Re: Re: Shoulder exercise, suture allergy, happy doc

[Guest guest]

Thank you, my friend!

That's interesting, , that you've had a similar experience with

sutures working their way out. You didn't have your upper back worked

on, did you? One of my itchiest spots is right between my shoulder

blades, where I can only reach by pushing my elbow with my other hand.

And I think that's right about where that one piece worked its way out,

but I can't feel any other pieces, and I think that one was more than a

year ago. I figure there's plenty of the stuff in there, and if I were

allergic to it this is just how my skin would look and feel!

Regarding the exercise, I'll just preface this with the usual

disclaimer (yada, yada, yada), not for you ('cause I know you're

already aware of this stuff) but for the group at large, that I'm not a

medical person, I'm just sharing information on what I was taught, and

anyone who is still waiting for the "all clear" on postoperative

restrictions should check with their surgeon before trying this.

Stand facing a counter and lean against it with both hands, arms

straight, in such a way that your body and arms make sort of an A

frame. The farther back your feet are the greater the resistance will

be. Pull your shoulder blades in toward your spine, then push them

outwards. The effect will be to move your head closer to the counter,

then further from it. No need to bend your elbows at all. The work

should be done by the shoulder blade muscles.

That's it. I've been doing sets of 10, and have just started so am

only doing it once a day but plan to work up gently.

Take care,

Sharon

rebeccamaas wrote:

Sharon,

First of all - congrats on such a wonderful 2-year check up visit!

It's so wonderful to hear how well you are doing.

As far as the sutures go - I've had sutures work their way out of my

body a good year & a half after they were put in (most recently I

pulled one out in September from a scar where my IV port-a-cath was

removed in Apr 2007). I had several pieces of sutures work their way

out of my revision scars too since summer 2007. I don't know if I'm

allergic to them, but my skin was very irritated as they worked their

way out.

I would love to hear more details about the shoulder blade exercise

that you mentioned, when you have the chance.

Take care, and congrats on the great checkup

>

> Funny how the first anniversary of revision is a big deal, while

the

> second goes hardly noticed. Mine passed Sept. 27. I saw Dr. Rand

on

> Nov. 13th for my 2-year follow-up, and he said my x-rays still

look

great.

>

> I told him my pool PT had helped a lot, but I thought I needed

more

help

> in the upper back/shoulder blade area. Instead of a PT referral,

he

> gave me a simple exercise I can do against the kitchen counter. He

said

> he had learned it from a therapist and it had helped another of

his

> patients (credit where credit is due!) Since my revision included

new

> hardware all the way up to T4, my shoulder blade muscles were

affected,

> and have been very uncomfortable since, as well as numb. Of course

the

> exercise won't touch the numbness, but it does seem to help with

the

> muscle pain/discomfort. I'll be happy to describe the exercise if

> anyone is interested.

>

> I also asked him if it's common to get eczema on the incision

scars.

> I've had a lot of redness and itching on and near my back

incision,

> though none on the abdominal one. He had a look, and concluded I

must

> be allergic to the absorbable sutures he used to close it. I was

> surprised to learn that it takes several years for them to fully

> absorb! That must explain the tiny bit of foreign material that

was

> sticking out of my skin and driving me nuts with itching until I

handed

> my husband my tweezers and told him to go at it. (It pulled out

easily,

> much to my relief.) I didn't inquire, but I assume Dr. Rand used

> something different on my abdominal incision. He said I was doing

the

> right thing to put hydrocortisone on it. Nice to be able to

complain

> about something so minor! It was also fun telling him I'd recently

> heard my squeaky hardware, while working in the yard with ear

plugs. He

> had told me pre-operatively that is an idiosyncrasy of titanium.

> Sometimes patients can hear it, but also he hears it squeaking

while he

> installs it.

>

> I mentioned that I had seen Cam's broken rod x-ray, and we

discussed

> what causes broken rods, etc. He seems to feel that just the

cumulative

> stresses of normal living can build up and cause a break, and that

he

> feels it's less likely Cam broke it by falling while x-country

skiing.

> He also says that such breaks usually don't cause or indicate a

problem

> for the patient. I asked if it was ok to try ice skating again,

and he

> said if I already know how, then sure.

