finally ,surgery set for november 30th cervical neck, remove adrfrom c4 c5 and fix c5 c6

[sandy]

For all those who helped try and answer alot of my questions Thank you, I am haveing surgery november 30th 2011 its all i can do to hope will cure alot of my problems as you know doctors can not give you a 100% but only hope this will fix things. I am haveing c4 c5 removal of adr , c5c6 anterior cervical disc discecomy, b/l formaninotonies structural graft x2, anterior cervical fusion c4-c6, wow thats a long one. I hope this will give me pain relief but who knows, all i know is i hope this removel or the adr prestige at c4 c5 i am allergic too will get better once removed, i had alot of suggestions to go outside the country but its the same there too , im tired of sending cds far away and consulting at emails i waited too long and things need to be done now and im not wasting any more time consulting again and again its been a year since the first surgery and had pain now 2 years, i hope i am makeing the right choice but in usa you dont have many and with allergys you have less even out of the country , I like my doctor i have he does make me feel at ease and i think he is someone who i can work with and will take me serious if im in pain to get to the bottom of things. Its been a long road of alot stress and i never want to do this again , i wish i could go forward in time and see what will be.

[Katie]

Sandy, I'm glad you are finally getting some help, some resolution to how sick you have been. Do you know if you are getting any kind of hardware for support with all this work, any screws, plates, etc.? I hope your surgeon is taking your allergies into consideration with even any screws that you might need. I had carbon fiber with my ADR and so far, so great.

Please keep us posted....you've been through so much and deserve a break finally.

[sandy]

In reply to katie, no metal hardware at all, he is useing cadaver bone for c4c5 and c5c6 and plastic bioabsorable plate as the fusion that my body will absord after while.. It is hard to find anything without metal not even metallic , so no metal at all, i hope it all holds alright but i have got to trust something , doctors i have consult over seas know not about anything with no metal at all, all the doctors over seas do are artificial discs and they all have metal and metal with plastic then years later fda approves some here usa and we can get it done usa, all i know and have researched is that the spine is now getting what hips and knees were getting many years back so they are just starting to do spines with the same concepts and it hasnt been out long enough with trials yet to see what problems exsist too new usa either ,research says 20 years before we know what will happen or if harware will fail or wear out, maybe when my grandson grows up they will have made something new, i like the research in china i read about they are saveing discs from donors and have implanted into first human and so far its working but that wont be for the poor or middle class its like organ donor discs . I hope i made the right choice but i really dont have any other choices to make . My neck is shot like the one doctor told me but i can not live in this pain and maybe this will make more but i will never know till all is done. I will keep everyone posted my surgery is now december 3 2011 office called to change date, what worrys me is c6 c7 tear in annulus but hasnt blew out yet and i asked what about c4-6 will that cause more pressure on c6 c7 and all i can get is not causeing pain so they will not fuse that and will deal with it when the time comes , I sure wish there was someone who had gone through a revision of prestige st adr and replace with non metal

[Katie]

Hey Sandy, I was able to have non-metal fusions done at L4/5/S1. Dr. Pimenta used a plastic PEEK 'cage', a flat hollow disc really, with no reinforcing hardware at all. My cervical ADR was held in by carbon fiber screws, as we've talked about before. I've had great success with mine, and am very interested in the absorbable material that you have mentioned.

Good luck with everything, and I'll be waiting anxiously for your updates. If there is anything we can help with until then, just holler

[scotto74]

Hey Sandy,

It sounds like you have been through a lot, and I just want you to know that I'm hoping and praying for a successful surgery and recovery for you.

As Katie said, please keep us posted and try to hang in there as best as possible.

Scott

[sandy]

In my research of adr i have found there is 3 types of the prestige made by medtronic.

prestige st( stainless steel), elements are chromiun nickel molybdenum manganese silicon copper nitrogen carbon phosphurus sulfur iron, ok this is what i have at c4 c5 and found the nickel is my problem.

now i saw prestige also makes titanium -ceramic cervical disc and a cervical prestige lp

how did i end up with prestige st which is stainless steel, so how many do they make does anyone know ..

One doctor i consulted before this said to me they do not make stainless steel anymore, i replied they do and i got it its in the prestige st cervical , do these doctors not know what they are useing.

anyone know any of this. please let me know

[Katie]

Sandy, what else did the test show that you reacted to? Even mildly? Surgical titanium is an alloy with 10% of other metals in it, usually Vanadium and Aluminum. I'm reactive to Aluminum as well as most of the other ones you listed earlier.

Make sure you are not just replacing one with another trouble maker. With as 'hot' as your immune system is now, after reacting so badly to the metals in that present ADR, even a tiny bit of a different metal that irritates your sysytem might blow up into something bigger. The immune system is a wonderfully complicated thing

[ouch2]

Hi Sandy, I realize this is an older thread,but wanted to see how you are doing since your revision
Surgery.

Hope that all is well and you are recovering well. Please pop in with an update when you're able.