I'm on the 'other side' now!

[Kathy]

Hey everyone,
I have been in horrible post-op pain for the last 3 days and couldn't post. We just got to the hotel from the hospital a few hours ago. The surgeon said everythig went beautifully. I don't think I am feeling my old pain; but my body and incision hurt so bad, I really can't tell. I am just so glad to be out of hospital and can get some good sleep tonight. Well I am exhausted, so I'm going to go to sleep now. Thank you for all your prayers! Kathy

[Cindylou]

A BIG CONGRATS KATHY! I figured it was the post op pain that kept you under the radar. Mine was absolutely excruciating with my 3 levels. No morphine pump could touch it. I'm glad you are at least at the hotel now. Off to slumber land for you. We will help you with this experience, to normalize it for you, bye and bye. So rest for now. That is your most important job. And pain management is up there at the top too. Stay ahead of it for sure. Look forward to hearing from you again soon!

God Bless,

Cindy

[phylly]

Yeah! You are back! I wish you a very restful night. Hopefuly you will continue to feel better and better and worst is over with. All my best and ditto Cindylou on the pain meds.
Phylly

[fuzzy]

Congratulations to your making it to the other side and welcome to the Activ-L club.

I hope all the pains will subside quickly. I was really lucky and had very little pain at the main surgery site, by far the worst pain (and it was pretty bad) came from the bonegraft site on my right hip.

[dshobbies]

Kathy,

A great big congrats. Know that the hardest part is over and your post op pain is temporary. You're on the other side and I'm betting you'll feel better soon. Rest up and save your energies.

Oh, how good it feels to be out of the hospital

Dale

[Gil Denis]

Hi Kathy

I am happy its over for you , now time to rest and heal. Start your new life.

Take it easy,slow and steady wins the race

Take Care

Gil

[steve55]

Great to hear Kathy. Good luck on the healing.

[Maria]

Good for you Steve re getting on the *other side* and wishing you much less pain~

[ImpOssibleOne]

Just wanted to add to the congrats and good wishes. Take care and rest well. So glad to see you here on the other side.

[treefrog]

Congratulations on getting to the other side Kathy. I hope you are able to get the rest you need, and get your pain under control. I hope it won't take too long to determine if your old pain is gone.

Take it easy, and take care of yourself.

[Katie]

Hi Kathy,

First of all, a giant congratulations on the courage to go through with this.

I haven't been following the whole thread, so please excuse me if this has been covered, but I was wondering if you had an epidural as well as general or whatever else they used. I have heard from friends that the epidural can be used to reduce post surgery pain....just curious if you tried it and if it worked for you.

I will eventually be going through a large surgery, hopefully this year sometime, and am wondering how others have handled all the little things like that ( or not so little )

Blessings and prayers that you heal quickly.

[trkdoc714]

It's great to hear you've come through the surgery well! Please take care and get better.

By the way, how did the shamrock underwear go over?

Bob

[sahuaro]

Great to hear from you post-surgery! I hope by now the pain has started to ease. Please keep us posted.

[Terry Allen Blackburn]

Kathy:

I am so happy for you that you went through with it and now have the opportunity to have the healing begin. Take care of yourself in the next days and weeks ahead. Please post when you can so we can hear how you are doing.

Terry Newton

[Kathy]

Hey Everyone, I am feeling sooo much better today. Each day is 10x better than the last. After surgery on Tuesday, I wanted to die my pain was so out of control (my body processes pain medication quickly and even high doses of drugs only take the edge off). Wednesday was very rough too, spent most of the day crying from the pain. Thursday was my turn around day. I started getting more mobile and feeling a bit better. My pain is now under control, although it feels like my guts are going to fall out when I stand up! The incision looks really good, they stitched it from the inside and glued it shut, so I can shower without covering it and I need no bandages. I look like a pregnant lady with all of the swelling in my stomach from surgery and lack of the dreaded first poop! Oh, my feet are swollen too; anyone else have that issue? I will try and post a picture on here.
PS. I will post a post surgery thread later today, I need to read the rules and format for posting one.

Here is a pre-op, normal me picture, on a cruise with my hubby a few months ago.




Here is a 3 day post-op picture.
Yes, I am using a back brace to cover my skivies! I can't believe how large my stomach is in these; I'm definitely not usually a 6 pack; but pretty flat stomach. Please look past my ugly stretch marks (I did get 2 pretty babies out of the deal) but they jacked up my stomach. I made my husband promise me that he would pay for me some plastic surgery in a few years, after one more baby, to get rid of all the damage they did to my body. My some triple F knockers (he he, just kidding, don't want any more back problems).

