DFENSE SB Charite' III L5-L6 December 2003

[iSpine-Admin]

Originally Posted by DFENSE on January 7, 2004

SURGERY DATE: December 2, 2003 (An early Christmas Present)

AGE AT SURGERY DATE: 40+

SURGEON: Scott Blumenthal
SURGERY LOCATION/CLINIC: Presbyterian Hospital / Texas Back Institute at Plano, Texas

DEVICE & LEVEL: SB Charite' III L5-L6

COST =
AMOUNT BILLED: $60,000.00
INSURANCE ALLOWED: $35,000.00
OUT OF POCKET: $80.00
TRAVEL: 360 miles roundtrip from home to TBI in Automobile at about $35.00 for gas. Several nights in a hotel near TBI at $62.00 per night (discounted for TBI patients) Southwest Airlines to Love Field, Dallas Texas E-Fare from $75.00 round trip. Average meals per day per person range from Cafeteria food like Luby's at $8.00 each to Steak or Seafood $25.00-$30.00 each. Loads of good chain restaurants like Chili's and then you have High Scale eateries that I did not attend.

ONSET OF LUMBAR PROBLEMS: Degenerative Disc Disease with Laminectomy and partial fascectomy at L5-L6 in 2000 resulting in increased back pain and Post Laminectomy Syndrome.

PRIOR SPINE SURGERIES AND PROCEDURES: Cervical Discectomy and Fusion with Donor Bone at C5-C6, Laminectomy and partial fascectomy at L5-L6, I have an extra vertebra.

PRE-OP DIAGNOSTICS: CT Scan and Mylogram, MRI with Contrast

PRE-OP NEUROPATHIES: Pain at site of prior laminectomy ranging from 6 at rest to 10 with activity.

PRE-OP CONDITION: If I didn't have a desk job I would not be able to work. I have never applied for disability in the hope that the problem could be surgically corrected at some time. No social life whatsoever. Basically a shut-in when not at work. Haven't been able to walk or lift/twist enough to enjoy my favorite hobbies including golf, hiking, camping, traveling, etc.

TIME POST-OP AT ORIGINAL POST HERE: 37 days

DESCRIBE YOUR SURGICAL EXPERIENCE: Good if you can call surgery a positive experience. Good staff and excellent surgical team.

RATE FUNCTIONALITY / SATISFACTION AT INTERVALS BELOW:

FUNCTIONALITY:
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 improvment, limitations are still serious.
5. Good, substantial improvement, some limitations.
6. Excellent: no limitations.

SATISFACTION:
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.

FUNCTIONALITY: _4__ SATISFACTION: _5__ [6 WEEKS POST-OP]

FUNCTIONALITY: _5__ SATISFACTION: _5__ [3 MONTHS POST-OP]

FUNCTIONALITY: _5__ SATISFACTION: _5__ [6 MONTHS POST-OP]

FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [1 YEAR POST-OP]

FUNCTIONALITY: ___ SATISFACTION: ___ [2 YEARS POST-OP]

6 WEEKS POST-OP: I can walk 10 times farther than I could before the surgery without pain in my lower back. I was essentially non-active for 4 years as far as walking goes. The pain from the surgery is still strong but improved over the first three weeks post-op. I have had some pains that I did not have before surgery, but are expected to go away. Those pains are at the top of the right hip and top of the right buttocks as well as some upper lumbar pain (previously thought to be coming from my thoracic spine) that occurs off and on.

3 MONTHS POST-OP: I returned to work on a part time basis. I am dealing with some muscular pain/spasms in my mid back that was surgery induced, it is improving though and Zanaflex is helping me to handle that. Still have some surgery induced pain in my S1 and below that comes and goes. Some right hip/top of buttocks surgery induced pain after extended walking. Lying flat alleviates the pain completely with medication. My walks have increased since 6 week mark by 25%. My lifestyle is still limited by my inability to sit and/or stand for long periods which limits the length of time I can drive and work at this point. I am very optimistic that I will be seeing continued improvement in the weeks ahead.

6 MONTHS POST-OP I am able to work 8 hours now, but I need a two hour break in the middle of the day. My employer was difficult to deal with at first, but now they are allowing me to go home for 2 hours in the middle of the day (where I lay flat for at least an hour) and return to complete a total of 8 working hours. I am pretty much able to do anything I want to, however, I have lingering bladder difficulties related to the surgery. (This is a potential risk of the surgery that I was aware of and that I have come to accept.) It causes me to take frenguent bathroom breaks and I occassionaly wet my bed. I have noticed that increased sitting and/or bending/stooping tends to bring this on. I wear adult pads to catch most of it. I have never completely emptied my bladder while asleep but at times the pad will not absorb it all.

Pain in the region of my surgery is gone (because the disc is gone) but I have to stand frequently to eliminate SI pain that comes and goes from the surgery. In order to assist me with this and the fact that I need to urinate frequently I purchased a PT timer and set it at 25 minutes to remind me to stand, stretch, and urinate. If I keep this schedule I am able to sit through 8 hours of office work.

I still require some muscle relaxers and occassional hydrocodone at this point. I will be looking into pain management if I see no improvement soon.

Movement at the prosthesis is great. I am very satisfied at this point. This web site set me on the road to having this surgery. I don't know how I will be able to repay all of you that have assisted me.

God Bless,

D

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?]:

Waiting for an update from DFENSE.