Spinal Surgery
 

I don't have a particular question but I wanted to post this. I have a 30 year old son who we are completely estranged from. Too personal to go into here but we do not communicate (other than the occasional toxic emails that I get from him from time to time. Have not seen him for 10 years.

He emailed me (he does that on occasion) that he is having the following procedure done. His entire email was given as a medical report.

Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion with Instumentation Cervical 5- Cerival6, Cervical 6-Cervical 7 with Poly Ether Ketone Cage, allo/Autograft and Iliac Crest Bone Graft.

He is also having a team in the operating room and they are called PhysIOM. I looked it up. So I know what they do.

My husband has had spinal stenosis and similar back problems for 20 years and no one will touch him surgically speaking.

I looked this up on wikipedia and there is a mention that after having this done a person can resume normal activity in 2 to 3 days. I find that hard to fathom but what the heck do I know.

There is absolutely no way I have any input on what my son does or will do at any time in his future existence.

He also wrote 7 lines of side effects that include blindness, death, etc. And why he does this to us I have no idea either. But he is what he is.

I would assume that some of you have had this procedure.?

Melody

I'm bumping this to the top to get some answers for you. ;)

Oh thank you very much. I think many people are uncomfortable with this because I am not in communication with him (as a mother and a son). Can't say I blame them. I really just wanted to know if anyone had had this procedure.

But oddly, yesterday, in our podiatrists office, one of the girls behind the desk (we are friendly with her), well I know she had neck and spine problems and guess what? SHE HAD THIS DONE.

And she knew all about the physIOM team in the room. She had them too. I asked her 'Is it true what it says on wikipedia?", "That you can resume normal activity in two days?" She said the following

"Are they crazy, I had to had a home care attendant during my recovery, what two days are they talking about"

So I gather all cases are not equal. But since I have no relationship with my son in all these years I have no way of knowing what is going on.

This is very hard to admit but I'm being brutally honest. Without going into details, let's just say that my mental health, my physical health and my well being had to take priority.

Anyway, thanks for the bump. Kind of you.

All the best,

Melody

Jeepers, looks like no one knows anything about this! :eek: I'm betting that SOMEONE there will know what you're talking about. Best of luck! Hugs, Lee ;)

Hi. Thanks very much. I actually have no way of knowing whether my son was giving me the correct information. In the email he sent me there was an indirect reference to his having to save for the carfare to the hospital which HAD to be done in another part of the state because the surgeon didn't trust the first hospital and said "You MUST have the surgery at another hospital". I saw this as a request for me to send him funds I(he's a gambler) and I do not enable, will not enable and feel just fine about it because it is what it is.

I just wanted to find out what this whole thing entailed. And I've done the research.

Should there be any more communication from him as to whether or not he did indeed have this procedure, I'll update here.

I know I sound like a heartless person but believe me, my walls and boundaries have been up for 10 years and I intend for them to stay up.

And I do thank you very much for taking the time to give me the link.

Very nice of you.

Hope you are having a good day.

Take care, Melody

And Leesa. I took the time to read what you have been through. My god, the stuff you have been through, And you SURVIVED!!!! Thank god.

My mother had breast cancer, she had 4 sisters and 5 brothers. I would say that 90% of the people from my mom's side of the family have had some kind of cancer. My grandmother had leukemia.

But then again, back in the day everybody smoked, so that might have been a trigger. I remember when I was 49 years old, in my doctor's office I had just finished one year of being in menopause and my doctor looked at me and said "you would be a great candidate for Hormone Replacement Therapy".

I looked at him and said "oh, you think so?? my mom had cancer, all her sisters had cancer, my uncles had cancer, my grandmother had cancer., etc.

You should have seen the look on his face. He said "OMG, you should go on Tamoxifen immediately". I said "no thank you".

I have been sprouting my own organic sprouting seeds for 5 years now. And much of it is broccoli sprouts. And you know what they say about broccoli sprouts. ANTI-OXIDANTS, to the kazoo.

So I kazoo my body every day. So far so good. There are no guarantees in life but I do try.

You sound like my kind of gal. Thanks very much

Melody

No Expert
 

I am no expert, but I have been researching operative monitoring as I was (and may still be) facing a huge surgery on my lower back.

This company is a group of Dr. and PAs who are specially trained in medicine and science around the central nervous system. There are many ways to monitor the patient during surgery. The Anesthesiologist will monitor vital signs, oxygen levels, consciousness/sedation, etc.

These guys and their equipment monitor NERVES and their responses to stimulation. This helps the surgeon since he can focus on the mechanical aspects of surgery. It is another set of eyes/ears for him that is wholly focused on the CNS. Their are new clinical studies showing that this monitoring and early response to nerve symptoms intraoperatively speeds recover. I have NEVER heard any claim for 2 days versus 3 months for a multi-level fusion (which is what your son appears to be describing). There will still be routine motion limitation post-surgery to allow the bone graft to fuse. After that will be the PT, strengthening and stretching - there is no way around this that I know of.

Any Dr. who claims 2 days on a multi-level fusion should be thrown out!! There may be a claim that just nerve testing in general (ie EMG/NVT, EEG, etc) can be back in 2 days.

Hope this helps.

Brent

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Brent:

I just went to the Wikipedia site where I read the info I posted (I knew I read something about returning to normal activities in 2 or 3 days).

Here is the excerpt:
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"To prevent the vertebrae from collapsing and to increase stability, the open space is often filled with bone graft, taken from the pelvis or cadaveric bone. The slow process of the bone graft joining the vertebrae together is called "fusion". Sometimes a titanium plate is screwed on the vertebrae or screws are used between the vertebrae to increase stability during fusion, especially when there is more than one disc involved.
The surgery requires a short stay in the clinic (1 to 3 days) and a gradual recovery between 4 to 6 weeks.However,the technology has advanced and it can be performed by 'Endoscopic Micro Discectomy" with the patient able to continue his normal life in two days."

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See???? Normal life in two days!!!

I don't believe this either

Melody

First, I'd like to see the link. It's sometimes difficult to understand something taken out of context.

However, from what's quoted, it appears they're talking about two completely different procedures. Accelerated recovery is possible with endoscopic microsurgeries (which are minimally invasive), but whether that can be done depends on the individual circumstances and whether the hospital in question does them. If there are unforseen complications, all bets are off.

Doc

Hi melody,

I'm sorry for your stress and concern over your son.

I have had an anterior cervical discectomy with fusion C5,C6,& C7 last march, with a titanium plate and cadaver bone. The surgery went well, but I was by no means able to go about my business I two days!! I wore a hard cervical collar for 8-1/2 weeks, was not allowed to drive during that time, and had my husband and teenage daughter helping me A LOT! I was very weak for the first 2-3 weeks, slowly got stronger after that.

Those risks he told you about are there for everyone, the doctor has them on there general forms to avoid law suits,don't let that worry you too much.

It's a very serious surgery, but I'm doing a bit better almost 11 months after mine. I still have pain, which is controlled by medication, and still require another surgery, but I consider my ACDF a success. Others on here have not been so lucky.

I hope that helps you understand a bit. His first three wee swill be rough, lots of soft foods and taking it slow, sleeping is difficult and usually in a recliner or propped up on pillows.

Good luck with it all. I pray the surgery goes well for him.
Cathie