Swelling 5 months after posterior cervical laminectomy with a discectomy and fusion
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I am 62 yrs old and had surgery in August and the incision, 5 inches long, became infected. After a month the infection was gone and my recovery started in earnest. I slowly increased activities (cooking, cleaning, driving, etc.) and began doing PT which always results in my neck swelling up. Since I have kidney disease I have been unable to take anti-inflammatory so use an ice pack and lay down or recline to give my muscles a rest. My surgeon's response is that I had major surgery and it will likely take a year for full recovery. On top of this, shoulder pain I had for a year turned out to be two rotator cuff tears but doctor thinks they are not healing because swelling pulls on the tendons that are torn. I measured my neck before surgery, for a profile, and have measured it several times when it swells and it swells up 1 to 2 inches. Also when swollen I get either a buzzing down my arms or spine or a throbbing pain across the shoulder blades and down my arms into my hands.
I have checked out several forum looking to see if anyone has reported swelling so long after surgery and found nothing so am posting this to see if it is normal and what if anything additionally they did that helped. The infection was caused by bad after-care instructions from my surgeon and since then he stopped office visits and seems to avoid me so I just would like confirmation that the swelling is normal.
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laura72359 kimc1957
Posted
Hi I had spinal fusion in April 2019 and after 4 weeks I began to have swelling around the incision site. I spoke to my surgeon who advised me I was doing too much and needed to slow down as it was my body's way of telling me. I rested for a few days and it did indeed decrease. hope that helps a little xx