Gotta have surgery on the 14th

Raped Ape

Raped Ape

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Well I have surgery that was laid on my plate last week as a must have or could have a more difficult road for me if I do not have it now. My injury is called Cervical Spondycolisthesis, which means I have multiple cervical vertabrae that has basically torn away from the spinal alignment. My surgeon says that I having it in my cervical is rare due to it happens mostly in the lumbar and thoracic part of the spine. If it tears completely then I am screwed. It is considered on the scale of 0 to 4, mine is a grade 3. I furthermore suffer from nerve damage to my right and left arm from the inpingement of the nerves from the tear away.

My C-3, and C-5 have both seperated from my spinal alignment and requires disk removal on 3 vertabraes and fusion on 5 out of the seven vertabraes with metal plates and 12 screws. This is my issue at had that I suffered from an injury in the war when a 5ton cargo truck fell on my head while taking a oil sample and now has gotten to the point of having this procedure done, this is a little picture of a grade 3 tear away.......

lumbar_spondylolisthesis_grades.jpg

And this is the procedure that I will have in animation, but instead of herniation of the disc, mine is due to the tear away, but same procedure.

http://www.esurgeon.com/scripts/con...caldiscectomywithfusion.html&doctorname=Jaime Alvarez, MD&doctor=alvarez

I have been told I will have lose of movement to a percentage of 25% in the up and down motion and about 10-15% side to side. Once they fuse together in about 6 months, then instead of having 7 cervical vertibraes, I will have 3 moving vertibrae in the cervical spine.

lumbar_spondylolisthesis_grades.jpg
 
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Wow... That sucks. Instead of surgery have you looked into chiropractic care?
 
Yeah, I have had multiple attempts to physical therapy, chiropractic care, and I have a TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulator) Unit I hook up to just about every night to stimulate the nerves that are causing my arms to shake and spasms, but the effectiveness of this self treatment is starting to do nothing in way of nerve relief. I been seen and had multiple MRI's to monitor the progression rate and the time has approached for alternate help needed. My surgeon states that this is only the second time he has seen this type of tear away in the cervical spine, but that he performs about 100 of these surgeries a yr with zero mal-practice suits or any negative customer feedbacks. I have done extensive research on this for the past few yrs. I will lose my ability to talk for about a week to 2, due to the incision is made thru the front of the throat, and having my whole throat inners shoved to the left for the whole time this is being done, I will have 2 incisions, one at the base of the jawbone for the C3-C4 repair, and a second one at the base of the neck for the C5-C6 repair.

It scares the crap out of me due to the risk factor, spinal fluid is in the back along the spine, 1 slip of the knife and your paralyzed, or a knick of the esophagus, infection, and or a knick of the nerve and the such.

I have dealt with the pain for way too long, sleepless night, failure to get out of bed without assistance, walking around stiff necked and the slightest move ignites severe pain. Lord forbid I have to sneeze, missed work all the time. And not to mention the drugs for pain management, I hate the feeling of drunkenness or woozy, inability to perform a normal task or a day wasted due to being drugged up. So damn if I do, and damn if I don't.
 
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Hey man, been there myself but in the L3L4 range to the L5S1.

Woke up 9 years ago and was in severe pain, I had a previous back surgery for the discs.Went back to bed after trying to get ready for work and woke up about four hours later no pain and could not feel from the waist down so I did what anyone else would do, drove to the hospital. Well long story short Doc said 25% chance I would walk again so I said you cut I will walk. With a positive attitude I think we can all go a bit further.

I am walking and I did lose some feeling in parts of my legs but all in all it is better than a lot of people and I look forward to doing as much as I can every day.

Good luck and I hope all goes great for you and they end the pain for you because that can be the worst of anything.
 
Thanks, you better believe it, the back and neck is some of the worst pain to deal with. And I have dealt with it for a long time. But, I for one have not done myself justice in helping things out in this matter either. I have postponed this for long enough, and long enough to cause more damage then originally. But I have been cut on, and parts taken out, and what not, that I am tired of being the guinea pig anymore. And I say all this because all the years in the military, being airborne, and the type of mechanics (turbine) that I did, it has been one thing after another and the surgeons in the military usually do anything to get ahead of the next for better promotion reviews. So I throughly searched this surgeon out, got permission from the VA to go out sourcing with this procedure, and have been cleared for payment of surgery. So that is one expense I do not have to carry the burden of. All in all, with hospital stay (2 days) and surgery, and anesthesia, the bill is going to be over 100k. I am covered 100% medically for life anyway, but I did not want the military nor VA doing this procedure.
 
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My paralysis is do to an auto accident so I would not know about what you may be feeling as for your pain but I do understand your fear.

The doctor sounds very positive about the surgery and you seem to understand what is needed to getting back to a normal life without pain so you are as positive as you can be.That is good because just any little bit of positive feelings will help.

Being in my situation I will never wish anyone to be paralyzed.And never have.

Stay strong and you will do great.

Preyers are with you.
 
geeze, i have nerve damage in my neck also from a car accident and i live with pain and severe tension headaches all the time, i had xrays done a few years ago and was basically told live with it, because if they go in and try to straighten it out, i could end up even worse so thats what i do, sometimes my head hurts so bad i throw up and have to go to sleep with tunnel vision. it sucks living with it but obviously you can no longer do that, my father is partially paralyzed from 2 back surgeries that went bad, but sounds like you will be in great hands. i wish you luck my friend, we'll save you a plate at the meet, cuz you wont be there for it. you'll make the next one! good luck bill.
 
