Getting Ready for Surgery-

[happyhbmom]

Hi, wanted to introduce myself!  I am preparing for back surgery and will need all the community help I can get :)  I have never had any kind of surgery before- the closest I have gotten is an endoscopy- so this is all new to me!

The surgery is to repair a collapsed burst fracture at L2.  I will be getting the exact details on the 29th based on more recent scans (he had only seen 1 year old scans when I saw him last).  He did tell me he will go in from the back and the side (360°), remove the entire remaining L1 (with 90% loss of height and severe deformity, not much to keep), realign the spine and fuse it.  I left his office with my mouth kind of hanging open, but now have tons of questions to ask him!

I have actually been walking around like this for 3 years.  The middle year I was fairly functional, even able to ride my horse a little bit, but I have been unable to bend or twist or sit for long periods since my accident 3 years ago.  So, I'm quite excited to think I might regain some capability.  My surgeon is very confident and I am choosing to be too (although I understand there's a 20% chance I will not have much improvement).

I am a mom of 2 gorgeous children, happily (mostly!) married.  Things have been gradually and not-so-gradually going downhill in the last year, leaving me now barely functional.  So I'm kind of looking forward to surgery.  Kind of not :)

Of course I have to figure out how to get my kids to school after surgery, as I assume I won't be driving for at least a month or two.  I wish I knew things like whether I'd be able to go down stairs, whether I'd be able to get myself up to the restroom, etc.   It's too much unknown for me!

I would love to find someone who has had a similar surgery.  I have yet to find anyone.  I have found people who have 360 degree fusions, but I do not know what the vertebrectomy adds to that from a patient point of view, nor what the extend of misalignment of my spine will add.  The first surgeon I saw seemed to think it made it a much bigger surgery, although my current surgeon thinks he could do it in the dark with his eyes closed, and I'll only have a 6-9 month recovery.

Nice to "meet" all of you!

[happyhbmom]

Contemplating that, but the question won't be whether I need surgery, but who the surgeon will be.  Unfortunately, my fall did the surgery for me 3 years ago and things are already messed up in there- leaving things as-is is not really an option.  I need the surgery to halt deterioration due to misalignment, but I also have a chunk of bone resting on the thecal sac.  Not a pretty sight ;)

[GettingOlder]

"My surgeon is very confident and I am choosing to be too (although I understand there's a 20% chance I will not have much improvement)."

I've heard so many stories of surgery gone bad, that I would try every other known treatment (myofascia release, chiro, etc) before I would go under the knife for any back surgery. It sounds like you have two opions so far, how about trying a third?