[Kathy]

Oh, here is the beautiful view from my balcony.

[SandyW]

Dear Kathy, Sooo glad your doing better. Put on your bikini and sit by the pool for a few minutes - the warm sun will feel great! And who cares about the stretch marks - wear them like a badge of courage!! God bless. Sandy

[Cindylou]

Kathy, soooo glad you are moving around and, at least, turning the corner on controlling your post-op pain. Love the pictures. I still don't know how to do that yet. Will have to figure that one out. Did you get two discs replaced Kathy? Sorry. I should know this. Just remember to take it really slow, even when you feel like you can do a lot more. Believe me, most of us here have paid the consequences for "overdoing." Learn from our mistakes. I thought I would address Katie's question here on your thread, if you don't mind. About having the epidural along with the general to control the pain when you wake up.....my surgeon definitely did that for me. Huge difference. Don't know why Dr. B didn't do that with my 3 levels. My post-op pain was stupid, out of control those first few days. Would have driven myself off a cliff if I could have. It just seems so unnecessary to suffer so, in this day and age. But I do believe, given this last one was much less invasive, was a life saver of "managed pain." This is a roller coaster recovery, as you have heard us oldies say many times. Oh, and yes, the swollen feet is very common. I remember freaking out about that and good ole' Chuck here calmed my concerns right away. When do you head for home? Pain free days are around the corner for you Kathy.

Cindylou

[treefrog]

What a beautiful couple you are. And what a nice view for recovery. I hope the weather is nice, and you can get outside for walks.

Sitting by the pool sounds like a wonderful idea. And I agree, wear those stretch marks with pride.

I'm so glad to hear you have turned the corner, and are mobile again. One of the things I am worried about for myself, is not being able to control the pain after surgery. But it won't keep me from having surgery. I have heard it can take a while for the stomach to go back down. That thought sucks though, doesn't it. Oh well.

I look forward to reading you surgery thread, and following your progress.
Congratulations again, on getting to the other side.

[Katie]

CindyLou, thanks for answering that question about the epidural. That just confirms things for me, and I will insist on having it when my turn comes.

Best wishes to you, Kathy. Looking forward to your posts in the future of a successful recovery

[dshobbies]

Kathy,

I'm so glad your pain has finally lessoned. You keep waiting and waiting for relief and then... it's there. Whew!

You look great. You know what a scar is, don't you? It's nothing more than a scar.

Keep up the good work but do it slowly. When are you going home?

Dale

[ImpOssibleOne]

Your incision looks like it's healing up nicely. After my ALIF, the incision noticeably hurt only for a week or so...then it just faded into the background. Can't remember exactly when the tummy swelling went away but it's gone now at 5 weeks.

One more thing: Milk of Magnesia. It's the bomb.

[phylly]

Kathy,
You are going to have a great recovery, I can tell already. I had the glue also and it did a really great job with the incision. My tummy also went away after a few weeks.
Question. I thought that steroids were not good for bone growth so i would think that an epidural when they do surgery would not be indicated? Maybe this is something new but I had three back surgeries and no steroids with them. Anyone, let me know if I am wrong.
Good wishes.
Phylly

[Kathy]

I didn't have an epidural with surgery, although it would have been nice. The surgeon also ordered my morphine to be intermuscular (meaning I got a painful shot in the thigh that burnt like hell everytime I needed pain relief). I really am going to start that post surgery thread soon. Oh, I will be flying home on Wednesday afternoon. My husband went home to our girls yesterday, they are doing really good for not having seen me in over a week. I miss them dearly; but know that this time of healing without kids is the best for me. I have people caring for them,when I get home, during the day, when my hubby is at work. They are going to take care of them for as long as I need to heal. I'm sure this will help in my healing and taking it easy.

[Kathy]

BTW, I either recieved the Activ-L or a Charite (Pro-Disc was also a control in the study, but my surgeon preferred and only did the Charite as the control).

The level done was L4/5. I was disappointed to find out (of course by reading my past MRI report, that I previously did not have and my new surgeon, that did the actual surgery, told me) that my L5/S1 and L4/3 were starting to get adjacent level disc disease. Luckily they only have 1mm herniations and no disc narrowing. Hopefully, with the L4/5 being 'fixed' it will stop the progression of the disease. I am going to see if I can have someone read all my MRI's and see how fast my proression of disease took.

