Surgery
Posted , 3 users are following.
****Having had lower back problems for 40 years, on 10 December 2019 i opted for surgery. 2 new discs , screws etc .
I spent a week in hospital , arrived home by ambulance and started to recuperate. The scar healed nicely, staples came out and within 15 days i started to get chronic sciatica . Agonising pain, down my leg and a frozen left foot. I went to the emergency room twice for strong painkilling injections. Eventually i was flown to a larger island,with a team of doctors, i live in Spain and had another operation. One of the discs had moved and was severely intruding into the nerve. Another five hour operation, a new disc put in and different screws.
Once again home after 10 days. All seemed to be going fine for 15 days. I had pain return , so i had a scan. The new disc had moved again, so i was advised to have it taken out as soon as possible. I was under a team of 3 neurosurgeons.Well respected. I had to fly immediately to Palma again. Another 4 hour operation, the third within as many months. one disc was fine but the troublesome one was taken out completely. Larger screws were put in and some sort of connecting wire.
6 weeks on and we are now in lockdown with codiv 19. I am in touch with the team but cannot meet them. I've had an x ray to make sure nothing has moved but that was two weeks ago. I have pain back again! Tomorrow for the first time i am going to have physio on my leg and foot and depending on his and my local doctor 's opinion , i will be pressing for a scan . I know having had the muscles cut three times , recovery will be slow but i can only describe the back pain as having alot of large pebbles strapped to your back. All the metal work . Has anyone else had this sort of experience?
0 likes, 4 replies
Seafarer123 jane33912
Posted
Wow, that's an amazing story. I haven't had such an experience - my only surgery was a two-level decompressive surgery (L4/L5 and L5/S1), done on a micro-surgical basis (my scar is smaller than a US nickel, barely noticeable). They trimmed down some bone spurs and sutured some areas of my (natural) discs that were bulging (or herniated) and compressing my nerve. In about 9 months after the surgery I was pain free and also free of any medications. Unfortunately that benefit only lasted four years but it was worth it to get even just four years of relief.
So my experience is not similar to yours but can I ask you a couple of questions about your experience? First, it sounds like you had artificial discs put in, presumably in your lumbar area? I hadn't heard such things were available outside of the cervical portion of your spine, at least not here in the US. Are artificial disc replacements common in your area for the lumbar region, according to your doctor, or was your procedure somewhat experimental?
And second, when the doctors gave up and took the first disc out that they had put in (due to the fact that it moved and was causing severe nerve compression), what did they replace it with? Did they install "spacers" to keep the disc area open and the two vertebrae separated, or did they do a spinal fusion at that level? I can't imagine they just left the space open, with no disc in it, so I assume they did a fusion, but I'm curious as to what actually did happen.
Best of luck to you, and please let us know over time how things are working out.
jane33912 Seafarer123
Posted
Hi and thanks for the replies.
The new disc replacement is not common here and a doctor will only operate if every other area has been covered. I had also seen a neurologist in the UK who said that i had the right criteria.
As far as the disc space, i understand that they have left it empty but have secured the bone with longer screws.I had very little disc left in 3/4.? and the next disc was herniating , at 66 , I thought i was making the right decision , im not so sure now.
CHICO_MARX jane33912
Posted
Geez......... I've had 5 spinal ops...two decompressive laminectomies and three fusions...all lumbar. Every op worked perfectly but now I'm the TSA's worst nightmare at the airport. Between my spine, knee and hip, I have about five pounds of metal in me. All of this was a result of playing hockey for 45 years...and no, I don't/can't do that anymore...plus I'm 72.
I have not heard of a spine op going so terribly wrong again and again. Typically, the docs lay you face down and go in from your back. This is a TLIF procedure with rails, spacers and screws...I had one at L3 through S1. As my neuro went up my spine, he used the XLIF (LLIF or OLIF) procedure where he goes in from your SIDE. Only one night in the hospital, no brace, no rehab.
My last op was on January 22, 2020...a hybrid. First, two XLIFs at L1/L2 and T12/L1. After the close, they flipped me on my stomach and added the rails and cages to keep everything solid and unmoving. A nine-hour surgery plus one week in the hospital. Working on the rehab now.
Search YouTube for "Globus LLIF Technique" for an animation of the op and then "Globus ELSA" for an animation of the actual inserted device. Amazing technology with very little impact on your body. Requires a general surgeon to do the open and close while the neurosurgeon does the spine work itself. Talk to your docs...it may be a solution for you.
Me? I'm fused from T12 through S1 now...zero pain but I do have to work on my core muscles to take the strain off my back and put it back on the surrounding musculature. Once you're OK on the surgery side, you have to do the muscle rebuild to be permanently out of pain. Good luck...
jane33912 CHICO_MARX
Posted
i appreciate your reply.
They went in down my back , more or less the same place each time. Completely right about the core being so important. Im hoping the physio will give me some hope today.