stacys2peas Charite III L4/L5 and L5/SI October 2004

[iSpine-Admin]

Originally Posted by stacys2peas on April 7, 2005

SURGERY DATE: 10/07/04

AGE AT SURGERY DATE: 44

SURGEON: Drs. Zechel and Ritter-Lang

SURGERY LOCATION/CLINIC: Stenum Orthopedic Hospital in Germany

DEVICE(s), LEVEL(s): Charite III at levels L4/L5 and L5/SI

COST =$29,800
AMOUNT BILLED:$29,800
INSURANCE ALLOWED: none so far
OUT OF POCKET:$29,800
TRAVEL:$1800

EXPLANATIONS? Aetna rejected my claim in February, stating that ADR is still considered experimental surgery.

ONSET OF LUMBAR PROBLEMS, DATE OF INJURY, CAUSE, ETC...: When I was 7 years old, I was pushed down long flight of wooden stairs. Then when I was 15, I had a bad fall on my left hip on an icy ski slope. Many years of aerobics on concrete floors with crappy Nike shoes followed that. Then my X-husband’s obsession with power boating lead me to an 8 hour boat ride on very rough waters at age 25. Pounding the waves that whole time left me in an incapacitated state for several days. That’s when I started chiropractic. My current husband and I were blessed with a twin pregnancy in 2001 and I grew a 50 pound belly! Sitting was nearly impossible after the 20th week of pregnancy. I started seeing an orthopedic doctor and a pain management doctor after the twins were born, and I did 9 weeks of physical therapy. The PM doc gave me 3 rounds of Epidural Steroid Injections in 2004, and that did help alleviate the pain for 2-3 months at a time. But since he told me I could only get 4 shots in one year’s time, I started panicking and seeking alternative methods for pain relief. That's when I discovered that ADR had been a reality in Europe for 15 years, and I made up my mind to go there and get 2 artificial discs.

PRIOR SPINE SURGERIES AND PROCEDURES (IDET, ESI, etc...): 2 rounds of ESI's in early & mid 2004.

PRE-OP MEDICATIONS: Started with ibuprofen, then graduated to Darvocets and then to Percocets.

PRE-OP DIAGNOSTICS (discogram, nerve root blocks, etc...): X-Rays and MRI’s revealed degenerated disc disease with right disc protrusion in L4/L5, and disc degeneration with central disc protrusion in L5/S1.

PRE-OP NEUROPATHIES (what, where, & degree of pain, numbness, tingling, sexual/bladder/bowel symptoms, etc.): Low back pain, left hip pain, left S/I joint pain and sciatic pain in left leg.

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):
I had 80% low back pain, 10% sciatic pain in the left leg, and 10% sacroiliac joint pain. I was able to function and work full time until April 2002 when the pain was 7 spiking to 10+. The babies were born in August, 2002, and I did not go back to work. I was able to care for them and live normally until they reached 15 pounds each. Then something popped when I picked one of them up one day, and I was out of commission again for a couple weeks. My pain lingered in the 8-10 range as I hobbled around dragging one foot behind me. The PM doc gave me ESI shots to get me through most of 2004, and then I had ADR surgery in October 2004.

TIME POST-OP AT ORIGINAL POST HERE: 6 weeks post-op.

DESCRIBE YOUR SURGICAL EXPERIENCE: Excellent. The doctors at Stenum and the entire hospital staff there were very skilled, helpful, and friendly and informative. They said my surgery was “textbook” and they closed me up 10 minutes earlier than the expected. They tended to my every need: gave me more pain meds when I asked for them, gave me enough sleeping aids to take home with me, and even brought me a Tempurpedic pillow and mattress to my hotel room because the bed there was too firm for me and the pillows were too soft! They really listened to me and thoroughly answered all my questions. The post-op massages were excellent, also!

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 improvement, 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: _5__ 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 - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ECT... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]): All of my pre-surgery pain is GONE!!! I can sit for a couple of hours now. Before, 10 minutes of sitting gave me excruciating tailbone pain! I have quite a bit of hamstring and calf cramping, for which I am taking Skelaxin and getting weekly massages. I am taking half the pain meds I was taking before surgery. I get cramping in my low back and hips when sitting or standing too long. It goes away if I lay down for 30 minutes or so. I have trouble staying asleep at night. I ran out of the sleeping pills from Stenum and now I wake up at 2 or 3am and my legs and calves are cramping so bad that I can't fall back to sleep. I've had about 3 good night's sleep (more than 6 hours) in the last 2 weeks, and those were with the help of my last 3 sleeping pills.

3 MONTHS POST-OP - DESCRIBE LIFESTYLE / PAIN / MEDICATIONS / NEUROPATHIES / ETC... (discuss surgery induced symptoms [leg pain?]): I'm amazed! I feel like I'm living somebody else's life. Where's the pain, where's the throbbing, where's the cramping? It's all gone! I no longer take pain pills (not even OTC), Skellaxin or sleeping pills. I can go places with my friends and do things with my kids that I have never been able to do! I will always have to be cautious of lifting and bending, though. One time since the surgery, I lifted my baby who was to the left of me and tiwsted to put him on my lap. That caused me about 3 days of pain (about a level 4), so I'm never going to be like a brand spanking new person with no limitations. But to be living without pain is awesome, so I'll take it this way!



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

I'm feeling great! I have no post-surgical symptoms left...even the cramping in the hamstrings and calves is gone now! I workout 3 times a week (mostly the stuff they taught me in PT, plus some cardio work). I can take my kids places and live life like a normal person. I do have to be careful not to overdo it, though. I tried really "going for it" back in December, and really paid for it for about 2 weeks! But since then, I've been virtually pain-free. Now and then I take some ibuprofen for my neck pain but that's it! My orthopaedic surgeon here in the US has been trained on the Charite and has now done 3 patients with a single-level ADR. He says my xrays look great, and he's happy to do my follow-up care! I'm feeling pretty lucky that my surgery went so well and that I have a doc here to take care of me now, and I'm thanking God that the pain is gone!

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?]):

Waiting for an update from stacys2peas.