Guest guest Posted December 28, 2001 Report Share Posted December 28, 2001 I cannot bend or twist at the waist. You'll learn to use your hips and legs for that. Buy a reacher. Mine is used every day. It allows you a lot more freedom to do things for yourself. Learn the golfers stance to reach things on the floor. I'm training one of my dogs as a service dog to help me around the house too--pick items up and hand them to me, help carry towels to the washing machine, etc. ===== Jeanette __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2001 Report Share Posted December 28, 2001 Hi Lana... I'm fused T4 to L3. I was surprised, once I recovered from the surgery, at how much I could still twist and bend. There are a few things that are different, but I think you'll find that the small loss of mobility won't affect your life. My surgery was almost 10 years ago and was successful. I had a lot of pain before surgery, and got quite a few years without significant pain. Who is your surgeon? Regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2001 Report Share Posted December 28, 2001 Hi Jeanette... When you say " learn the golfers stance to reach things on the floor " do you bend over to pick things up? I have always been told never to bend at the hips when picking something up. (I bend at the knees.) Regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2001 Report Share Posted December 28, 2001 , I meant to hold onto something with the left hand, pick up the left leg, lean over from the hip and pick up the item from the floor. My physical therapist called this the gofer's stance. Most of the time, I gently let myself down to my knees, get the item, pull myself up again. If I canot get a good grip on a sturdy place, I crawl over to a palce I can pull on. I have problems bending my knees to reach the floor because I'm fused so high. ===== Jeanette __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2001 Report Share Posted December 28, 2001 Silly as it might sound, a lot of us that have 30 years experience in these things, have learned to pick stuff up with our feet. Cheaper than a " reacher " and a whole lot handier. I can never find my reacher when I want it but I usually know where my feet are... however you have to give up wearing socks. Drives my wife crazy when I am going around the house picking up doggie bones and other stuff left by the dog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 28, 2001 Report Share Posted December 28, 2001 In a message dated 12/28/01 4:06:32 PM Central Standard Time, legerpj@... writes: > Silly as it might sound, a lot of us that have 30 years experience in > these things, have learned to pick stuff up with our feet. I agree!!!! I rarely wear socks and can use my toes quite well to pick up objects on the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2001 Report Share Posted December 30, 2001 Hu!. I just asked you in a post if you could bend at the waist. I forgot that I'd written two notes... The RNP told me I'd need a reacher, too. golfter stance... wide apart legs? Lana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2001 Report Share Posted December 30, 2001 My surgeon is Monsey, affiliated with the New England Spine Inst. and Univ. of Vt. He said he averages one spinal surg. a month, and has done over 110. Lana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2001 Report Share Posted December 30, 2001 Dear , may I ask how old you are? How many years has it been since your surgery? Ljj Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 30, 2001 Report Share Posted December 30, 2001 Thank you for the 'foot-pickerupper' advice.' I know I'll use it.! Lana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 31, 2001 Report Share Posted December 31, 2001 Ljj... I'm 52. I was 42 at the time of my surgery. Regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 Lana You will have 2 discs and one vertebra left below the fusion which could facilitate movement below the fusion. Your mobility after surgery will also be determined by how much mobility/flexibility you have at those levels now. This is usually established by bending x-rays. Keep in mind that two disks to carry all the weight from the upper body is not a lot and that is why degenerative disc disease seems common after this kind of surgery. If your doctor told you you would not be able to twist, I would trust his advice because he knows what he's dealing with and what he's planning to do. Sanette ----- Original Message ----- From: " lana_05446 " <jarvis1@...> > I'll be fused from T-4 to L-4. I was told I would not be able to twist at the waist, -- _______________________________________________ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup 1 cent a minute calls anywhere in the U.S.! http://www.getpennytalk.com/cgi-bin/adforward.cgi?p_key=RG9853KJ & url=http://www.\ getpennytalk.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 > My surgeon is Monsey, affiliated with the New England Spine Inst. > and Univ. of Vt. He said he averages one spinal surg. a month, and has > done over 110. > > Lana I'm a mostly-lurking member of the list, in Burlington Vermont, and I just noticed that your surgeon is Monsey of the New England Spine Institute. I don't want to discourage you if you have confidence in this surgeon, but I feel it is imnportant that I tell you what I discovered when looking into scoliosis revision surgeons for myself. No one-- absolutely no one-- in Vermont meets the standards for being a scoliosis revision specialist or adult scoliosis specialist, and only one doctor in Vermont is fully qualified as a *pediatric* scoliosis surgeon. A scoliosis specialist might perform about 50 *scoliosis* surgeries a year. Dr. Monsey performs about that many *spinal* surgeries a year-- most of which are of the usual disc repair/minor fusion sort. Non- specialists like Dr. Monsey usually have much less success performing scoliosis surgeries than true scoliosis specialists. What's more, when I inquired about the qualifications of doctors at the