The Nuts and bolts of my surgery (literally!)

I will admit to seeing this idea on another blog and so have ‘stolen’ it. Well, it’s not really stealing, as the details are mine not hers, but it was her idea. Why I am being so noble and giving her the credit? I have no idea – I guess I must just have my nice head on today…Anyway – to details:

1. I had an anterior Spinal Fusion of T-9 to L-5. It was supposed to be T3 to L5 but my surgeon got bored and went home so didn’t get any further ^*1
2. It took 6 1/2 hours of theatre time.
3. I now have one thick rod, lots of screws and a metal ‘cage’, which is nothing more than a big wedge shaped lump of metal^*2 inserted between two of my vertebrae (L4/5).
4. I got six units of blood in theatre and ICU and another 2 units a few days later when my blood count dropped so much that my lips turned white.
5. Being given Tramadol was the worst part of the whole experience, as I had a bad reaction to it.
6. Not going to the toilet for 10 days came a very close second!
7. This was closely followed by not being able to get back into bed as my feet didn’t touch the floor (and that was with the bed on its lowest setting!).
8. I did not get out of bed for 5 days because I had a chest drain in all that time.
9. Having my chest drain out was horrible but only because they stitched it in too tight – it became infected later for the same reason – I think the apprentice did it!
10. I was hospitalized for nearly 3 weeks – I was the ‘old lady’ of the ward.
11. When I came home I had a walking frame – just like an old lady.
12. The first few days after surgery I loved my PCA pump and the morphine it gave me. It didn’t make me hallucinate which was a shame – I would have liked to have seen some weird sh*t.
13. The pain was never too bad as long as I took lots of pain pills and didn’t try to move too fast – I don’t include the time I was on tramadol when the pain was vile.
14. When I got home I was not allowed a shower for 3 weeks because of my chest drain infection.
15. I was not allowed to bend, twist, stretch, or lift anything at all or do any kind of resistance exercises for 4 months until I got the all clear. (Not that I felt like it for most of the time anyway). I did not have to wear a brace during this time.
16. I had 2 ribs removed along with the discs in my lumbar spine. My ribs were ground up and put into the spaces where my discs used to be, in the hopes that it will get hard and fuse everything all together. My surgeon says you can’t really tell if its worked unless he opens me up again just to have a look ^*3
17. I ‘grew’ 2” in height. I actually shrank when they took my discs out and then they stretched me out again on my very own internal rack.
18. My scar runs from near my belly button round to my shoulder blade in a big spiral. It is awesome and I love it as it represents what I have been through and what my future holds (i.e. all that good stuff…).
19. My curvature used to be 75 degree lumbar curve with a 62 degree thoracic curve. Those angles are now down to 33 and 30 – amazing!
20. I have had to buy a whole new wardrobe as I am a very different shape now (YAY for both the new clothes and the new shape!)
21. Would I do it again? Oh yes, yes yes yes !!!
    

^*1This is plainly not true. He actually stopped where he did as he wanted the best correction whilst still preserving as many flexible levels as he could. Quite apart from this, he told me he stopped because it was “too dangerous to continue” – I have no idea what this means and was afraid to ask…
^*2Apparently it is 1½ inches high – that is a lot when you consider it’s between two vertebrae. It may actually account for a lot of my gained height too!
^*3I don’t think I fancy this!