Having surgery 8-18-2010

[MsMelB81]

Hi, I am 28 yrs old having fusion surgery on my c4-c5, c5-c6 and c6 - c7. I know I will be off of work for at least 3 months my neurosurgeon told me. I tried 6 months of physical therapy which made the pain worse, at first I wasnt in no pain, but just had tingly numbes on my left arm and leg after physical therapy I have alot of pain, and now on vicodin 3 times a day.

What am I in for after surger? Is it going to be alot of pain, will I be on bed rest?. The doctor said it is an out paitent i will be home the day of surgery. I have had my gallbladder out so i know the effects of the anesthesia.

[Kalvin]

I understand about your need to have the surgery, I was in the same position myself. But try not to worry so much, you're going to be fine. One good thing about being younger is that you'll recover a lot faster.

When things settle down a little bit, you need to get an Attorney and file a workers comp claim, you have up to a year to do it. Its not right that you and your family be stuck with the financial burden of this.

As far as proof, your condition and your job duties are your proof. 28 year old young ladies do not generally have the amount of degeneration you have in your neck unless they moonlight as professional football players.

Take Care

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Hi, Thank you for your question. Generally, recovery from a fusion surgery takes time (standard is six weeks) and as everyone is different it may vary as well.  Most of the times, one may experience such arm and shoulder pain and numbness during the recovery period. However, essentially you should avoid prolonged sitting in stooped posture, lifting heavy objects, bending, twisting and excessive exertion for the first three weeks. It is not like that you restrict all activities but you should gradually increase your physical activities over this period. Additionally, common complication of such procedure is that there is a possibility that another fragment of disc may herniate and may cause similar symptoms. Therefore, endoscopic microdiscectomy is appropriate in some specific situations, and you may check this with your treating neurologist. Hope this helps.

[MsMelB81]

My surgery has been moved up to June 2, thats 11 days away!! I am so scared because like you everyone is saying im sooooo young to have this. But I tried everything from physical therapy, acupuncture, steroids, so this is the last resort. I had herniated them from the type of work I do. I cant prove i did it at work so I didnt file a claim. But I was told to find a different type of job that doesnt require so much lifting. I am 4'11 and I have been lifting 50 to 75 pound garbage bags everyday.

Thanks for the advice

[Kalvin]

Your awful young to be having a 3 level cervical fusion. I had a single level done a few years ago. I'm not going to lie to you the recovery can be a little rough mine was, but I also have friends that recovered very quickly so it really depends on the individual.

There's not much bed rest involved, after surgery you'll go into the recovery room for awhile and then they'll send you to a room. After a few hours if your able, they"ll walk you around the ward a few times. If you can take your meds orally and eat something they'll let you go home. We got to the hospital about 6am and left at 6pm.

And just like back surgery they encourage you to walk a lot while your home
recovering. Once you heal a little and get strong enough they send you back to P.T. to work on getting your muscles back in shape. Anything else you need to know, just let me know.

Take Care