Surgery August 2nd 2012

[jsewell]

I have been debating about posting anything as i am in such a down mood. But 3 weeks ago i had a revision of T-12 thru L-4 , then a fusion of L4-5. My surgeon said all went well.. I had 2 fractures to fix in that mess.
Until i woke up , that is. I was in so much pain, unbelievable pain. First someone forgot to give me a pain pump. So a call that night to my doctor, that i made, resolved that issue in minutes. After suffering all day.
Next i really am in pain, lots of it. When physical therapy came the next morning i realized how bad it was. I could not put any weight on my right leg without excrutiating pain. Had steroids, ct, then steroid injections, all this gave me maybe a 10% improvement from almost nothing.
So after a week , I came home with instructions to call my surgeon first thing Monday morning with any progress. Well , none made. I only got out of bed to pee. Lucky i could do that. My kids are my caretakers and do an ok job as i am an easy patient. Ice water, food once in a while....
My surgeon;s decision was more surgery as i cannot stay like this. Unfortunately, i do not know exactly what his plan is, couldn't quite get it over the phone. He said he will explain more in person.
I have now been home 2 weeks (3 weeks out from surgery) and still cannot put weight on my right leg, my left doesn't feel too well either. All the way down to my toes. I am miserable. I am very impatient waiting for my insurance company to approve this. I can't sleep , as i can't lay down too painful. I take pain meds and wait an hour to go to the bathroom. I time my every other day showers when i have to get upstairs.
Did i mention i was miserable? Pain meds i guess are barely touching the pain. Why would they , i have been on them for chronic pain for 4 years and nothing was added to cover the surgery or intense nerve pain.

Time for my daily phone call to see if progress has been made on my approval. Thanks for listening.
Judy

[Maria]

Hey Judy,
Just hoping you hear something soon. Can't understand why something wasn't added for the nerve related pain unless whatever could be prescribed would interact with other meds you're taking or perhaps thought to zombie you out too much which at this point with all your difficulties with weight bearing might not be a bad thing. Then again you're one that could absolutely not afford a fall at this time.

Wish I lived closer so I could help you.. I'm very mobile now. Back to walking, rode my bike and so forth. Had to use the nasal inhalation form of Toradol twice a bit over a week ago. It didn't burn so much as it really increased my appetite. I've never had that with Toradol injections and it also gave me belly bloat and epigastric pain. So even tho it did work to get me out of the severe spasms I was in ... I'd prefer the injection any day!

I guess asking how your feet are doing is unimportant considering you're hardly weight bearing. Hope your surgeon called and explained everything to you and that you're able to do the things you absolutely have to do. Too bad you just can't be a direct admit and have the work up for surgery done in house (hospital). That is if everything is authorized for surgery.

take care and please keep us posted. Maria

[jsewell]

Thanks Maria,
Saw my surgeon for pre op #2 today.
well that is pre op #2 within a month. spine surgery # 9 i think. Surgery is Sept 10th. i am doing my hospital pre op this saturday. hard to fit it in with my 2 driving children in college. My youngest has not started high school yet and has not faced the music . Soon, i hope.
I am now using a wheelchair to get around the bottom of the house, i have all but abandoned going upstairs . Only on very important occasions when I decide to shower. Just not worth the pain i decided today. I at times cannot put any weight on my right leg/foot. Sometimes it also hurts like crazy just anywhere , just can't get comfortable. Therefore , I cannot sleep. Mostly every night. At my x-ray today it showed that all my lower screws from the surgery at beginning of this month are pulling out. On Septembers surgery they will remove the very loose screws and some up further up. Then find some way to connect them to the sacrum level. If this does not work, he will have to go in from the front to stabilize the lumbar spine. uUUGGHH
I really can't do anything for myself and am totally relying on my 3 kids who are still living at home. Today is 4 weeks out from the surgery and 3 weeks at home not being able to walk.
I have been assured by my surgeon that i will be able to walk once this next surgery is over. He told his assistant if anything happened where their is an opening in his schedule to call me in . For now I just lay down and wait!
judy

[Maria]

Judy,
Will you be going back home to your old home or new home or do you think you'll go to a rehab facility the first few weeks? It sounds so terribly painful to not find any comfortable position tho I have been there before.. (before pain meds were prescribed for me at all post my failed 2nd spine surgery).

