

is not too uncomfortable for you now...I would say ask your doctor

about working on stretching your hams now. They are going to be your

key to a happy fusion!

I hope you are not getting too nervous.

Take Care, Cam

[Guest guest]

Dear Kat,

Cam descibed very well what it's like to be fused to the sacrum. Mostly it takes a lot of adapting. Sounds like for you once the surgery and recovery is over( if they don't find anything that requires further fusion to the sacrum) that you will have the same bending ability that you had. My original surgery( Harrington Rod) after getting out of the brace, and the fusion was solid I could bend enough to do all the things I wanted. Now after being fused to the sacrum, I don't bend, I have a little leaning forward quality, but not more than a few inches. You should follow all directions fully, they are there to protect you while fusing. Also to keep your hardware in place and keep it from breaking. It will be hard, and the physical therapy people at the hospital will go over all the restictions with you and teach you coping skills and teach you how to use the tools you'll need to get through the day. Your feet will be miles away, a sock helper, a dressing stick will help. Getting your underware on will be work, boy I remember just after surgery feeling like I needed a nap after the energy spent just getting dressed. It gets better, just takes time and healing, and adapting. I've been fused to the sacrum for five years now, and really never think about bending, function has been gone so long that I think to use my grabber, not bend. Loosing the ability to bend sounds just awful, and while it's not fun, and takes a lot of coping skills, you can live a very full life without that ability. And for me having the pain gone was totally worth the loss of my bending ability. Be sure and ask away, we are glad to help!

[ ] Re: Housekeeping after Surgery/Fusion to S-1

Hi Cam,Its now 3 weeks to my revision surgery, I received a very long letter (3 x A4 sides typed) of what I am not allowed to do after surgery, as one friend quipped 'So, basically your not allowed to do anything then' LOL.As far as I am aware I will still only be fused to L2 unless my surgeon finds a problem when he 'opens me up'. What I would like to know is what would happen if you tried to bend forward as if you were not fused?I am not 'being funny', but I genuinely cannot work it out...I have enough trouble putting on socks at the moment because my feet seem sooo far away! I would just like to know what my possibilities are, I hope I havent offended you by asking such a personal question.Best wishes,Kat x

[Guest guest]

Dear Cam and ,

On re-reading my post today I realise it doesn't make much sense, I

think I wrote it at about 11.30pm UK time and I was tired, well that

is my excuse and I am sticking to it! )

What I meant was what would happen if someone such as yourself who is

fused to the sacrum tried to bend forward? But I think I understand it

now, when you said about it being solid and cannot bend anymore than

you can bend forward from mid-thigh....unless you snap your thighbone.

I'm not really sure of what my surgeon will find when they 'go in' cos

I have a lot of lower back pain, but I am not that nervous about the

op itself, well not more than most I would say, but it is getting very

stressful at home due to my OH being a bit of a stresshead. I know he

is worried about my surgery and all the extra stuff he will have to do

in my recovery, he read my 'do not do' list and was very unimpressed

with it, I am getting more worried about how he is going to cope.

I already feel helpless and I haven't even had the op yet, I feel like

my recovery period is going to be very stressful as I will want to

help but won't be able or be allowed, to be honest the closer the op

gets the more I feel like pulling out, nt because I am scared of the

surgery but because I know I won't be able to cope with how stressed

my OH will get, he doesn't get 'sad-stressed' but 'mad-stressed' and

it does scare me a bit.

Anyway not a lot you guys can do about that so I will sign off for now,

Kat x

[Guest guest]

Kat,

No problem with fuzzy questions....they just make for longer

answers! I hope you see that really after being fused all the way

down, you simply have to use your hips and knees to get " low " , or

lean down.

I am very concerned when you say you are very worried about how your

husband will deal with the stress of your recovery....getting " mad

stressed " , as you say. I don't know much about the resources

available to you in the UK, but I feel strongly that you should not

deal with this worry alone. Problems and challenges come up in every

relationship, but they should not result in one party being fearful

of the other. Perhaps your husband would benefit from consultation

with someone affiliated with the social services wing of your

hospital. Then perhaps he can learn how to deal with his own

anxiety, as well as the extra demands your recovery will require?

Many men feel very helpless themselves when someone they love is in

pain, or is facing a scary surgery. They react badly or in ways we

don't expect. They may need counciling and support themselves.

Only you know your personal situation...but if you pull out of

surgery, isn't it likely that your physical ability is going to

continue to decline...and then are you not in the same place with

your husband as you are today...with him being mad that he has to do

more and more of the caretaking? And of course you may even be in

more pain.

Do you have a network of friends and family that can be arranged to

help, at least in the early going? Yes, the recovery is long, but it

is not like you will be incapable of doing anything for long...you

just will not be able to manage the physical aspects of housekeeping

yourself. You will be able to direct your children/family/friends or

someone you might hire for a few hours a day/week to do the things

you can not. Yes, it may be a change in the way things are done in

your house, or who has responsibility for certain things....but as

you regain your strength you will gradually, but surely, come back

to a new way of doing most of the things that you do now.

Please don't dispair, and try not to feel so alone. We are all here

to help and encourage you to find the support you need to get

through this.

Take Care, Cam

[Guest guest]

my husband is also getting extremely stressed out. We have been

sniping at each other for awhile now, and he finally confessed this

morning that he has been having terrible nightmares about my funeral

and being left with my kids and how horrible it would be.

I am not sure which has him more stressed -- the back surgery or the

tumor on the ovary. I will sure be glad when I have some clue when

the surgeries will be -- should know by this time next week.

>

> Dear Cam and ,

but it is getting very

> stressful at home due to my OH being a bit of a stresshead. I know

he

> is worried about my surgery and all the extra stuff he will have

to do

> in my recovery, he read my 'do not do' list and was very

unimpressed

> with it, I am getting more worried about how he is going to cope.

> I already feel helpless and I haven't even had the op yet, I feel

like

> my recovery period is going to be very stressful as I will want to

> help but won't be able or be allowed, to be honest the closer the

op

> gets the more I feel like pulling out, nt because I am scared of

the

> surgery but because I know I won't be able to cope with how

stressed

> my OH will get, he doesn't get 'sad-stressed' but 'mad-stressed'

and

> it does scare me a bit.

>

> Anyway not a lot you guys can do about that so I will sign off for

now,

>

> Kat x

>