Hello fellow spinal fusion friends... After absorbing all your stories, I
realize how each of our "pain" is no worse than another...I have been an
avid athlete from the earliest time I remember... If I wasn't on my horse jumping over
hedges or playing tennis tournaments I was doing back flips in gymnastics
class... The breakdown began last July while I was playing in a tennis tournament.. I felt
an electric current shoot down my arm and around my neck several times while I was
serving.. Needless to say, I continued to play, unknowing of the onset of my
injury...
I waited 3 months before I saw a neurologist.. I awoke one a.m. unable to walk more
than 10 steps without becoming short of breath.. My right arm was virtually numb and
paralyzed..... We took an MRI that day and it revealed that from c-3-c-7 all my discs in
that range had ruptured, and evolved into bone spurs.. drilling into my spinal chord,
compressing it by 50%.. This degeneration process of my cervical spine, for a
35 year old very 'healthy' woman, must have been in the making for years .. I was told ...
I met with my neurosurgeons, and I was told that it was unheard of to perform a 4-level
fusion.... it was too risky to find the spinal chord 4 times over, and a four level fusion
would be too unstable... The day before the surgery, my neuro came out of his weekly
conference and offered me 12 different opinions as how to design my surgery.. Each
neurosurgeon, orthopedist had conflicting feelings of how to pursue my
case... Needless, to say, we came to agree on one
procedure... He would perform an 'anterior vertebrectomy with
posterior fusion, instrumentation".. The operation lasted 10 hours, as they had
to cut both in front of and behind my neck... I awoke in NYU hospital, and I felt
like a MAC truck had hit me at full speed and left me for dead... I had a rigid
collar fastened to me and I was unable to move /or feed myself for days...
After 4 days I began to attempt to walk.. and I forced myself to look at the 7 inch
incision at the back and the 3 inch incision
at the front of my neck... I felt as if I had stepped into a foreign body, and I wanted
out fast... The second day in ICU my blood refused to clot... All the
blood specialists were at a loss as to why.. I offered the suggestion, "perhaps it
was surgery induced"??. They threw back a puzzled look.... while
they gave me massive doses of plasma and vitamin K.... The problem soon corrected
itself.. I was hooked up to large doses of methylpredinoslone, and was unable to sleep for
the entire duration of my hospital stay (4 weeks)... My legs began working after
about 2 weeks, but the "clonus and spasticity" lingered on, despite the
decompression of my spinal chord... After spending 2 weeks at the Rusk Institure
rehabing.. my legs were much better post surgery.. The doctors felt my surgery was a
"success".. I am now 4 months postop., and my right leg is still partially
numb.. I am told the nerves take time to heal.. I swim 5 times a week, and feeling
stronger each day.. It has been a trying experience, both emotionally and
physically... I fight the depression at times, and at other times I just surrender
to it.. My neurosurgeon has been present and available at all times to
me... He is a compassionate human being who has the hands of a very skilled
surgeon.. I find myself thanking him at every opportunity I receive.. I know it would be
quite unwise for me to ever mount a horse again, but I dream of other adventures
life has to offer... I still have two discs that are herniated, that the neuro
doesn't want to touch until he sees how I recover...... I now substitute
my "horse " riding time, with volunteering at a hospital helping others who have
experienced similar "adventures" with their
spines.. Please feel free to contact me if u are going thru a similar surgery....
Patricia has been kind enough to offer anyone interested to e-mail her..
