Posted by Becky I wish you and your daughter good luck if she does go through with the surgery!
on 11/22/2003, 8:53 am
12.241.162.208
I wouldn't mind at all talking about it! Even though it's been 4 months is still kind of hard to except it. Every day my stiff back (Because of the rods) remind me of it and just feeling the scar kind of upsets me. I am glad though that I did have the surgery because I really didn't want to be any more uneven than I already was. My shoulders were very uneven. But the surgery itself wasn't that bad, I was very nervous but they nurses were very nice. My surgery ended up being 4 hours and my upper curve went from 72 degrees to 21 degrees and my ribs were straightened out too. They use to stick out really bad. My doctor was impressed that the outcome was this good and so am I. The recovery was really a emotional time for me and my mom and I really bonded. She had to help me take a shower and wash my hair and she just had to take care of me. She even stayed at the hospital with me, I ended up being there for 5 nights. The one thing I really hated was the log roll, they make you turn side to side and that really hurts. They make you do it the first day! They like to check the bandages and they just want you to move. The first time I sat up was the next day which HURT and they finally let me put my bed up 30 degrees because the first day I had to be flat on my back! The 3rd day I walked down the hall a little bit. And I noticed my thigh was hurting really bad ended up my synthetic nerve in my left thigh was messed up and that took 1-2 months to heal and what that felt like was a sharp pain. I was crying it hurt so bad, honestly I think that hurt worst than the whole surgery. Finally on the 4th day I could eat! They make you eat ice chips until they hear your stomach moving or you have bowel movements. You aren't even allowed water. I got sick a few times from the Morphine and from the Anastisa. One thing about the morphine, it makes you really itch! But it really keeps the pain down! As far as the pain I really didn't think it hurt to bad, just mainly really uncomfortable. Probably on a scale 1-10 I would say a 6 or a 7 for pain. Another thing that drove me crazy was I couldn't let my incision get wet for a month so I couldn't soak and everytime I wanted to shower I had to cover it! When it came to school I didn't go back til a month. But I could NOT sit through a whole day. I would be in to much pain. A month after surgery my ribs were hurting really bad and hurt to sit up for more than 20 minutes and ofcourse at school you have to sit up so that was a really bad suitation. But after 3-4 months the rib problems went away. Another problem I am still having is my thigh is still numb but that's finally starting to get feeling back and half of my back is numb. The doctor said it will go away! So hopefully it will because for being numb it's really sensitive to touch. He said by a year it will be back to normal...Why that happened was because they cut through some nerves and those were probably the nerves that are numb and why it's so sensitive is because the nerve endings are trying to heal. I was probably layed up in bed til' about 2 months than I started going out and doing stuff! Probably the hardest thing was waiting to be able to hang out with my friends again! I am a teenager so friends are very important but up to two months I couldn't because my back hurt to bad to be able to go out and do stuff! I think the bad points of this surgery equal out when you think of all the good things that this surgery does for you! Since the rods been in my back my curve went down 1 more degree! I was pretty happy when I heard that! So all in all I am glad I had the surgery but sometimes I do find myself regretting it. Because I never had pain in my back before surgery and I felt fine besides being really active or going for long walks which I like to do than my back would hurt me. I think honestly my back felt better before surgery but I wasn't about to wait and have my back get worse. But if I waited any longer to have the surgery I would of regretted it than so it all worked out in the end! :o) The only thing now is they are talking about doing my lower back and putting rods there and if that happens I won't be able to bend at all, as if I don't have enough trouble now from my upper rods. So well will see how my 6 month check up goes in January and find out if the lower surgery is necessary. My doctor didn't do it during my 1st surgery because he said he don't like to do it if not necessary because he says it causes lower back artheritis and other problems but now I might have to have it, ugh! (My lower curves is now at 42 degrees)But I'm happy I could tell you my story and hopefully I helped you with any questions or concerns you had. If you would like to ask me any other questions about that than just e-mail me and I would be more than happy to help ya out! Beckyc1686@yahoo.com
Becky
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