>

> I don't know why it surprised me, but I get the distinct

impression

that

> Dr. Rand takes a great deal of pleasure in seeing his patients

whom

he

> has successfully helped and who are looking good and enjoying

life. I

> told him I don't even need the nifty kneeling bench now to do my

> gardening, and that I also get exercise swimming, bicycling, and

> sailing. He was literally beaming. After all the apprehensive

> questions, the pre-op concerns, the long hours of meticulous,

messy

> work, the post-op visits to a gorked-out patient in pain and

barely

able

> to walk, I guess these happy follow-ups have got to be a real high

point

> in a surgeon's work. Of course I had understood intellectually

that

> back surgeons are not big meanies who like to poke, prod, stretch,

cast,

> and cause pain, but I guess "Little Sharon" still tends to feel

that way

> deep down. There's something healing about this sort of "sharing

the

> joy" visit.

>

> Sharon

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks, Cam.

I will go back and post my exercise in files. Thanks for the

suggestion.

So, I'm not alone in thinking Dr. Rand allows himself the luxury of

feeling great about a job well-done. ly (no pun intended!), I

can't imagine that I'd be able to do otherwise were I in his position.

I think it's contagious, as Priscilla has the same bearing. Oh, by the

way, I congratulated her on the instant family, and she was like, "How

did you know? Did Cam Maltby tell you?"

Yes, I've noticed he seems to schedule follow-ups much longer than

other surgeons, so perhaps that's why we're able to see how he reacts

to seeing us doing so well. Amit had been surprised when he told me to

come back for a 2-year check-up, and when he scheduled me for year 3, I

started to see a pattern! Do you know how far out he continues to

follow people? It does seem a bit of a luxury to maintain follow-up,

as we could certainly just go our merry ways and call again if in the

future we need his help. But I do like this approach, and I know if I

weren't kept on as his patient I would take longer to go see him if a

problem arose. Plus, human nature is such that some people would be

inclined to go to someone else if they felt he hadn't done the job

right and hadn't bothered to follow through, causing him to never know

anything had gone wrong. And it's probably easier administratively to

keep seeing patients at long intervals, so they can keep a current file

on us. At any rate, I very much like the approach, as on a gut level

it sort of makes up for having been discharged from follow-up and

spending years not knowing what was wrong with us. And I suppose he

makes up for the extra care on this end of things by being very

selective whom he spends time seeing.

Well, ta-ta, and here's to another year of improved function and

quality of life!

Sharon

cammaltby wrote:

Sharon,

Congrats on yet another good checkup and milestone achieved! You

will no doubt continue to see small progresses...they just come

farther and farther apart...and you suddenly say "Hey! I can do

_________ now!" Its funny.

I think it would be a lovely idea to share your upper back/shoulder

exercise routine with the group. I would also recommend you make a

word doc and upload it to the files section so we will have a

permanent, easy reference to it.

I know DrRand doesn't think it was a one time event broke my rod,

and I dont either. However, sometime between the xray of June 07 and

Oct 08 the rod DID break. If there was a weakness in the rod from

being shaped and from during the time of early healing...then I am

guessing that between the crisp, sub zero Norwegian temps I was in,

and the very hard "sit down" that I had....it is possible that is

when the rod decided to split apart. Regardless...nothing else

indicates anything is amiss. I trusted DrRand with my life, so

certainly trust his judgement to assume that nothing is necessarily

wrong!

I think we were/are lucky to share a surgeon who seems to take

personnal joy in seeing the long term positive effects of his work.

He is a bit of an oddity in that he does try to do follow on care. I

know he has been up front with me that he sees us older scolis

as "works in progress". He doesn't see our earlier surgeries

necessarily as "mistakes"...but he sees that the the idea that we

would go on to live completely normal lives as overly optimistic. I

know that was a good part of the reason that he chose to leave the

group he was with. Apparently that gives him more time and control

over how he manages his patients. I would guess if you are in

a "sugical" group you are depended upon to do a certain amount of

surgeries to carry your share. I think that is a difficult

proposition for a surgeon who focuses on deformities. Just like a

lot of us found after our primary surgeries...we get followed for

a

few years....and then what? Are we really supposed to rely on the

the same local orthos that couldn't diagnose or care for our spines

for the last 20 years? Its very difficult.

