Newbie,,,short notice need answers

[PepsiDoodles]

for the migraines I used to get botox in 2005, worked great for 4 mo at a time, asked doc about it now, he said wait till after the surgery then might be an option, said they might not be as bad once decompressed, but if I still have them from the srynx, then he would order them, but also know of a few friends on the ASAP.org forum who have my condition and they get them into their spasms and have had great success!

[Maria]

I only had that after my first back surgery when I was hospitalized and yes it made me very tired and I would sleep as was intended when trying to recover enough to leave the hospital. That was back in the day when a person was actually hospitalized an appropriate time for the magnitude of surgery or condition they had and weren't released until they could get about Ok without threat of serious repercussions from said surgery. Remember those days?

Now it's ridiculous that people are hospitalized for such short times after some super involved surgeries only to prematurely released unable to take care of themselves and without adequate home preparation often and return to the hospital shortly thereafter in emergency status due to complications.

Health"CARE" my a**.. should be HealthSCARE

[PepsiDoodles]

I could not agree more, and yes, I do remember the days when you had any invasive surgery, you were there for a while! He said I would be there a week and a half 2 weeks max,,,was surprised he said that long!
Am anxious to get this new opinion over with!
And I am sure the dose is to keep me from doing much, gee if I felt up to it I would clean my house that's for sure! But with all the strange pains, not doing much, lately the sciatic has been bugging me, but also, have the same type of pain running down the arm past 2 days on left side same side as leg, very annoying!

Need to get down to the SSA office and get some information from them, to hard to reach by phone, then home and bed again!

Have my release of information ready to fax to UCD so records can be sent to USCF....will be back later today!

[theBadCormorant]

Originally Posted by PepsiDoodles

Yes, love to cook! Might be my favorite hobby now in fact lol! Just have to pace myself though, like make a pie crust 1 day, then the filling the next then on day 3 it goes to the oven, but so worth it

It is amazing what you can achieve if you pace yourself with just a little bit everyday. I have started to landscape the back garden, seriously, I have started to landscape the garden, I do two or three, twenty minute sessions a day, often just crawling around on the ground (lately I have been more on my feet) It is difficult to tell the difference from day to day if I have achieved anything at all - my wife thinks I am insane, but 4 months in, I have built a fence and a path, I sometimes look at it and think 'surely I couldn't have done that'
Nothing is ever impossible as someone once told me.

Originally Posted by Maria

, a bunch of small little bucket seaters that would kill my back and then a Mercedes C250 and that's what I took even though it's much more $ than I was planning on spending. Sure is a dream to drive though after my Mitsu! So smooth and visibility is great though I don't like being so low .. that feels really weird (I sit up high in the Mitsu).

That is what my wife drives, or at least hers is the C220 diesel - I found it horrendous to sit in for about a year until my ruptured disc last summer, and then totally impossible, however since I have started to recover I now find the car very comfortable - interesting how stuff must move about in the spine and depending on how it is impinging on a nerve either allows or disallows all manner of stuff.

Originally Posted by PepsiDoodles

for the migraines I used to get botox in 2005, worked great for 4 mo at a time, asked doc about it now, he said wait till after the surgery then might be an option, said they might not be as bad once decompressed, but if I still have them from the srynx, then he would order them, but also know of a few friends on the ASAP.org forum who have my condition and they get them into their spasms and have had great success!

How interesting that this decidedly odd and dubious cosmetic medicine has produced such a worthwhile side-effect. Presumably they must still inject it into the muscle, but for headaches where do they inject it ?

Have you / they decided on what operation you will have, is it still the fusion? and any dates yet?

[PepsiDoodles]

Hi, no dates yet, waiting for UCSF to call anytime, just found out it was approved by insurance and I faxed all release info to UCD doc to send them that they have,,just got in the door, had more do do, but bad pain day, sciatic nerve bad all night and today, but have the same pain in arm, if there is such a thing? Feels like sciatic going from shoulder to finger tips along outside part of arm like on leg, can't stand it, just took my med pill, hope it cuts it fast,,,,,went to long today without taking it, hate taking any kind of pain med while trying to get things, legal type things done....

Wish I could crawl on the ground right now my yard is such a mess! Needs it all done, last year before my condition took over in a major way, I trimmed the trees and did it all, love yard work, and tried to grow tomatoes, even though they were the best tasting batch ever, were very hard for me to just get out to water, and the snails sure did like them to! lol You have done allot with your yard it sounds like, it feels so good to be able to accomplish little things anymore!!

After I finished faxing, made the mistake of going into a little consignment shop while waiting for the bus, saw the cutest pair of boots,,,should of tried them on then, great price to and soft leather...was trying to justify spending the money as an early birthday present to myself lol! Might go back there tomorrow, least if the surgery goes well I can look forward to wearing them lol

Have most apts lined up for next week, just waiting on UCSF, on pins and needles as my surgeon is now out of the country! And should anything happen I don't want an emergency surgery done by just anyone nervous, stressed, having anxiety about all of it right now!

