Risks of surgery (eeek!)

One things that came out of my review appointment (which had been mentioned before) were the risks of surgery. Because I have had previous spinal surgery and some added complications (see my earlier postings) the risks of paralysis from the surgery are rather higher for me than for many people. Amazingly the risks for normal scoliosis surgery are really quite low. I think its astounding that surgeons can do such amazing things to your spine and not actually do any damage and that normal operative risks outweigh those of paralysis. Normally, it’s only about 1 in 1,000 to a 1 in 10,000 chance and throughout the surgery they fix you up to a computer so they can tell if anything untoward is happening and make sure they don’t do you any harm. Isn’t that amazing!

Anyway, sadly my risks aren’t actually that low and I was asked how I would feel about the prospect of paralysis (although obviously they aren’t going to deliberately paralyse me – I hope(!) .............

.........(I shall have to make sure I behave in hospital before I go down to theatre just in case!).



To get back to where I was, I said that I didn’t think it would be the end of the world. I already own a wheelchair for occasional use and know lots of people who have full active fit healthy happy lives who have to spend all their time in wheelchairs; they do sport, take foreign holidays and go out to the cinema or pub just like anybody else. It’s not as if I have ever been able to run marathons so I wouldn’t miss that and I don’t have a single hobby that I couldn’t do sitting down. I hasten to add here, that I don’t have a rose tinted view of this situation at all; I know that it’s not just about sitting down all day and that there are many more things to take on board. I simply don’t wish to get too D & M* here – just accept that I know a reasonable amount about being a disabled wheelchair user and am trying to take a reasonably light hearted view for my blog, about about something that is a serious subject. Anyway, at least if it did happen I am currently young enough and adaptable enough to be able to get on with my life in whichever way I have to. The alternative is this - imagine that I don’t have the operation and end up slowly sliding down a slope of frustration and pain which forces me to use a wheelchair full time at an age when I don’t find it so easy to adapt. Now that's a scary prospect!

If you are interested in all the possible risks etc involved in normal scoliosis surgery, look at this site:

http://www.spine-health.com/topics/cd/scoliosis/scoliosis04.html

It quite clearly describes the possible complications whilst also describing the surgical process.

To end on a really positive note, the surgeon at my review appointment said that he was really hopeful that he could sort out my pain – given that the pain is often what prevents me from reaching my full potential at the moment, I feel it makes all the risks worthwhile. It's all about my future quality of life - do I have one or not.....? Oh yes, and of course I am gonna end up as one of those old ladies in a nursing home with a huge set of cool scars that I’ll be able to play “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours” – and always win…!

* deep and meaningful