Cervical peek cage removal

[amber]

Hello everyone, I'm from Rome and I am a semi-professional boxer (not the kicking-arse-and-taking-names type, just a good competitive athlete).

I discovered an herniated cervical disc (c5-c6) on September 2011. Syptoms were the usual, neck/right shoulder/r.arm pain and numbness with progressive strenght loss and the freaking "click&freeze" thing on the nerve that made me eat 4 or 5 big punches every time it occurred when I was fighting.

I tried to carry on doing the impossible for almost ten months when i decided to take the step, but i went to the "wrong guy". We agreed on the ADR with the M6-C thing. I underwent the surgery on July 2012, and the day after I found out that he simply forgot to mention that he was going to use a cervical peek cage in conjunction with carbon fiber reinforcement (a good fusion surgery from what I've heard, still a freaking fusion though!).

After the initial understandable freak out, i tried to live with it but now I don't want to anymore. Even though the surgery went apparently well and the numbness is gone, I have difficulty in rotating my head on the right, I still have to live with pain on the right side of my upper body, my profession is enough painful already and my carreer is at risk;
I know the pain may go away as the nerve will recover, and anyway I know that in every surgery lies the risk of consequent pain, but I would accept it better if it came from the surgery I wanted in the first place.
For sure I am struggling to continue my carreer, when I see a lot of fighters carry on with no problem at all after ADR .

I know also that in the long run, with my lifestyle as a boxer, this surgery will accelerate tremendously the wear and tear thing of the adjacent discs and in X years I will probably have to go through this nightmare again.

So my choices are to quit or to "risk" my carreer this way, and that is ABSOLUTELY out of the question. After a lifetime when all that sweat, blood and sacrifice are about to pay nobody can ask me that. Period.

I would like to know if it's still possible to change this peek cage and undergo ADR surgery.
If It is, i would like to know where to go to get this job done properly. I am reading a lot of ECS and Dr. Bertagnoli in Germany. It could be a good choice for me since I live in Rome. Any advice?

thanks for reading, hugs

[mmglobal]

Amber, a single level cervical fusion is a good operation with good results. The loss of range of motion at one cervical level would be negligible... especially if the disc was degenerated before your surgery, it is not unlikely that much of the loss of ROM was already there.

I have seen Dr. Bertagnoli successfully revise a failed fusion to ADR, but as I understand it, this is only reasonable to consider in a complete "non-union" kind of failure. If fusion has occurred, even partially, there will be no intact endplate to support an ADR and it will subside.

Have you considered, or has it been determined with any confidence that your ongoing pain is something that could be resolved by a revision surgery? It may be the case that your pain syndrome comes from permanent damage prior to the surgery, or collateral damage from the surgery and will not be addressed by a revision surgery.

I hope this is useful. Good luck! Please keep us posted. All the best,

Mark

[amber]

Thanks for your advice.
I will meet the professor on February 14th to personally discuss my case. I'll keep you posted.
Meanwhile I tried to read some more feedbacks about him, with no luck I must say, I just found the same 10 or 15 experiences, 1 of them terrible and some of them not that convincing. A couple of videos on youtube posted from one of his assistant.. not much.
Can you point me to the right direction? Any story about a professional fighter treated by him? Some reliable information about him?

[Maria]

I don't want to rain on your parade so to speak thinking that because you didn't get the result you wanted with the fusion that the ADR would have definately addressed the issue and made all the probs go away perhaps you'd still have pain/probs.

Hindsight is 20/20. I guess it is pretty disconcerting however to think that you're definately going to get an ADR then wake up with a fusion. Esp. if this wasn't a trial. Sorry that happened to you!

However I cannot see a reputable surgeon removing a cervical peek cage that didn't have some serious issues besides not addressing the pain without doing extensive diagnostics and waiting a certain period of time to determine whether the fusion would eventually address the issues.

Maybe a problem above or below the cage you have now will occur and you will be a candidate for future revision surgery and/or ADR at another level.

Maybe you'd find someone to remove the cage even if it wasn't truly warrented and perform an ADR and find out you'd still have a certain degree of pain/probs because of going in and doing more surgery and greater potential for scar tissue to develop.

Consider your options wisely because you may think this is the worst you can be but things can likely be worse than you're experiencing now. Or perhaps not. I know we all want to think the best when it comes to surgery and regaining our careers and lifestyles.

Good luck with your future consultations whatever might be found or done to help with a hopefully successful recovery.

[amber]

Hi, its me again.

The meeting with the professor on February 14th went great. Dr. Bertagnoli took his time to explain to me every possible options and risks, he was very precise about it and I think that is what i liked the most.

Basically he agreed on the cervical peek cage removal because it was very loose, fusion didn't occur. Before I knew it, I was already scheduled for two surgeries.

One in the neck, the other one is a 360 degrees stabilisation of the segment l4-l5. I didn't mention it earlier because I didn't have any questions about it.

I underwent cervical surgery on March 15th. I am doing fine so far, but of course i will have to wait to be sure that everything is ok.

Right now I am in Bogen at the hospital.

Besides some confusion about the surgery date, I've been treated well since day one. The hospital is efficent and the staff is like it should be, professionally speaking. No complaints at all.

I will have to come back here again on April 7th for the big lumbar surgery. Bertagnoli will go for Adr on l4-l5 disc and at the same level he will put a dynamic device to compensate the broken joint (unfortunately i don't remember the model of said device). Surgery will last 7-8 hours straight.

I will keep you posted,

Best of luck,

Amber

[Maria]

On your cervical surgery! Hope your recovery is smooth sailing!
Good luck on your upcoming future lumbar surgery and I hope you'll make sure to come back and post about your progress!

Best wishes for success with all and return to your lifestyle and doing what you love! Maria

[jsewell]

Amber i am so happy for you. Good luck with healing and your upcoming bug surgery. I am probably going to need an anterior fusion in my lumbar spine as the posterior is still not healing and unstable so i will be real interested to hear of your surgery.
judy

[amber]

Hello again,

I underwent on lumbar surgery on April 12th, in Bogen facility.

The surgery was simpler than expected. The broken bone under the joint recovered by itself and it wasn't necessary to implant the stabilisator on the back.

They just went for a straight adr on the l4-l5 disc.

Apparently everything went fine, i have already met professor Bertagnoli twice after the surgery, he said it went as planned.

I am feeling pretty fine, still have problems with my bowel and i feel a little sore on my back, nothing serious though.

The second night after the surgery was terrible. I was shaking and sweating and on the edge of an epic puke, but i recovered fast and the day after I was ok.

I think tomorrow i will be able to fly back home.

Best of luck to all of you,

I'll keep you posted about my recovery.

Hugs,

Amber

[mmglobal]

Amber.... sounds like great news and you are on the mend.

Was the problem on the second night after surgery withdrawal symptoms?

Please keep us posted about your recovery.

Good luck! All the best,

Mark