Anyway...congratulations on 2 years!

Take Care, Cam

[Guest guest]

Good luck with it, . I hope it helps you.

Sharon

starrc44 wrote:

Hi, Sharon:

Dr. Rand gave me the same exercise at each of my visits. He swears

by it. I've started doing it this week...I'll let you know if I see

a difference.

> > >

> > > Funny how the first anniversary of revision is a big

deal, while

> > the

> > > second goes hardly noticed. Mine passed Sept. 27. I saw

Dr. Rand

> > on

> > > Nov. 13th for my 2-year follow-up, and he said my x-rays

still

look

> > great.

> > >

> > > I told him my pool PT had helped a lot, but I thought I

needed

more

> > help

> > > in the upper back/shoulder blade area. Instead of a PT

referral,

> > he

> > > gave me a simple exercise I can do against the kitchen

counter.

He

> > said

> > > he had learned it from a therapist and it had helped

another of

his

> > > patients (credit where credit is due!) Since my revision

included

> > new

> > > hardware all the way up to T4, my shoulder blade muscles

were

> > affected,

> > > and have been very uncomfortable since, as well as numb.

Of

course

> > the

> > > exercise won't touch the numbness, but it does seem to

help with

> > the

> > > muscle pain/discomfort. I'll be happy to describe the

exercise

if

> > > anyone is interested.

> > >

> > > I also asked him if it's common to get eczema on the

incision

> > scars.

> > > I've had a lot of redness and itching on and near my

back

incision,

> > > though none on the abdominal one. He had a look, and

concluded I

> > must

> > > be allergic to the absorbable sutures he used to close

it. I was

> > > surprised to learn that it takes several years for them

to fully

> > > absorb! That must explain the tiny bit of foreign

material that

> > was

> > > sticking out of my skin and driving me nuts with itching

until I

> > handed

> > > my husband my tweezers and told him to go at it. (It

pulled out

> > easily,

> > > much to my relief.) I didn't inquire, but I assume Dr.

Rand used

> > > something different on my abdominal incision. He said I

was

doing

> > the

> > > right thing to put hydrocortisone on it. Nice to be able

to

> > complain

> > > about something so minor! It was also fun telling him

I'd

recently

> > > heard my squeaky hardware, while working in the yard

with ear

> > plugs. He

> > > had told me pre-operatively that is an idiosyncrasy of

titanium.

> > > Sometimes patients can hear it, but also he hears it

squeaking

> > while he

> > > installs it.

> > >

> > > I mentioned that I had seen Cam's broken rod x-ray, and

we

> > discussed

> > > what causes broken rods, etc. He seems to feel that just

the

> > cumulative

> > > stresses of normal living can build up and cause a

break, and

that

> > he

> > > feels it's less likely Cam broke it by falling while

x-country

> > skiing.

> > > He also says that such breaks usually don't cause or

indicate a

> > problem

> > > for the patient. I asked if it was ok to try ice skating

again,

> > and he

> > > said if I already know how, then sure.

> > >

> > > I don't know why it surprised me, but I get the distinct

impression

> > that

> > > Dr. Rand takes a great deal of pleasure in seeing his

patients

whom

> > he

> > > has successfully helped and who are looking good and

enjoying

> > life. I

> > > told him I don't even need the nifty kneeling bench now

to do my

> > > gardening, and that I also get exercise swimming,

bicycling, and

> > > sailing. He was literally beaming. After all the

apprehensive

> > > questions, the pre-op concerns, the long hours of

meticulous,

messy

> > > work, the post-op visits to a gorked-out patient in pain

and

barely

> > able

> > > to walk, I guess these happy follow-ups have got to be a

real

high

> > point

> > > in a surgeon's work. Of course I had understood

intellectually

> > that

> > > back surgeons are not big meanies who like to poke,

prod,

stretch,

> > cast,

> > > and cause pain, but I guess "Little Sharon" still tends

to feel

> > that way

> > > deep down. There's something healing about this sort of

"sharing

> > the

> > > joy" visit.

> > >

> > > Sharon

> > >

> >

> >

>