[melodyl]

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SURGERY DATE: December 29th, 2008

AGE AT SURGERY DATE:47

SURGEON:Jens Chapman

SURGERY LOCATION/CLINIC:University of Washington, Seattle, WA

DEVICE(s), LEVEL(s):ProDisc C-3 levels, C4-5, C5-6 and C6-7

COST = not yet known
AMOUNT BILLED: not yet known
INSURANCE ALLOWED:insurance has agreed to pay for surgeon and hospital fee and the cost of one pro disc c implant. The cost of the remaining 2 implants is being appealed.
OUT OF POCKET: nothing yet except usual insurance deductables
TRAVEL:
EXPLANATIONS? Negotiations with insurance company has been ongoing for months. Things began improving when I contacted the Human Resources Dept. where I work.
ONSET OF LUMBAR PROBLEMS, DATE OF INJURY, CAUSE, ETC...:Scoliosis surgery at age 14 resulted in a fusion from T-2 to L-4. A revision surgery last year removed part of the Harrington Rods and fused down to my sacrum. I have had cervical pain for several years. With most of my back already fused, my cervical discs degenerated early. With the rest of my back fused, ADR was the only acceptable option for me.

PRIOR SPINE SURGERIES AND PROCEDURES (IDET, ESI, etc...):See previous answer

PRE-OP MEDICATIONS: fentanyl patch, vicodin, oxycodone, skelaxin and variety of other muscle relaxing meds, ambien

PRE-OP DIAGNOSTICS (discogram, nerve root blocks, etc...):diagnostic nerve blocks, facet injections, steroid injections, CT mylograms, MRI's and x-rays

PRE-OP NEUROPATHIES (what, where, & degree of pain, numbness, tingling, sexual/bladder/bowel symptoms, etc.):

PRE-OP CONDITION (Please include %leg pain/% back pain, pain levels, type of pain, ability to work and function, disability status, etc.... be direct, but be as verbose as you need to):constant/chronic pain for the last few years. Pain mostly in my neck, left shoulder and down my left arm. I have continued to work, but reduced hours to part time. Social life was almost non existant....by late afternoon or early evening, my pain levels were usually too high to do anything besides lay on my couch or in bed.

TIME POST-OP AT ORIGINAL POST HERE: one week post op

DESCRIBE YOUR SURGICAL EXPERIENCE:surgical experience was very positive. I have needed/wanted this surgery for years. I met with pain management team prior to admittance for surgery. Having the pain management team on board was a good choice. My oldest daughter is a registered nurse. She stayed with me at the hospital and was a wonderful advocate as well as care taker for me. I checked into the hospital at 6 a.m. Went to pre op area before 7 a.m. My family (mom, husband and 2 daughters) were all allowed to stay with me until after the anethesiologist started my IV and gave me what he called "happy juice". I woke up in the recovery room around 3:30 p.m. and was surprised to find out the surgery was over. The original estimate for surgery time was 3-4 hours and it ended up taking about 5 1/2 hours because of bone spurs and other pre implant clean up the surgeon did. My family was kept informed of the progress by nurses in the OR room. My family was able to join me for short visits in the recovery room until I went to my post op room where everyone could stay as long as they wanted. My post surgery pain took a few hours to get controlled, but was never out of control and I felt confident that the pain management team was doing their best to make me as pain free as possible without increasing my meds any higher than necessary. I had tapered off of pain meds as much as possible in the month or two before surgery and did not want to take any more narcotics than necessary due to the pain involved in getting back off of them. My complaints the first day included being moved from my room to radiology for x-rays (I had just gotten to a fairly comfortable state and being transferred from my bed to transfer bed to x-ray bed was very uncomfortable and unpleasant). After not eating for about 24 hours, I was more than a little disappointed in the jello and broth that was brought to my room. Luckily, my family snuck down to the cafeteria and brought back some additional nutrition in the form of pudding. Not exactly the meal I was expecting, but better than nothing. My next surprise was not being allowed to sleep much at all for the first night. Nurses were in the room just about every hour checking my vital signs, changing IV bags, checking the catheter/bag etc. In hindsight, I should be appreciative of such good nursing care, but at the time, I just wanted to sleep! The next morning, things improved. I got rid of the cathetor, into my own pj's and was on my feet. Day two passed pleasantly enough with minimal pain, lots of family around and some day time tv. Reading is my usual choice....but holding a book up wasn't an easy task for a few days. The second night was much quieter.....I think we got to sleep for up to 3 hours at a time! On Wed. (my third day), I was discharged in the morning and after getting prescriptions filled and real clothes on, I was loaded in our vehicle and home by late afternoon. It's only been one week since surgery, but I can already tell that the pain I have suffered from is greatly reduced. I still have normal post op surgery pain to deal with, but that seems like a small price to pay for continued neck mobility and a permanent solution to my degenerated discs.
I am not a computer person, so if this isn't done right....sorry. If anyone has any questions, feel free to email me. Thanks to everyone who has previously shared their stories with this group. I enjoyed reading the posts. I do have a question for others who have had this surgery: How long was your throat sore? How would you describe the soreness? My throat is sore, but not like I expected it to be. It almost feels like it has a sore or burn in it. Weird or normal? Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read this lengthy post.
RATE FUNCTIONALITY / SATISFACTION AT INTERVALS BELOW:

FUNCTIONALITY: 4-5 expect continued improvement
1. Very poor: much worse... disabled after surgery.
2. Poor: worse after surgery.
3. Neutral: No improvement, or improvements offset by new problems.
4. Fair, some improvement, limitations are still serious.
5. Good, substantial improvement, some limitations.
6. Excellent: no limitations.

SATISFACTION:5
1. Very sorry I had the surgery.
2. Somewhat sorry I had the surgery.
3. Too soon to tell, or I'm ambivalent about the surgery.
4. I'm somewhat glad I did my surgery.
5. I'm very glad I did my surgery.

Don't forget the detail update section below!

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [6 WEEKS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [3 MONTHS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [6 MONTHS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [1 YEAR POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [2 YEARS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [3 YEARS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [4 YEARS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [5 YEARS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [6 YEARS POST-OP]

DATE UPDATED: _________ FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [7 YEARS POST-OP]

6 WEEKS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ECT... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

3 MONTHS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

6 MONTHS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

1 YEAR POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

2 YEARS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

3 YEARS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

4 YEARS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

5 YEARS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

6 YEARS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

7 YEARS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]):

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Last edited by mmglobal; 05-17-2008 at 09:15 PM.




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