Just praying they have a better option and less invasive, or something better to offer me..got the insurance straightened out today finally! So that will free me up in many ways now, was on wrong plan an so on,,,but glad got that done!

Trying to get all my bills set up for auto payment so if am unable to do much after surgery, will not have to worry about any of it....found out I qualify for a new free fancy phone upgrade to a smartphone, will hold off on that till surgery is over as I am not smart enough yet lol

Other than that crazy busy week, yesterday first day this week was able to do nothing much of anything, would like to of done the same today, but no time to hurt right now..to much pressing and no one to help makes it even harder.

Did talk to a friend down south of me in So CA, she has had pretty close to what I am having, she had her c2 to c6 done with 4 complete disc replacements and laminectomy also, but has full range of motion and is doing great! So that gives me hope! And her dysphasia was as bad as mine also...funny,,I never knew she had been through this!!!! Until I mentioned it to her, and she did not mention it until the other day when she called, she said it was a hard recovery she is still recovering from it, almost 2 yr post op, but said to try to see if surgeon will do more total disc replacements vrs fusions so will be able to eat and have full range of motion as well she said the dysphasia will improve also.......she said the benefits outweigh the full fusion for quality of life..and I agree!! So praying this new surgeon has a heart of gold and hands guided by God! Yes I am a firm believer in the power of the big man upstairs!

I looked at the spinemed, it might be something to have done post op, I could see how it could compliment the healing process as long as disc is fully replaced with no hardware, but on another side, I could use it in my T spine and lumbar now or soon as am cleared post op...would like to avoid anymore spinal surgeries at any cost, as it scares me so bad, and this one really has scared me to death!

I have given up on my car situation for the time being, will wait to see if I am alive and able to drive again before doing anything about it at this time...reason is, in the past 2 yrs, had 2 nice BMW's one 530i and a 740il, both newer very nicely loaded and a Mercedes SUV, ALL 3, one after another spaced a few months apart, transmissions went then engine seals, head blown in the 740, and the SUV same problem, so bought a nice used Subaru Forester, loved it! Space of an SUV, easy to drive like a car...then the cat converter went fixed that, drove for maybe 2 days and pistons went, so it is now sitting in the garage collecting dust since October lol!

But the worst part, I spend $5.00 more a month on a bus pass than I spent for gas in a month lol!

Very hard to get around to get food and things as am not to lift anything over a pound and so on till this spine thing is fixed! Makes life difficult right now for sure, but neighbors have helped when they are around! Waiting to get approved for ParaTransit, should know by Monday, then they will pick me up at my door take me to doctors and grocery shopping and assist with bags and all, so praying I am approved, will need it now and after surgery for sure!

Still waiting for pain doc to call, asked if he could lower my dose of diluadid, the 2 mg knocks me out! But tolerating it so far so that is a good thing and better than Tylenol for the pain, but would like to be on the lowest dose can get by with, can handle a little pain, heck been handling tons of it, so a little will be ok, but like to be more "with it" rather than feeling comatosed lol

Back to the phone, will be online later!!!

[Maria]

I think there is a limit on the number of ADRs that can be done here in the US re FDA approval however not sure about that. I hope whomever you'll be seeing at UCSF will have experience with ADRs as well as fusion and that you will be a candidate for this type of surgery maybe at least partially if not fully.

There's always the option of going abroad/other country that offers more options in types of surgery or approved hardware to utilize if you've the $ for surgery (where the FDA doesn't exist).

I think it's wise that you're not doing too much physically or at least anymore than you are doing which sounds like plenty to me.

I'm finding that the Mercedes is a very smooth ride for my back, no problem at all however I am experiencing more posterior tibial tendonitis pain using the gas/brake in this vehicle than my Mitsu. Also while I love the smooth ride very much I really dislike being so low to the ground and also hate that bigger vehicles keep crawling up my backside it seems. At least in my SUV when a big SUV is behind me it doesn't bother me because if they get too close I slow down even more as if to say ~ go ahead and run into that nice big fat tire on the back of my car.. will leave a nice impression on your front end!

I don't like driving that much though because of my feet there's no way I could get around without a car now. Well I could but I'd be so limited at what I could do or get done in one day! Not like I haven't experienced that with my back stuff in the past as well!

I use a cart to haul stuff back and forth from my car. I find that I end up loading that up so much that I really poop myself out emptying it out!

Vons delivers though I like to get fresh veggies from places like Farmers Markets and Sprouts/Henrys or lastly Whole Foods (more expensive). Good little Mexican markets often have way better produce prices though I haven't located one close by to where I'm living right now so for what I spend in gas in the SUV makes it acceptable to spend a bit more in local produce shopping.

Must be great to have one's own veggie garden (though then again it's more work)

I think my back is telling me to get up and out of a sitting position~ take care and hope you're getting some good zz's and rest!