I had surgery StALIF L5/S1 Activ-L L4/L5 Zeegers, Alphaklinik

[fuzzy]

Now at 4 weeks.

Everything has improved a little. Left leg pain is becoming more of a good ache but my right foot is still anoying at times. It does the ice cold number the moment I stop moving and now it sizzles....but I sat in the car for a good part of the day today. The bone graft donor site does not hurt except sometimes there is a twitchy neve at the incision site that gets iritated by wearing the brace and or the band of the pants. My walking endurance is improving and my back stays painless longer now then last week before I need that 15 minute rest, and it seems that left leg is causing me more problems now then anything in my back.

I met Dr. Zeegers today for a 4 week check up and the xrays show the implants to be in their original locations still, no subsidence into my soft bone. I am relieved. So is Dr. Z. who looked downright emotional to see me walking and in good spirits today. I will surely be back in 3 to 4 month for a personal checkup as its well worth the airline ticket if I can handle coach class which I am pretty sure I can by that time.

[mmglobal]

AHHHH... I missed you... I was there. Are you staying in Munich? I'm here till at least Sunday....

I'll have to come back for the questions... grueling trip... gotta run.

Mark

[fuzzy]

Yes, I am here till sunday.

[Maria]

Fuzzy,
Sounds like you're having pretty amazing progress! The pain at the donor site sounds pretty familiar from other's posts I've read over the years. The OSS I've been seeing for the longest time has said in the past he would not want to harvest a bone graft from my hip. Said I was too slim. It may have been to do with my bone density levels as well though he did not say this.

I'm happy that you're able to walk for such extended periods of time. I love to walk and on low level Methadone (and Neurontin) I find that walking is easy for me in the last few years and actually makes my back feel better and often I can stay on my feet the whole day with very little down time.

It is the projected sitting that you think you may be able to do that really impresses me (based on where you're at now). If I could sit to fly in one coach seat again vs. 3~ wow, that'd be most amazing. Oh to travel again, go to movies, sit in a library for hours on end, take a train and actually sit in one seat vs. draping myself across two.. on and on ad nauseum...

BTW, your beard appears to be a tad longer than Mark's beard. Somehow I can't see him sporting a beard of that length in the OR tho I like that ZZ Top look!

[fuzzy]

Hello Maria, I have read about you buying 3 seats to travel by air. I have tried that and it was simply not enough. I need to lie totally flat, legs straightened out to get relief and refuel for more. That is still that way but I recover much faster. 15 minutes flat really gives relief to make it some longer in a sitting position. Impossible before, needed 1 hour then lasted 30 min.. So luckily I got business class (frequent flyer miles)for this flight over and back and can confirm again I am so glad I managed to to that rather then buying 4 (in the middle !!) seats. By turning the seat all the way back and then padding the foot rest and then laying my legs *on top* of the foot rest with my feet hanging over the end of the foot rest I managed faily well coming over as I was basically flat. Still I am worried a little about that flight back in 2 days but I think I will be fine but I am so glad I did not have to make the return trip at 2 week!

The bone graft. I am very skinny and my bone values are not so good at T-2. It seems Zeegers had no concerns with that and actually the upper hip area turned out to be pretty good density wise. By feeling along the top of the hip bone I can clearly feel a hole in it, where the bone was taken but the pain at this site is very low now, just need to keep pressure of it sometimes.
My back pain is 0, nil there is only the leg troubles whcih seem to be improving and I am not stiff at all, unlike before. I have to be downright careful. Before when standing the pain would rise fast and my back would get really stiff to move to a new position weather to sit or worse getting up. These problems are much less now.

I don't remember if I wrote this but I drove a car for 1.5 hours. This was impossible before. Now the pain was stable and not increasing and my feet were much better with the strong pain in my right leg gone. Quite a bit of discomfort (main be pain 3 to 4) in my lowerback but manageable. After the drive I had to get out very carefully but was moving fine with no after effects after 5 minutes, pain in low back went away right away after getting out of the car! This was on NO painkillers, at 4 weeks post surger.

I really do feel lucky this is turning out so well and Dr Zeegers is a magician.

[Maria]

Fuzzy,
I'm fortunate at 5'2" that I can lie across 3 coach seats and be comfy however not all seats are the same size it seems as the Delta 747 I was first on before we all got bumped off this flight for supposed mechanical reasons was downright killing my hips as I laid there for just 15 minutes pre flight.

So we got bumped as I stated and the next plane had more comfortable seats and I could lie comfortably on my side or back. With bent knees my feet don't hang over anything.

May I ask what pain medication you were on prior to your surgery and how often you took it for how long (# of years?). Just wondering. It's a rather personal question so you don't have to answer if you prefer not to.

BTW, my last bone mineral density was t-2.2 in lumbar spine (2 years ago nearly) and then t-2.8 in one of my hips. I'm supposed to be taking Actonel but stopped nearly a year ago and don't take Calcium either as I have stomach probs with all forms of Calcium I've tried taking. I must return to the ingestion of Actonel or some such thing soon as I realize I'm ony hurting my own bone density!

Good luck w/your flight!

[mmglobal]

I'm still here in Munich. It was great to meet fuzzy and some other clients who were there. I was very impressed at how long of step he was... seeming pretty dang spry... but he is 4 weeks out.

We got together in the clinic with a client who was only 2 days post-op. When I picked up Sam... we bumped into Zeegers. It's great for him to see the patients together laughing and smiling. There are 11 devices between the 4 of us. Left to right... 2 Charite's; Activ-L and STALIF; 2 Activ-L; 2 Activ-L, 2 Coflex and Mobi-C (Almost forgot a partial knee in there.)


After the party broke up, Fuzzy and I had a beer at the Queens Hotel... (holiday inn for the newbies). Not only is he long of step, but he can sit. He may look like a Texas rocker, but he's got a lot of interesting and unusual hobbies... VERY interesting guy! One of the things I love about my job is getting to know so many interesting people. It's especially rewarding to see so many of them do so well. Fuzzy... keep it up and take care of yourself. When you are up for a ride... Chuck and I will meet you in No. Cal and we'll go for a ride. (To give you something to look forward to... here is 3-level Bertagnoli ProDisc under 2 years out. He's still doing great at 3 years... rides 7 hours from So.Cal to Santa Cruz)