Got Spine… Bolts?

 

 

Front View                                                        Side View

A normal curve something I’ve been missing for over 20 years. Doctor said the spines bolted together and isn’t going no where. That’s good to know and makes it hard to get socks on. Some other things too but I’ve learned to get around the hang-ups so far. When the shell comes off I’m hoping that I’ll be able to extend better right now it’s getting in the way. Found out that everything’s made of titanium which is real good if I need to hop into a MRI machine again. At first I thought it was stainless steel which has iron in it with nickel. Good to know it’s titanium. Very interesting metal, ridged and strong, wears well.

Real amazed at the speed of my recovery. It’s not even painful to my back right now unlike my first two back surgeries 20 plus years ago. That recovery seemed like it went on forever.

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Really screwed together.

First x-ray after surgery. This doesn’t look normal by any means but then it isn’t. They lined up everything as best as possible. I’m hoping those pellets work like they are suppose to and things grow in the spaces.

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Another day

Well I’m up and sort of walking with my shell on. Have so many months to go yet. Still in a lot of pain. Seems the pain is every where on my body. This shell I’m wearing is painful. Just don’t know how I’m going to handle this for all these months.

Bug man was here giving me a quote and how to get rid of the ants. Have to get rid of the ants. I’ve lived with them too long.

Body really hurts and hope that pain slows down someday soon.

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Out of ICU and Home

Oh the pain of it all. This is going to take so long even longer then waiting for surgery. The wait was hard but the recovery is going to be even harder. There’s a lot of mobility I’m never going to have again.

Happy Birthday to me. What a way to add another year. I’m hoping I’ll be able to put on boots one day. No slip on shoes for me.

Need more phones around the house.

Sitting it real hard and painful. Need a bath real bad. Hair is a mess. Hoping for the RN’s to get here soon.

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Standing Scan, looking bad

I thought I put up the scan of my spine with me standing but it was me laying down. I have all my discs for my record of my x-rays and MRI’s. Doesn’t take a specialist to see how messed up things are in my back. Why the standing x-ray isn’t as good looking as the laying down one, I don’t know. I should be getting the CT scan disc soon. The standing one really shows how my discs are pushing out to the point they almost look like the backs going to break. Sure is painful that’s for sure. It’s more painful when I’m walking doing anything. It stopped me doing much of anything this year. My lives been on hold and I’m going to be on hold again after surgery. On my right side the ribs are grinding against my hips and that’s really painful. It feels like there’s a big spike stuck in my back also, right where the bend is. That part is sticking out my back too.

 

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More Bad Spine

Had my pre-op yesterday. The doctor had a list of things that could go wrong and because this is a major surgery death could happen. I could wake up blind but that’s only a 2% chance of happening. I don’t know how I could live without color. You can’t used a camera when your blind. I’ll miss seeing my forest friends.

He plans to bolt me together from the inside and out or my back side anyways. They will make a 6 inch cut to the right of center. They will push my insides over and pull the discs out and put in holder with bone inside. I believe they will put some other type hardware also. Then I’ll wake up in the intensive care unit with a airway in to help me breath. Sounds like I’m going to be a mess. The next day they will make a foot long cut in my back and move the junk out of the way. That’s what it’s going to be after they put in the hardware and rods to keep me straight. I’ll never be able to bend after that.

I don’t remember which operation will take 8 to 10 hours but one will. The other will be around 5 hours. I don’t think it’s good to be out and under the control of chemicals to keep you out.

Two weeks before surgery and I can still smile and know what lies ahead.

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Going to the Spine Shop

Going to have surgery Feb. 2nd and Feb. 4th . It’s real major surgery and I’m hoping that everything goes well. That I don’t get any infections or major blood loss. As the days get closer the more mental stress I feel. I’m also having what I feel more problems. I lost another inch in height. I’m down 7 inches now. So hard to sit up or stand up without leaning over. My ribs have stopped me from getting any smaller because they are resting on my hips. That’s causing problems with my intestines. Everything I do take so much effort. It doesn’t matter what I take for the pain it still hurts a real lot. there’s x-rays of my spine below. It looks so bad. There’s a sharp bend which is poking out my back. It’s real scary thinking about surgery and the recovery. I think I’m more worried about the recovery then anything because that’s going to go on for months up to a year maybe longer. The doctor told me recovery would be a year and six month just for my spine to fuse together. They are doing eight levels in my back. To get at them they will cut open my stomach and take things out and work on my spine. The next surgery they will go in through my back. I hate they have to cut my muscle and tendons because they don’t grow back. I had surgery before on my back and I can still feel my spine where the cut was. If I’m this burned out before surgery I just hate to think how I’m going to feel after surgery remembering the other two back surgeries I had 20 years ago. My right knee has been giving me problems ever since I went to the pain management doctors and doing physical therapy. I only stopped physical therapy because I couldn’t stand on my knee. Getting up in the morning it’s so painful with the weight of my body on my knees. My back hurts all the time no matter what I’m doing. I need to get a few things before surgery like a walker. Looks like I’ll be missing this year because of recovering from surgery and leaning how to walk with a different shaped spine. I don’t think I’m going to be shooting many picture not like I used to. There have been days where I was in so much pain that I wanted the surgery that minute. I had pinched nerve and causing all sorts of pain not even moving. Moving made it so much worse. I’ve spent so many sleepless nights in pain where I couldn’t move. This last year has been real bad as far as pain goes. I’m hoping that my pain will drop off rather fast after surgery. It’s going to take a few month for where they cut to stop hurting when I move. Wonder if I should put some eye screws into the celling at places where I’m going to be laying down and use some webbing hanging down with a big knot or put a bar there to grab onto to help me up. I could use one in the bedroom and one in the living room by the couch. I think for the first few weeks I’ll be getting a lot of sleep. Going to have to get something to keep things moving because I got so plugged up after my first surgery. I didn’t realizer it at the time but after a week I had to go and it was the size of a baseball. Don’t need that again. I really hope this all goes well without any complications.

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Got Spine?

 

Well not looking so good That’s got a hurt.