Having surgery on Monday

[jazzielady]

It's called an ACDF - Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion.

Basically, they're going to clean out the discs between vertebrae C5-7, replace them with cadaver bones. Then the doc will insert plates, screws, and rods to hold the vertebrae in place while the bones fuse.

My neck hurts so bad, with pain, numbness, and tingling going down my right arm several times an hour.

We have to be at the hospital by 5:15 (an hour away!), and surgery is scheduled for 7:15. Halleluia! I have to be nothing by mouth after midnight, so it won't be so bad. Last time I had surgery, it wasn't until after 11 am, and i thought I would die without something to drink. Food isn't an issue, but i don't go anywhere without a beverage, and not drinking to me is torture.

So anyway, the hospital I'm going to has free wifi, so if I'm up to it, I'll post an update Mon. evening. The doc says I'll only have to be in the hospital 1 or 2 days, so it can't be too bad.

Anyone here ever have the same or similar stories? I'll take the good and the bad!

 

[clovergirl5]

Just wanted to give you a Hopefully once recovered, all your pain will be gone. I have had awful stiff necks, I can't imagine having it all the time and it never going away. Wishing you a safe surgery and a fast, painless recovery.

 

[Mark P.]

Just wishing you the best and a quick recovery!

I had lumbar surgery 3 weeks ago, and so far so good.
My hospital stay was 2 days, and looks like just over 4 week recovery, as far as back to work goes. Total recovery can be months I'm told.

The biggest complaint for me is getting a bit stir crazy here at home, as the weather here in southern NJ has been mostly lousy since the operation. Walking's real good therapy for my sitution and again, it's been mostly miserable.

I finally cleaned off the clothes rack (which also doubles for a treadmill) to get some exercise.

I'm cleared to go back to work Dec. 7th., and once back, I'll probably wish I were lying around home again...

Take care,
Mark

 

[Mermaid02]

Good luck to you! I'm having my hip replaced on December 9th- I'll be sending good thoughts your way!!

 

[jazzielady]

What did you have done in the lumbar? I had L3-5 fusion 2 years ago. From everything I hear, what I'm having done monday is an easier recovery.

Just wishing you the best and a quick recovery!

I had lumbar surgery 3 weeks ago, and so far so good.

The biggest complaint for me is getting a bit stir crazy, as the weather here in southern NJ has been mostly lousy since the operation. Walking's real good therapy for my sitution.

I finally cleaned off the clothes rack (which also doubles for a treadmill) to get some exercise.

I'm cleared to go back to work Dec. 7th., and once back, I'll probably wish I were lying around home again...

Take care,
Mark

 

[Mark P.]

Most of my problem was congenital. Very narrow spinal canal, and the past 7 years or so have been downhill, as discs in my lower back had no where to go but out, pushing on the nerves, causing some real bad leg pain (both legs).

An MRI showed that 2 discs were severely herniated and a third disc had ruptured, and again the narrowing was real bad. Also have severe stenosis.

I tried chiropractors, steroidal injections, and after lots of research, I opted for the operation, and I don't regret it. Having an excellent surgeon helps, too of course.
My Dr. is cheif neurosurgeon of University of Penn, so I felt I was in good hands.
My wife and kids were/are awesome, which is so important to recovery. Man, am I lucky!

What I had done was a decompression where they "carve" out room in the vertabrate to make room for the discs and also a laminectomy to get the discs off the nerves.

One gripe we had was the time of the operation. We were told to arrive at 10:00am, and didn't get operated on until 9:00pm. Pretty long day, and man was I nervous and hungry!

Well, hope I didn't bore you,lol, but that's my story, and again so far so good.

Mark

 

[dakcp2001]

Good luck with the surgery! Bring yourself some chapstick and some good magazines!

