Spinal Fusion Recovery
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi all.
Well I finally had my fusion surgery on Saturday morning.
Laying here in my hospital bed at the wonderful St George's in Tooting, London.
The experience so far is fairly good.
Recovery from the anaesthetic was OK. Took them a while to "get on top of" my pain before I was comfortable in recovery. I was there newly 3 hours before going back to the ward.
My wonderful surgeon Matt came to see me after he'd finished his surgeries for the day, just to let me know all went as planned with only one slight hiccup that I lost around a litre of blood in theatre. He managed to fit 2 cages and 4 screws into my spine as this was better plan for me going forward.
I came round with a fentanyl PCA rather than morphine because I'm used to the higher strength analgesia as I already use fentanyl patches. Also had fluid drip (Hartmanns) and urinary catheter fitted, plus a vacuum wound drain.
First 24 hours were OK. Good pain control with the fentanyl PCA plus oral meds (codeine, paracetamol, diclofenac, diazepam and tramadol).
Managed to sit up on Saturday evening on my own in the edge of the bed, but this was very brief.
Sunday morning I hadthe PCA taken down and then managed to go to the toilet (BO) with no support. I couldn't believe how little pain I was in!
Had a little bit of a setback Sunday afternoon, suffering an absolutely blinding headache and just knocked sideways by it. I recon it was down to the fact my wound drain wasn't vacced and fluid had built up in my wound, consequently placing pressure on my spinal column. Only my theory, but having a medical background does come in handy sometimes! Haha. The headache went soon after the drain was vacuumed again.
Well it's now 6am on Monday morning and this is my first blog after my op, as promised.
I will of course continue to update you as things progress.
Any questions, please ask away.
Just wanted to say a big thanks to all of you who sent your kind wishes so far. Bless you.
Stuart
So far things are very positive. A good experience
2 likes, 16 replies
pamela_25028 stuart1965
Posted
His Stuart it's been about a month since we last spoke. How are you doing now?
I'm a little concerned it's been 10 weeks now since my fusion and I am still in pain. ..if I don't do anything except very light exercises from physio and walking a little and slow I'm okay. If I do any hoovering or sweeping or attempt to bend or twist I am in really agony for days. Last week I drove to clinic and back approximately 25mile round trip and it has taken 4 days for the pain to ease.
The pain is not back pain and leg pain as before op it's hip pain. Have you had anything like this? Do you know if it's normal? I'm a bit anxious the family are worried and think I should be contacting hospital I haven't had follow up appointment yet, my main concern is I have 4 weeks before returning to work they will give me 4 weeks to be fully fit if not I have to go sick again. ..I have had no sick pay since April so this is not an option for me. I'm also becoming depressed because I feel I should be able to do things by now.
Sorry to ramble on.