Spinal surgery for fractured vertebrae?

Yeah I do have family members to support me but they aren't very helpful. The only person that wants to help is my mum, but she has worried so much about me since the accident and anytime I try to talk about the surgery and what it might result in for me in the future she doesn't want to hear it because she doesn't lie talking about it. So, I feel quite lonely as well as everything else as I don't know a single person who has had this surgery done, never let on at 18 years old! Do you think that is why they did the surgey to me, in order to fuse the vertebrae? I really don't want 3 vertebrae in my lumber back to be fused for my entire life as the lumber area of the spine is the most important when it comes to bending and what not. I just don't see why I even needed to have the surgery done. I'm only 18 and there was no neurological damage done to my spinal cord from the accident, none that I know off at least. I know I am young and have my whole life ahead of me, but that is what scares me as I have so much to go through in life so far without having this on my shoulders until I'm an old person and it possibly giving me problems in the future and limiting me in different ways. The fact that my surgeon said he would take them out in a year or year and a half's time, does that mean maybe it isn't fusion surgery? Thank you!

Well I am sorry you don't have a good support network in place because that is what makes the healing and understanding so much easier. Are you in the US? I don't know if there would be any social services that could help support you with some of the understanding for all of this? Perhaps if you get a copy of all your medical records and keep those on hand you can reference those if any questions come up. The Drs probably did what they needed to do to fix your injury, you are not the only teen that has had a major surgery like this and I know it seems overwhelming now but in the long run it was done to preserve your back and your body from harm down the road. Even though you didn't have any neurological defects from the accident you probably had enough injury where it shifted your vertebrae and a wrong move would put you in a fusion situation rather than a rod/support get everything back in alignment and allow you to heal so that you don't have any permanent damage. Even with a fusion at 1 level you will still be able to do things, I have a fusion and artificial discs from l3-s1, can I bend over like a pretzel like I did prior to my surgery, no but I can still move and exercise and do the things I used to do, I also had a cervical fusion from c3-c7, neck is fine. Just let your body heal, take your physical therapy slow, if you can find an advocate in your care reach out to them and ask them for help, I'm sure someone will be willing to help under the circumstances. Good luck. 

I don't have great support you are right there, but it isn't that they don't care or anything like that, it's the direct opposite, they want to just imagine everything is great and will be back to normal and don't want to hear anything related to the surgery because it upsets them that I went through it. No, I'm actually living in the UK (Northern Ireland) but my accident happened in Dublin, Ireland. That's a good idea too, I rang the hospital that I was detained in earlier in order to get my medical documents and pictures sent to me but they were busy at the time, but I will keep at them for that. I know what you mean, I'm sure it was done for the right reasons and possibly the bone fragments could have done damage to the spinal cord and led to further problems for me in the future. Thank you for letting me know that, it helps to speak to somebody else who has been in the same situation, it's just hard to accept the fact that i could be limited with activities, as I don't want to ever be told "you can't do this or that" that really scares me. Do you think that the surgery I had done, is actually to fuse the vertebrae though? Or do you think it literally is just there to stabilise my spine until the vertebrae heals? And perhaps that is why they're going to take it out in a year? Also, thank you for your great reassurance!

Hard to say whether they fused or just used devices to stabilize the area? I personally don't think you will be all that limited. I'm not sure what you plan on doing in the future but I'll use me as an example. I'm a 44 yo female. I have always been athletic, try anything once attitude. I ski, jet ski, do pilates 2-3xs a week, yoga, gymnastics, boat, atv, travel really there isn't anything I won't do but after my surgeries I have to pause and think is this smart? Will I be in pain after this? My activities aren't going to hurt me because I have titanium holding me together, I just know that my age and certain activities will take a toll on me and I don't necessarily want to be sore or hurting the next day so I take it slow. There are patients that have had their fusions removed once everything has been healed and their own bone has grown over the area or they have had complications with the devices. Every day I am doing something physical I am amazed at what my body can do, you are only limited by you. I allow myself to get into crazy stretches and do things with my therapist present because she feels I can do it and I have her there in case something goes wrong. I started pt 5 weeks after my surgery because I was motivated, every patient is different. Communicate your feelings and what you could do pre surgery to your therapist and continue to communicate what you hope to get out of your sessions and your goals while in therapy and after therapy. It will take a while but you have youth on your side, don't get discouraged and don't be afraid to ask a lot of questions. I really think you will come out of this just fine, it sounds like you are motivated but just a bit in the dark and things moved rather quickly with your surgery that you didn't have time to process any of it. Family means the best but they can be a bit overwhelming at times too, I understand. If you can get out and walk that is highly recommended even just short walks as long as your dr oks it.  I know most of us have all been given the ok to walk post surgery, no stairs if you can avoid until you are stronger. 