 

[jazzielady]

Good luck with the surgery! Bring yourself some chapstick and some good magazines!

thanks, I live on lip vaseline and my kindle/iphone/netbook, all of which will be coming with me LOL

 

[johnsontrio]

Good luck to you on Monday! I had a C6-7 cervical laminectomy done last January using a posterior approach, easier on the patient but technically more difficult and can only be done in certain cases and only in pts. younger than late 40's. I had an 11am OR time was out by 3:30 and up in my room by 6pm. Discharged the next day at around 4pm. There was not a lot of pain (way less pain than a C-section) but there was extreme muscle soreness. Took Darvocets for about 3 days (can't tolerate Vicodins) and then nothing.

Post operative course: I did not have to wear a C-collar but I believe that you will have to. My post op visit was two and a half weeks later. No driving until the post op visit. 5 pound weight restriction for about 12 weeks, which really limited what I could do, no grocery shopping, not much housekeeping, couldn't carry a purse, etc... I felt very tired for about the first 4-6 weeks, napping most days and the first 3 weeks I was really wiped out.

Once I had my driving privileges back, I only went out with my DH because there was so much ice and snow last winter, I didn't want to slip and fall. Once the weather cleared, I was good to go. I started walking on the track at the rec center at about 3 weeks and went beck to yoga at around 15 weeks. I am happy to report I have a 100% repair. I have none of the symptoms I had prior to surgery. I developed some issues in my upper arm (strange) that turned out to be the first symptoms of a frozen shoulder. That started in April and I am still in PT.

If I had to have another similar surgery I would not be happy about it but would not dread it either. Hope everything goes well for you. If you have any additional questions let me know. Pixie dust to you.

 

[jazzielady]

Hi, thanks so much for the info. What is a "c collar"? My ns said I would have to wear a soft collar for 2 weeks. How do you sleep with a collar on, or are you allowed to take it off at night?

Tomorrow I'm sure will be panic day, & I'll have tons more questions for you.

TIA!

Good luck to you on Monday! I had a C6-7 cervical laminectomy done last January using a posterior approach, easier on the patient but technically more difficult and can only be done in certain cases and only in pts. younger than late 40's. I had an 11am OR time was out by 3:30 and up in my room by 6pm. Discharged the next day at around 4pm. There was not a lot of pain (way less pain than a C-section) but there was extreme muscle soreness. Took Darvocets for about 3 days (can't tolerate Vicodins) and then nothing.

Post operative course: I did not have to wear a C-collar but I believe that you will have to. My post op visit was two and a half weeks later. No driving until the post op visit. 5 pound weight restriction for about 12 weeks, which really limited what I could do, no grocery shopping, not much housekeeping, couldn't carry a purse, etc... I felt very tired for about the first 4-6 weeks, napping most days and the first 3 weeks I was really wiped out.

Once I had my driving privileges back, I only went out with my DH because there was so much ice and snow last winter, I didn't want to slip and fall. Once the weather cleared, I was good to go. I started walking on the track at the rec center at about 3 weeks and went beck to yoga at around 15 weeks. I am happy to report I have a 100% repair. I have none of the symptoms I had prior to surgery. I developed some issues in my upper arm (strange) that turned out to be the first symptoms of a frozen shoulder. That started in April and I am still in PT.

If I had to have another similar surgery I would not be happy about it but would not dread it either. Hope everything goes well for you. If you have any additional questions let me know. Pixie dust to you.

 

[Micca]

Best wishes for a successful procedure and speedy recovery Jazzielady. I hope you feel up to posting post op.

 

[HOGFAN]

Good luck!!!

 

[GraysMom]

Good luck and I hope everything goes well for you .

