[Spinal Fusion / Lumbar] alif...DONE!

[Kimberly]

Just wanted to check in with you all and let you know my 2-level ALiF (L4-S1) is done and I'm doing well.

All in all I had great doctors and nurses taking care of me and I am very happy with the care I received. I had requested a morphine epidural before the sugery and I think that helped A LOT with pain after surgery. The epidural stayed in 2 days after surgery and during that time I also had a PCA morphine pump ("patient controlled analgesic ? I think) that I could push every 6 min. (well, you can push it whenever you want, but it only administers morphine every 6 min.) I think the epidural was doing the lion's share of the work becuse in the 2 days after surgery, I only pushed the button 5 or 6 times (and quite frankly, 2 of those were so I could go to sleep) I ended up staying for 5 days as I had horrible issues with nausea/vomiting and impaction. The doctors kept switching meds to try and find something that would work for me. We settled on a Fentanyl transdermal patch (for pain) and a transdermal scopolamine patch (behind my ear) for the nausea. I also can take dilaudid every 3 hours if needed. It took a while to come up with that lilttle cocktail, and I went home on the 6th postoperative day.

Every day is a little better, but I can now get in and out of bed and use the bathroom by myself, brush my teeth, shower, etc. albeit verrrryyyyyy slowly (think glacial speed) and with pain. Sitting is still hard, so I'm either all the way up, or all the way down. Am trying to walk a few times each day (sometimes it's just laps around the house, sometimes I shuffle my way out to the sidewalk).I'm not using my walker much anymore (my daughter had decorated it with racing stripes to see if that might help me move a little faster.....I thought flames would look nice.) I still have quite a bit of pain (a lot of incision pain) but my leg pain is like 90% gone!!!!!

I'll post more later, but all in all, I'm doing ok.

Just a funny aside, my husband got a phone call from someone from FMLA (family medical leave act) as he's using that to keep from burning all his vacation time. Apparantely he forgot to check a box somewhere on the form, but he said the woman that called was more interested in how I was doing as she is looking at having a lumbar fusion surgery too. Apparantly, she picked his brain quite a bit over the phone and he suggested she come and visit this website. HA!

That's it for now....I will post some more details soon.

Take care,
Kimberly

[ajj1001]

good to hear it went well, take it steady.

[Catherine]

Kimberly,

So good to read your post! Glad you're home and things are improving. It's nice to hear about the 90% improvement in leg pain. I'll be in Dr Pettine's office on Tuesday and see what they have to say. I hope everything keeps improving for you, take good care of yourself!

Catherine

[Katie]

YES!!!! I'm so glad to hear about your success, Kimberly. And that the epidural had the same great effect for you as me. I can't rave enough about how much that helps in pain management. The doctors at Stenum recommended it, saying that even though you are under general anesthetic, your body still feels the pain and carries it forward post-op unless it is blocked with the epidural. Even though I didn't end up having surgery there, I am forever grateful for their help.

My veterinarian says the same thing ;-) That the body feels pain even when under general.

As usual, I will spout the same advice as everyone else gives, and I tried to ignore...take it easy! I had the same two levels done, one with ALIF and one with XLIF. The ALIF (L5/S1) incision definitely gave me more grief.

Onwards and upwards my friend

[Gilbert P]

Hi Kimberly

Welcome back I am also doing well slow good

Gil

[Justin]

Hi Kimberly,

Welcome to the other side! It sounds like you are doing great, especially with a 90% reduction in your leg pain.

Please keep us posted on your progress, as we do care.

[Cindylou]

Kimberly, thank-you for the update and welcome to the other side! It sounds like you are doing as well as to be expected but even more than better, regarding the 90% leg pain relief. That in and of itself is excellent news! Keep up the good work, and as so many others have said before me: slow and steady does win that race! Good luck. Cindylou

[Kimberly]

Sorry for the delay in updating but we've been having a lot of computer problems.

Tomorrow will be 3 weeks post-op and I'm doing ok. I am taking 3 short/slow walks every day and I think that helps with the stiffness. Sometimes I don't really feel like going, but force myself to go even if it's just a really short one. I still have quite a bit of incision pain (mostly from my abdominal incision) but it is slowly getting better. I have dissolvable stiches beneath the skin and the "surgical krazy glue" at the surface so there are not stitches/staples to remove. I am still verrrrryyy fatigued and weak and find that I can't do too much or be up for too long, before it's time to lay down again. I still have my fentanyl patch but I tried to stretch my dilaudid pills to 4-5 hours instead of the prescribed 3 hours. I immediately felt that ! and noticed my pain increasing so....back to every three :-) My leg pain is still virtually gone!!!! so I am hoping that continues. Sitting is still too difficult and so I'm either all the way up or all the way down (have my computer on the breakfast bar so I can stand and type.) Been up for a while now and it's time to go take a rest.

Kimberly

[Katie]

It is so good to hear your update, Kimberly. Now comes the hard part...the 'no twisting, bending, lifting' weeks of he** I remember those being the most frustrating...not to discourage, just enlighten

The two weeks after surgery for me were better than after I got home, but that probably had a lot to do with relaxing at the resorts in Brazil and having the company of wonderful friends who came down to support us. When we got home, the full effect of morphine withdrawal hit me hard. But I had gone from 360 mg/day down to ~40. Quite a shock to the body. If you have the choice, which I didn't at the time, try to take it easy on the lessening. You will heal faster without pain...all in due time

I'm jealous that you had superglue instead of staples! You won't have the zipper look But all in all the lines are disappearing nicely.

I'm so, so happy that the leg pain is gone! What wonderful results! The stuff you are going through now will be a dull memory months from now. Congratulations on your success.

[Gilbert P]

HI Kimberly

I am doing the same short walks little pain meds and starting to feel better after a bump in the road.

My computer is also on the breakfast bar so I can stand funny how we adapt,

Take Care

Gil