[trkdoc714]

It's great to hear you're getting better so quickly! I had the same glue after my last discectomy but the surgeon failed to mention it to me. It freaked me out when it started to peel off after a shower. But it held everything in place while the incision healed.

Did your surgeon say why he preferred the Charite over the ProDisc? I'm just curious.

Finally, how did your shamrock underwear go over? Did the surgeon have a good time with your joke?

Keep healing,

Bob

[steve55]

Kathy, are you able to yet determine whether your "OLD" pre Op pain is cured? Is your current pain a "different" type of pain, like maybe due to surgery?

[Kathy]

Originally Posted by steve55

Kathy, are you able to yet determine whether your "OLD" pre Op pain is cured? Is your current pain a "different" type of pain, like maybe due to surgery?

On day 3 I felt like my old pain was gone and only incision pain was bothersome. Today, I have been very tight in my back, butt and hips. I think I did a little too much yesterday (I went shopping for a couple of hours, was having withdrawls, ya know?). Anyway, it was hurting horrible bad to move, very tense and tender, I took a muscle relaxer and that has helped quite a bit. I am thinking once the incision pain subsides and the surgery soreness subsides that it will be easier to tell. I feel like it is gone, wish there was a magic way of knowing for sure.

On a sweet note, my hubby asked about the back pain on day 3 and I told him I didn't feel it and thought it was gone. He started crying (tears of joy of course). Over and over, I heard him telling people on the phone about it and how my 3 plus years of pain was coming to an end. It was really sweet and made me realize just how much this has affected him too.

[Gil Denis]

Hi Kathy

I am so glad you are going to be so much better.

My wife can feel my pain.But does not really understand what we really are going through.
I try to explain it`s like child birth but it is always there "Never had child birth myself"
We should have a help Thread on how this spine issues affects all the people around us.
I believe Mark started one. Lets make it happen

Take Care

Gil

[Kathy]

Hey everyone,
I saw the surgeon today, everything is great! He did x-rays and the placement of perfect. He was very proud of his work, he said that he has bragging rights now with my surgeons in Dallas. He even turned the lights out and took a picture of the x-ray with his phone. He said I was doing great and that he expected me to heal great, be pain free and to never need anymore back interventions. I pray he is right! Anyway, I was very excited to see how great it was done. I found out that I have the Active-L, except it is not the big keel in the middle one, it is the one wih a lot of smaller keels (I thought it was the Charite; but it just looks different than what I have seen). I am glad I got the Active-L, I would have been happy with the Charite; but was a little scared of getting it because of all the bad press (which I know is probably over-exemplified). It is a great design and my surgeon was the co-designer of it, so that is really cool. Well, that's it for now, I think I will take a nap now. Maybe later I will have the energy to start a post-surgery thread.... we'll see.
Thanks for all the support,
Kathy

[steve55]

Thats great to hear that inititial impression is that the old pre op pain is gone. Im doing awesome myself, my pre op pain is ALL GONE! 3.5 weeks post op now and been able to sit at my computer for hours at a time, and go shopping for hours etc, and only having minor discomfort. Getting better each few days.

I am also glad you did not get the charite. I also heard alot of stories about it falling apart. And the fact yoru keels are smaller means less chance for bone fracture later on.

Sounds all good to me!!

YOu need to throw a ADR recovery party for all your friends and family as soon as you are 100% sure the old pain is truly gone! LOL!

Ya know, it feels great to hear stories of how someone's life can go from pure hell and despair to complete relief and a new life.

[Justin]

Hey Kathy, I'm just popping in to say I hope your recovery goes well. Remember to take things slow...it's great to hear that your pre-op pain looks like it's now behind you.

Be well.

[mmglobal]

Great news Kathy. Moments like the one where you told your husband that the pre-op pain was gone are absolutely amazing. Thanks for sharing it.

All the best,

Mark

[dshobbies]

Great new all around Kathy,

Looks like you got everything you hoped for and that's a very big deal. Please keep in mind that as you feel better and better, it's still better to take it slow!!!!!

Dale

[Terry Allen Blackburn]

I have been involved in legislative process downstate for the past couple of days and eagerly read the whole post here. I am glad you got the Active-L and not the Charite. You look good and sound good so that is the start of an awesome recovery in the works. Listen to your body and let that be your guide for taking it easy while not babying yourself in the process either. Your body will tell you when you have had enough. Let's hope this is the answer to all of your prayers. Hang in there and I am looking forward to continued updates.

Terry Newton