I do hope that they are there just to stabilise the spine, at least that's all that the surgeon told me they were going to be there for! Lol, he never mentioned anything about fusing, so I suppose that's one thing. I'm sorry I don't mean to make our as if having spinal fusion is some awful surgery after you having it done and what not, I know that it isn't, but it's just I would prefer to not have it done at my age you know. Honestly, that is really uplifting to hear! I'm really glad that you haven't let it get in your way, I think you're right, if you get upset about it and think "I can't do this and I can't do that" you won't be able to do it. You need to believe that doing these things aren't an obstacle I suppose, that's great that you have such a positive outlook though, it has made me feel better as well. I actually started my physio 5 days after my surgery, I had my surgery on a Wednesday and was realised the following Monday, the physiotherapists I had only gave me minor physio to do which were lying on your back and pulling your knees to your chest and doing a pelvic tilt but they do help a lot. What sort of physio did you do? Did you PT give you twists to do? I was supposed to be starting my second set of physio this week as I am now 6 weeks post op but the hospital doesn't have any available physio sessions until the end of April and so I did private physio and went for one session last week. The man gave me twists to do and one of the exercises was to sit on a chair and put my elbows on my knees and bend forward, it was very sore! After Doing these twists and that other exercise, I got very bad pain in my lower back which I didn't have before and I got weaker legs, and I wasn't able to walk as much as I was able to before. Do you think these are possibly dangerous? I've heard you should try not to twist, but this man gave me two exercises which both involved twisting. Oh yeah I definitely am motivated, I don't mind how long it takes, all I want is to achieve a full recovery, but yeah sometimes it's all a bit too much to take in haha. Yeah, you're right there for sure, sometimes it's better to be left alone for a while lol.

Well because I was fused and a larger area I had a hard time getting dressed at first.  It was all very slow going for me, I had to sit to put on pants, socks, shoes, one foot at a time, very slowly. I didn't really do anything except walk until I got to pt 5 weeks after, in fact they recommended I didn't do anything like housework or cleaning or unloading the dishwasher because of the twisting. I didn't do any twisting exercises in pt at all, in fact it wasn't until I got the all clear from my dr about 6mths post that I started going back to yoga and I had to stop because I couldn't handle the movements and some of the twisting. I started out doing a lot of pelvic tilts, knees to chest, stretches for your hamstrings while sitting in a chair, everything that I did was all done supporting my back. So many different exercises. If it hurt I told them and we moved on, same if I didn't like it or feel I couldn't do it well, there are plenty of other ones to choose from. Aqua therapy is also very good if you can get into a facility that offers that. It's really easy on your joints and you can do so much without feeling like you are. I'm not sure about the twisting so soon after your surgery, since you had pain after I would tell them at your next visit. I also had some balance issues because I had nerve damage and weakness in one of my legs so we did balance exercises, strength training in my legs and hip strength exercises. I'll be 1 yr post op next month and I would say I'm 75% back to myself. Some days are better than others depending on how much I have done or how active I have been but that's life. You have a good 25 years on me so you will do just fine, keep active and strong after all of this because you need to keep all those muscles and ligaments holding things together healthy and happy so that they can support all that's going on back there.  Because I had my back problems for so long different muscles compensated for the ones that weren't working correctly so I've had to go back and retrain those weak muscles along my spine and glutes and core. You shouldn't have any of those issues since yours was brought on by an accident and not years of abuse or disease. You will recover completely.  Just be patient with your body and the process.

I can tell you that you're not alone there! I was the exact same until recently. Putting on socks was a nightmare and I wasn't able to do it until about 3 weeks ago! Lol, that makes me feel better as well that you seem to have struggled with the same issues as me! When you were sitting in a chair with your back straight, were you able to pit your legs straight? I'm but able to straighten either of my legs when I am in sitting position, if I try to straighten them at all I get an unbelievable pain the whole way way up the back of my leg. I didn't think that twisting was a good idea after this sort of surgery! I'll not be doing any more twisting as I think it is doing more harm than good and his physio has already set me back a couple of weeks. That's sad to hear, What way is your balance now? Has your physio strengthened it a bit? To be that close to the way you were before just 1 year later is very impressive and truly great reassurance honestly. That's true, you're going to have off days like everyone, just need to pace yourself and do everything in moderation I suppose. Yeah you're completely right, the muscles are almost as important as the bones themselves! Your advice has been great really, I'm so glad to hear that from another person. I have all the patience in the world truly, it's just reassurance I need every once in a while lol. I will be contacting the hospital again to confirm what sort of surgery they did to me or what they predict the outcome to be just for full confirmation and peace of mind, thanks for everything and although you're recovered so well, I wish you the best in the rest of your recovery and fitness process, it's nice to hear such positive talk about someone else who has been in the same position!