New England Spine Institute, I was given false information about the professional affiliations of a physician there. I filed a formal complain about this with Fletcher-, but the office staff denied they had misrepresented professional affiliations to the investigator. -- A. Tisoncik tisoncik@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 1, 2002 Report Share Posted January 1, 2002 Oops! I clearly scrambled my math in my reply. You said he performed 1 per month. I read 1 per week and wrote my reply accordingly. Somewhere here I think all these numbers and my interpretations are scrambled. My guess at the right interpretation is that he *does* perform 12 *scoliosis* surgeries a year. That would fit with what I know about the New England Spine Institute. Nonetheless, the core of my reply still stands: Dr. Monsey is not a scoliosis specialist, and rarely performs scoliosis surgery. His bread-and-butter is herniated discs and other common spine problems. -- A. Tisoncik tisoncik@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 2, 2002 Report Share Posted January 2, 2002 Hi As I'm also looking at the possibility of revision surgery, I am very interested to know what the standards are for being a scoliosis revision specialist....could you expand a bit? Thanks, Sanette ----- Original Message ----- From: " surumi " <tisoncik@...> >...... No one-- absolutely no one-- in.........meets the standards for being a scoliosis revision specialist or adult scoliosis specialist, ........ -- _______________________________________________ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup 1 cent a minute calls anywhere in the U.S.! http://www.getpennytalk.com/cgi-bin/adforward.cgi?p_key=RG9853KJ & url=http://www.\ getpennytalk.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2002 Report Share Posted January 5, 2002 Again, thank you for the info re: Dr. Monsey! Love, Lana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 5, 2002 Report Share Posted January 5, 2002 Dear Friend, do you have the name(s) to me of the nearest scoliosis specialist(s)? I'd truly appreciate that! Lana J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 13, 2002 Report Share Posted January 13, 2002 > Hi > As I'm also looking at the possibility of revision surgery, I am very interested to know what the standards are for being a scoliosis revision specialist....could you expand a bit? > Thanks, Sanette Sorry for the delayed response: I have been very negligent when it comes to e-mail in recent months. What I know I've learned from these mailing lists, websites, and a long telephone conversation some months ago with someone (name not remembered) at the National Scoliosis Foundation. A quick and dirty summary is: a revision specialist is a scoliosis surgeon who does a *lot* of revisions (50 or more a year) and is up to date on revision surgery knowledge and technique. Usually (though not necessarily) in the US they are members of the Scoliosis Research Society (the professional society for scoli specialists) (The converse is *not* true: being an SRS member *does not* mean someone has expertise in revision surgery-- most SRS members are pediatric scoliosis specialists). (Kibbitzers should feel free to elaborate upon and/or correct anything I've written above.) There are *not* that many true revision specialists, and the names of those that are out there, at least those who practice in the US, pop up often on the various internet lists. Right now I'm trying to pry permission from Medicaid to go out-of-state to see Dr. Rand, a Boston revision specialist. Of the known specialists, he's geographically nearest to me. But additionally what I've learned about him would make him one of my first choices even if all the specialists were equidistant from me. Fortunately I now have a primary care physician who is backing me up on seeing a specialist, and in the interim is doing some good pain management. I feel like I have at least something of a life again, thanks to MS Contin and a wheelchair-- before these two things I was just about a prisoner in my own home, and some mornings a prisoner of my bed. I *do not* want to go the otherwise-easy route here and settle for one of the local spine surgeons, who lack both specialization in scoliosis and expertise in scoliosis revision surgery. Everything I've learned indicates there's a big difference in success rates between the specialists and the sometimes-do-a revision-on-the-side spine surgeons, a big enough difference to make a fight with insurance worth it. -- A. Tisoncik tisoncik@... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 14, 2002 Report Share Posted January 14, 2002 In a message dated 1/14/02 11:44:06 AM Central Standard Time, tisoncik@... writes: > What I know I've learned from these mailing lists, websites, and a > long telephone conversation some months ago with someone (name not > remembered) at the National Scoliosis Foundation. > > Do you have information about this organization?? Thanks, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted January 14, 2002 Report Share Posted January 14, 2002 ... You can find a link to the National Scoliosis Foundation and several other scoliosis organizations on my web site at: http://members.home.net/lindaracine/ScoliosisOrganizations.htm. Regards, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 6, 2002 Report Share Posted February 6, 2002 Dear Jeannette, You said you were fused high. How high, do you know the vertebrae number? Lana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 6, 2002 Report Share Posted February 6, 2002 Dear , My scoliosis surgeon is Dr. Monsey of the N.E. Spine Institute, affiliated with Fletcher in Burlington, VT. Lana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 7, 2002 Report Share Posted February 7, 2002 T2-L5: all the way almost. The rods had to be cut T2-4 due to loose hooks. ===== Jeanette __________________________________________________ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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