Did the doctor say why the screws are pulling out so soon after your last surgery? Not that it matters because they are tho just wondering.

I'm soo tired trying to get back into shape after being off my feet on a regular basis such as being active around the new place, unpacking, walking the dog, and trying to walk for excercise. Even with good sleep. I think I was pretty much off my feet (at least at my regular pace) since I had the foot surgery so that's been about 3 months?

Maybe it's the heat too as I still don't like to turn on the a/c since my one cat is so sick with renal failure and can't regulate his body temperature well. Yesterday was hot and sticky here. Made me really miss the ocean breezes at night altho I've been told it's been hot and sticky in LB too just not so sure about at night..

Hope you'll get a call for a sooner opening for surgery (someone else's cancellation) and if not that you can endure the next 10 days or so. Best with all~ Maria

[jsewell]

I/;ve had problems with screws loose in my head too. Cervical spine!!! But those did not sit on the longest nerve in my body. Thankfully. I used to get some sharp jolts from them, but they have lessened and haven't felt any in my restless couch potato state.
See my bone density is so bad do to lack of growth hormone. I can't go on any of the bone density meds while trying to heal the spine, so i am just stuck.

9 more days unless someone cancels on Friday. I think i can make it now. I had the kids get me a wheelchair , makes life easier when i have to go out . IN the house i use the computer chair and for the stairs crutches. Even a few steps on crutches can be so painful .
So far my offer fell through on the last condo as the appraisal did not come out high enough(i knew it wouldnt , but the owner had said she would come down to the appraisal). Now the owner will not budge and in fact raised the price again. ANd a neighbor put hers or his on the market for $20,000 more than that. So we looked at a few houses closer to here, but all i can afford, and barely is a hispanic neighborhood. Their prices are getting up and out of my price range too. I did find one my kids and me liked and is good for the doggies and i put an offer on it today.Well my realtor has it anyway, she forgot to get the check from me. We will see.
judy

[Maria]

I noticed prices seem to be going up a bit? I think some are still coming down tho overall it seems like they are starting to increase tho still there's room for negotiation because the global market is still not good meaning I don't think we are still too good here.

Someone told me today that a unit like mine went for twice what I paid for mine however this one was completely remodeled. Another one similar to mine went for about $15k more and it wasn't remodeled tho could have been the view was better or who knows. Each buyer is different in what they will really want/like or what appeals however bringing a price down low enough to be competitive seems to appeal to everyone.

If I had wanted to buy cash for what I bought this place in Long Beach I was looking at the "other" side of Long Beach blvd. tho still downtown and that's pretty scary to me altho not nearly as bad as North Long Beach. Wow.. not that's bad.

Here it's very serene. Not good for the doggy tho re the coyotes and the cats while they do want to go out on my patio I only let them out there briefly while I'm out there.

Ok bringing this back to your back I'm glad you got a w/c so you can get out and about a bit easier. I would hope you're thinking about a buying a single level place or at least one that would have your bedroom downstairs and a bathroom w/shower too just in case you run into probs in the future. I do love townhouse style condos but I prefer no stairs for when my feet are killing me which has been often enough. Also it just too much for me to lug groceries and laundry upstair (have a little laundry facility right close for only 50 cents a load and drying in free so don't feel the need to be washer/dryer in here).

Ok also lugging cat litter upstairs.. now that was hard and almost always made my neck hurt the next day.

well anyway good luck with this new offer! And wishing you less pain of course and a sooner date for surgery if possible!