I'm glad I was able to put you at ease a little bit. As far as sitting I'm most comfortable still laying in bed for long periods of time or sitting in a recliner, certain chairs are very uncomfortable for me and I prefer standing to sitting. I think I could put my legs together, I can't remember? I think the pain you are feeling is tight hamstrings, I am still suffering with those. Apparently it's very common with low back problems to have very tight hammies, from what I've read no amount of stretching helps or is good for them so I'm hoping to get some answers from my dr tomorrow about that as it's been one thing I haven't been able to over come with all the rehab. And if I'm not able to gain full use of my range of motion I'll be ok with that as long as I know and I don't create some unrealistic goals that I can't meet. I have got my strength and balance back for the most part, I have some nerve damage in my left foot and leg so my toes will go numb if I overdo my activities, no biggie. I was lucky that I was pretty fit prior to surgery and I was doing Pilates up until a week before surgery until I couldn't handle the pain anymore. Sneezing can hurt believe it or not.  I take a lot of epsom salt baths when I've had a physical day and that helps even if it just gives you 15 minutes to be alone at the end of the day before bed. 

Haha, well you definitely have. Were you able to stand for long periods of time after your surgery? I don't think i would be able to stand for more than 20 minutes at the moment. I think you're exactly right there, my physiotherapist made me lay down and he kept my leg straight while lifting it up as far as I could let him and the pain that came from the back of my thighs was unbelievable, just where the hamstrings are. A lot of stretches I try to do result in this pain in this area so I think that must be what it is. Although that doesn't sound very nice at least the nerve damage wasn't anymore serious and didn't affect your walking! Oh I know that from bad experiences haha, the first few days after my surgery, the pain was unbelievable, I couldn't move my back at all and I remember even laughing put my back into total spasms and the pain that came from that was shocking, I wasn't able to sneeze without excruciating pain up until a couple of weeks ago. I would say that does help to relax and ease the muscles, but that's another thing, I never have been one to take baths, I have always preferred showers but I think a bath would really help with my muscle pain but I'm afraid to get into the bath as I think it would be very sore to sit up in a bath with my back, what do you think?

I have already had the surgery carried out, they did not give me a choice in the matter. It was emergency surgery carried out the next day. I was told nothing about my X-rays, MRIs or CT scans. The surgeons never told me that they were hoping to fuse my vertebrae? They just told me they were going to implement the screws and rods in order to stabilise my spine, not to fuse it, that's why I'm hoping that they didn't fuse it as I don't want to be limited for the rest of my life, I'm only 18! My 19th birthday is in a weeks time and I'm sitting at home recovering from surgery still, that doesn't bother me I mean, but i really don't want to be limited for my future. Do you think this was fusion surgery or was it just to stabilise my spine and when the vertebrae is fixed they can take it out and my vertebrae will still be separate from one another?

in an Emergency they would have pin & Plated or used the rod to stabilise your spine  initially.. if your injuries were fixable of course to help with strengthening the spine. These will come out later sometimes up to 2 years later.

I would say the Fusion surgery probably wouldn't have been carried out yet.

This will be to solidify and stabilise the lower end of your spine which tends to be the weakest area..for any future operation. The vertebrae are normally fused together as one.

Where are your parents, are they not advocating for you? Discussing what's best, what you have undergone in recent surgery. One Step at a time! 

How did you get in this mess? 

Take it SLOW is my advice, any questions you have ask them, also check your MRI Scans with the Surgeon where are you from?. 

My accident happened on 30th January at around 8:00pm, and I had surgery on 1st February at 8:00am, so there wasn't much waiting around, as soon as they had all of the scans read they told me they would do the surgery the next morning. So it probably was not fusion surgery? The screws and rods were probably just placed there to stabilise my spine as I couldn't stand after the injury, and I was told not to move incase I did any nerve damage (obviously I couldn't move with the pain anyway). I really don't want the vertebrae to be fused as I am only 18 and I don't want to have any limitations in the future if you know what i mean. My parents are great you know but they don't like speaking about the accident or my surgery as it upsets them because they feel so sorry for me for having to go through it, although it doesn't bother me at all! The accident and surgery did not annoy me it's just the future that worries me, you know. I'm from Northern Ireland, in the UK and the accident happened in Dublin, Ireland. So I was 3 hours away from home where it happened and everything seemed pretty surreal for me as I've never been through something like that you know. I wasn't provided with any documentation for my surgery or given any X-rays, MRI's, CT pictures etc. But I have requested that they give me them. Thank you for replying as you have been very helpful and reassuring!