 

[cassie]

Good luck to you My daughter had a bad disk in her lower back that would slip out and cause her a ton of pain, plus lean on her sciatic nerve. She went 10 years before finally having surgery at 35 years old. The surgeon went in from the stomach to the spine and replaced the bad disk with cadaver bone. Recovery was 4 weeks off her feet, no sitting, just bathroom breaks, plus months of slowly recouping. She's an active girl and recouped quicker than the doctor thought she would. He only gave her a 60% for the surgery, but she feels it's more like 80%. She's very happy to have gone through with the surgery. You will do just fine

 

[RNMOM]

My DH had this done Oct/2005. He did very well but later that night started having difficulty swallowing. He could talk and speak just fine but not swallow. He had a feeding tube placed so he could get fluids and tube feedings and went home a few days later after they were sure he was fine. We did the feedings at home and gradually his swallowing came back. Just as I promised him it would. He was really nuts about it and I'm sure I would be too. The pressure from the movement of his esophagus being pushed to the side to allow them to get to his spine caused some temporary muscle weakness. It returned on it's own and he has been fine ever since.

I am only telling you this so you can know that situations that might occur afterward are often temporary. Being a nurse, I stayed with him nearly 24/7 for the first few days and he was very upset about all this. He doesn't take well to being ill, does any man?

I bet they will mention the possibility of this complication to you if they haven't already. It isn't all that common, though. He had c3-4, 4-5, 5-6 done with a titanium plate inserted.

Best of luck to you and we will keep you in our thoughts and prayers.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Good wishes and prayers, jazzielady, for a successful operation and a quick and full recovery.

 

[firefox2]

Good luck with the surgery. I had a cervical dissection and lamenectomy a few years ago, I have/had spinal fractures from a car accident, so my discs were removed totally and they inserted peek spacers where the discs were. It is a long, slow, painful recovery (mine was 9 months, but with bone grafts, I think recovery is 3 months, unfortunately, my bones were crushed, so grafting was not an option), but they usually keep you well medicated afterwards. My husband is an O.R. tech, so he deals with these cases every day. The best advice that he gave me, do not let the pain take over, if you start to feel pain, push the button for morphine, once the pain takes over, it is very hard to get on top of.
My surgeon told me no more roller coasters, but.....I am a Disney nut, I really don't think he gets me. Anyways, when I went back to DL this September, I rode them all, and did just fine, I just had to be careful not to force my head movement on any of the rides.

Edited to add: cervical surgery, as your surgeon probably told you, is the most painful and takes longest to heal from, most spinal surgery is 8 weeks, they have been up and down my back because of fractures. The point is, it is slow healing the c-spine, and doing things like washing your hair, lying down, etc. will be a challenge (I had my husband to look after me). Don't rush it, just try to be patient with it. The c-spine is the most delicate area, esp. the first discs which are near the brain stem. I made sure I was totally relaxed before I went in, that is the best way to do it, and it will most likely be for best results. Not sure how long yours is (surgery), mine was almost 9 hours, so I slept for 2 days straight afterwards LOL, I really was better off that way.

 

[firefox2]

Hi, thanks so much for the info. What is a "c collar"? My ns said I would have to wear a soft collar for 2 weeks. How do you sleep with a collar on, or are you allowed to take it off at night?

Tomorrow I'm sure will be panic day, & I'll have tons more questions for you.

TIA!

A cervical collar, I had to wear one as well, even when I slept. You won't want to move around in your sleep and mess the neck up. It is easier to sleep propped up. I used a cervical pillow after the collar came off, it helped alot.

 

[Carys]

Welcome to the back surgery club of 2009 Mine was at the other end though, I had a disc removed in my lower back with spacers screwed in. My recovery has been slow, please watch like a hawk for infection and tell sick people not to visit you (I should have been less polite).

I'm currently sporting a very fashion forward back brace - someone forgot to tell the doctors here that you're not supposed to wear white after labour day I say get some bedazzlers and bling up that collar you'll be wearing.

I couldn't take the morphine unfortunately, started exorcism-style vomiting on day 2 after surgery. While it lasted though, the clicker was my best friend. Listening to my MP3 player got me through many sleepless nights, definately load up your iphone with music. Straws made drinking alot easier to start with.

Best wishes for a a safe and speedy recovery, please keep us updated!

 

[jazzielady]

Wow, some great responses! Thanks and keep them coming, especially the personal experiences.