Bertagnoli Three Level Lumbar S1-L3 ProDisc Surgery

[Katherine0243]

Hi. This is Katherine. I've posted one time before on Mark's thread when he was in Straubing having surgery. Mark is here with me as we speak. So, I'm a little loopy as they have given me the sleepy pill but I wanted to start the tread before things got going. Just to give you a little back ground, I've had problems since I was a teenager and I'm now 41. My bottom three discs are pretty much shot - very little disc space left S1-L3. Yesterday, Dr. B tested L2-L3 to make sure it was not a pain generator and luckily it was not (L3-L4 was positive). We are going to do the ADCT procedure on L2-L3 as it has a tear and a bulge and we are hoping this will shore it up. So I will come back to Germany after they have harvested cells from the discs they remove today and grow them up. They will be transplanted back into L2-L3 in about 3 months (and maybe a few cervical discs as well). More from Straubing after the surgery. Several of you sent me messages when I posted before. Thank you all very much!

[Cheryl]

Best of luck, I'll be watching.

[dshobbies]

Katherine,

Welcome to the other side. I hope you're doing well and not in too much pain. Good news about L2/3. We'll be following your story.

Go slow, you'll gain more. Happy healing

Dale

[treefrog]

Welcome Katherine, and I'll be following you closely.

Are you in Staubing, or Bogen? How long will you be there? I am flying in on Thursday, staying at Hotel Theresientor in Straubing. My surgery is next Tuesday. I guess there is a good possibility we might meet.

Good luck, and take it slow. Give your body time to heal, and rest.

[Maria]

Hi Katherine,
I don't know what ADCT stands for .. wondering if I should? tho it sounds like it's about cells taken from discs removed, harvested and at a later date implanted into the disc space with the tear to repair that disc?

This is very interesting. I wonder what the criteria is for this type of surgery or what grade tear this is supposed to work with and if it works best or only with relatively fresh tear or types of tear like radial or ???

Ok, anyway all sounds pretty cool and hope you're doing good and will be progressing nicely w/time.

Please update us some time in the future or on the surgical forum when you're feeling up to it as this sounds like a very interesting case.

Maria

[Michelle Maree]

Wow! Now that does sound interesting. Imagine being able to grow your own disc back.Is this procedure just to increase disc height? Or can it actually heal tears etc as well? Is it very invasive? Maybe I should wait a little longer and get this type of procedure.Keep us posted and I hope it is a great success.
Michelle.

[mmglobal]

Friday afternoon in Straubing, day 3 post-op for Katherine. She finally turned the corner yesterday. First couple of days were quit rough (not uncommon for multi-level lumbar!) Some people really come around slowly and others have this turning point that makes all the difference in the world.

I stopped by the hospital last night and found her walking around on her own. She's still quite sore and has not walked too far yet, but the bad day of nausea post-op day 1 is fading into a distant memory as she can see the progress she's making. First night was tough too... I'll let her decide how much detail she wants to add later.



Katherine is one of 3 clients with me on this trip... since she's lumbar and the others are cervical, she's the last one to come around... I can finally breathe a bit after a very busy and stressful week here. I'll be around later today to catch up on some of the discussions here. Here are Mel and Teri... 6 days and 2 days post-op from 2 and 1-level cervical procedures. I'm 6.5 weeks out from my 4-level cervical and have not worn the collar since coming here... I just put it on for the photo op!



All is well... I look forward to coming home on Monday. I hope that this weekend, I'll meet Treefrog and Jess... It should be a great weekend in Straubing.

All the best,

Mark

[dshobbies]

Just look at all those smiles

[Maria]

thanx Mark for update/photos and all are looking happy/pleased/non disgruntled!!!