Thanks everyone, and Jaime, you need to get that looked at further by a Neurologist and let them determine what is best for you. It sucks and you will deal with it until it eventual is like mine where you actually tear away the cervical and cause all kind of issues. Not to say this is what is causing your issues, but that of an example. We have a long life ahead of us, best to deal with it while we are still relatively healthy enough to deal with it properly. At nearly 42 it is getting harder and harder to deal with the pain and still lead a productive life on a daily basis.
 
BAD97LSC said:
geeze, i have nerve damage in my neck also from a car accident and i live with pain and severe tension headaches all the time, i had xrays done a few years ago and was basically told live with it, because if they go in and try to straighten it out, i could end up even worse so thats what i do, sometimes my head hurts so bad i throw up and have to go to sleep with tunnel vision. it sucks living with it but obviously you can no longer do that, my father is partially paralyzed from 2 back surgeries that went bad, but sounds like you will be in great hands. i wish you luck my friend, we'll save you a plate at the meet, cuz you wont be there for it. you'll make the next one! good luck bill.
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I have met a few people that are in the same condition as you are Jaimie.It sucks but being how sensitive things are with the spinal cord and what the consiquences are you don't want it.

Keep doing what you are doing and stay strong.
 
I have 2 or 3 dessicated discs in my lumbar spine and it used to be painful as hell, the pain would radiate down to right above my right knee and a little below it. It spontaneously went away in the summer of 09, and now it only gets painful when the weather changes. This past week has been painful, especially when I first wake up. It used to be that driving would get unbearable. Used to get out of my car at a light just to get some relief. I lost about 30 lbs and I think that helped tremendously. It was like that for 3 years with no relief, I would feel this dull pain slowly creep down my leg. Good luck Rapedape, i hope all goes well with the surgery.
 
Good luck man.

Sucks big time.
Hoping for the best, hope they fix you up.
Its hard on every body in the family, your wife must be going nuts too.
 
ford nut said:
Good luck man.

Sucks big time.
Hoping for the best, hope they fix you up.
Its hard on every body in the family, your wife must be going nuts too.
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Yeah it is hard on everyone involved, I have over 300 hrs saved up on annaul leave and over 200 hrs saved up on sick time. I may have to use half of all that on this surgery. My wife is taking a few days off too to make sure all is well in the hospital and then home.

Problem is if I keep putting this surgery off, and this being a Grade 3 tear away at the disk and vertibrae in two different locations, that any blow to the head or neck or sudden move or jolt like from a accident in a car could cause a complete tear of the disk to vertibrae. It is already classified as being more than 50 -75 % tear, so will not take much for the remainder to tear then I am screwed.
 
Sounds like you have been planing this with all the time off you have ready.
Get it done.
Also sounds like you taking a enormous risk putting it off.

Spent a month in the hosp. last year.

No fun bud.
 
That's a pretty harsh hand to be dealt, my wishes to ya that all goes well and you make a speedy and full recovery.

-Karl
 
Bill, I wish the best for you and you'll come out of this with discomfort for a little while and there will always be some type of pain in the neck. My dad had this same surgery done on him at Huntsville Hospital back in 88 and he also had 5 more lower back surgeries. He was right at 40 when this was done and everything with his neck turned out good but he still complained about some pain 20 years later but the majority of his was in the lower back region. He also used to mention that his left hand , mainly the fingers had no feeling but was told by doctors that it was normal or in his case it would be normal.

I'm sure you'll be fine so don't worry yourself about the surgery. You'll be back on here within days telling us all how you feel. :p
 
I am very positive about this and am very assured with my pick of the surgeon. I often play the percentage game in life. And sometimes that is a good thing, and then other times it is the worst game to play.

I got fitted today for all three neck braces, 1 for daily wear, 2 for shower duty, and 3 for the sleep duty. The third one is one that I find myself in total dismay, I just can not find myself sleeping in it with comfort.

But it is inevitable, it has to be done. And I hope to be back to a somewhat productive life in a couple of weeks after. And I will follow the surgeons doctrine when it comes to rehab and duty requirements. I told him as long as in 6 months I can play golf, I will be happy. And yes, the surgeon did advise me that I will continue to feel pain, even way after the fact, but that it will be a different type of pain, not the type of pain the prohibits productivity on a daily basis. I can live with that percentage.

I just feel that life is too short to waste what little time we have on this planet in such pain that you throw away days at a time in agony.
 
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good luck Ape.
but it sounds like you're in good hands. i don't think you'll be needing it.
 
Well I am having Pre-Op tomorrow for Thursday's Surgery. Chest X-Ray, EKG, Blood Work and the like. So I am as most do, getting a little uneasy, and butterflies in the tummy thing going on.
 
I am sure you will be fine.Having surgery is never a good thing but look at this way.

After also said and done you will feel better and with no more pain.

Just be cool and you will fine.
 
I had surgery yesterday. I am very sore and stiff and hard to get around. So I will be on hopefully next week. Take care all.
 
Raped Ape said:
I had surgery yesterday. I am very sore and stiff and hard to get around. So I will be on hopefully next week. Take care all.
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Bill, glad to see you came out ok. Get laid back somewhere and chill. :p I know you're hurting but it'll end in a few days or so. Main thing is that you done well with the surgery and can still type.

Take care of yourself and leave the keyboard alone...:)
 
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