Re: Re: Sacrum fusion

[Guest guest]

I was fused from T4-L5. My ortho wanted to leave as many levels unfused as

possible. For awhile I was doing well. I also had good, strong muscles prior to

surgery, but after the surgery I found it difficult to really work my muscles,

so when I started having pain again from sitting and driving, my thought was

weakening muscles. Well, my rods ended up breaking and apparently I'm unfused in

the L2-L4 area. I have a new ortho, since I now live in the southwest instead of

midwest. He wants to go in through my side this time because he says it gives a

better chance for fusion. Then also in the back to remove the lower, broken

rods. We are debating fusing L5-S1. What I'm wondering is if I should just do it

so I won't have to eventually get it done later (I'm 50). Also, I wonder if my

lower curve would be straightened out more and less chance of pain from sitting.

Anyone have the experience of having the L5-S1 done later after the rest of the

spine had already

been fused? Also, anyone know anything about the Phoenix area hositals? I live

in New Mexico, but there are no good revision surgeons in my area at all.

Re: Sacrum fusion

I am also fused to S-1, however I have had no problems with this area

of my back when it comes to my daily activities. I was always very

flexible (surprisingly so) with strong legs. So for example, if I was

laying on my stomach on the floor, I couldn't put the bottom of my

feet on the top of my head. This might sound odd but this was a very

comfortable position for me before my fusion. My body doesn't bed

backwards THAT way any more, but that doesn't affect my day to day.

After surgery, I remained flexible with strong legs so maybe that

helps to compensate for the most part. Sometimes I overextend and I

have a " popping " in all of my joints, but also where I was fused which

I found a little strange. When the " pop " comes where I was fused it

can be extremely painful. Other than that, all of my pain is from my

the edge rib cage and up (which coincidentally is where I am not fused

and have not been treated). In short, I don't have problems bending

forward really, but I can't bend backward.

Also, the cold can be brutal on the area as a whole. I don't know if

this is specific to that region or all fusions. Keeping the area warm

is very important, otherwise I get a dull ache that's a real pain in

the.... oh wait (pun intended!)

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[Guest guest]

,

I am fused from T-4 to S-1. When there are vertebrae fused in the spine, the

vertebrae that are not fused take all the stress. You probably already know

this. I just want to assure you that your range of motion will not be severely

restricted because of the S-1 L-5 fusion. Your hips will still bend and your

upper back and neck will still bend and rotate. You will learn how to tie your

shoes and put socks on as your flexibility in the hips and knees increases.

I would not want to go back into surgery to have the sacrum fusion at a later

date if they could have taken care of it during an earlier time. My surgery

involved an anterior and posterior approach. My L-5 vertebrae was precariously

tipped off the sacrum and the next several vertebrae seemed to cascade and

rotate to the right from there. I also had to have a rib removed for bone

grafting material. It was not an easy surgery. Actually the anterior and

posterior approach were done at two different times spaced one week apart, for a

total of 21 hours of surgery. I had this done at age 66. If I could have had it

done before I turned 50 years old, my recovery would been easier on me.

I have tried in a recent post to indicate how I get " things " accomplished now

that I have a fusion to S-1. I was glad to see that " Moonbeam " supported my

views that strong legs are the answer to our mobility problems. Bending at the

sacrum is hard on everyone, even those who are not fused. That is why we are

told to bend and lift with our knees. There is a price to pay when we don't.

One more thing...my curve was somewhat improved by the surgery. By putting in

the rods and other hardware, my cob angle went from 94 degrees to 59 degrees.

The goal was to STOP the progression. They were able to eliminate most of the

rotation, so the hump in my right side was significantly reduced. Now I am not

going to face my old age with a rib cage sitting on my hip bones, decreased lung

capacity, and unbearable pain. I celebrate each pain-free day.

I hope you will make an educated decision about your own prospects for surgery,

and certainly pray that you will see your level of pain greatly reduced should

you go ahead with it.

Patti

Re: Sacrum fusion

Thanks to those who commented on this. Though I do not feel it is time

for a 2nd surgery yet, it does seem an inevitability with my lateral

listhesis slowly increasing & the stenosis getting worse. Right now I

am dealing quite well... IF I could just remember not to bend over!

Good heavens that is a hard habit to break. It will come in time.

The thing is that right now I know I shouldn't bend. It either sends

shooting pains down my leg or all the bending builds up & attacks me

later in the day. Yet if I can only accomplish something by bending

then I can still choose to do it. That might go away with a fusion. So

when surgery comes I would be facing the do I or don't I let them fuse

L5-S1.

Do you think there would be enough range of motion to turn & look at

things if I am only fused from T10-S1? Right now I am congenitally

fused at L4-L5 & autofused T10-L3. That leaves L3-L4 unfused where the

listhesis is & L5-S1 which is the only normal part of my lower spine.

For me reducing the curves is impossible since it is already fused in

place.

[Guest guest]

I'm only fused at L4-5 and S1 so I feel that what I've been through since my

surgery in September pales in comparison to the stories I read on this forum. (I

chose not to have my thoracic curvature addressed; we'll see down the road

whether that was a good decision, but so far I feel great about it). My point

here is that the biggest preparation for surgery would have been getting my

thighs and knees in shape for postop. I realized soon into my postop phase that

so much of my pain was just from my quads and other leg muscles which were doing

all the work. As soon as they got back into shape, my pain decreased

dramatically. I had been in such a bad way before surgery that I really let my

legs get out of shape, as walking was painful. But I could have been doing leg

exercises, squats, etc. Hind sight!

Debbie

Patti <pattijohnson@...> wrote:

,

I am fused from T-4 to S-1. When there are vertebrae fused in the spine, the

vertebrae that are not fused take all the stress. You probably already know

this. I just want to assure you that your range of motion will not be severely

restricted because of the S-1 L-5 fusion. Your hips will still bend and your

upper back and neck will still bend and rotate. You will learn how to tie your

shoes and put socks on as your flexibility in the hips and knees increases.

I would not want to go back into surgery to have the sacrum fusion at a later

date if they could have taken care of it during an earlier time. My surgery

involved an anterior and posterior approach. My L-5 vertebrae was precariously

tipped off the sacrum and the next several vertebrae seemed to cascade and

rotate to the right from there. I also had to have a rib removed for bone

grafting material. It was not an easy surgery. Actually the anterior and

posterior approach were done at two different times spaced one week apart, for a

total of 21 hours of surgery. I had this done at age 66. If I could have had it

done before I turned 50 years old, my recovery would been easier on me.

I have tried in a recent post to indicate how I get " things " accomplished now

that I have a fusion to S-1. I was glad to see that " Moonbeam " supported my

views that strong legs are the answer to our mobility problems. Bending at the

sacrum is hard on everyone, even those who are not fused. That is why we are

told to bend and lift with our knees. There is a price to pay when we don't.

One more thing...my curve was somewhat improved by the surgery. By putting in

the rods and other hardware, my cob angle went from 94 degrees to 59 degrees.

The goal was to STOP the progression. They were able to eliminate most of the

rotation, so the hump in my right side was significantly reduced. Now I am not

going to face my old age with a rib cage sitting on my hip bones, decreased lung

capacity, and unbearable pain. I celebrate each pain-free day.

I hope you will make an educated decision about your own prospects for surgery,

and certainly pray that you will see your level of pain greatly reduced should

you go ahead with it.

Patti

Re: Sacrum fusion

Thanks to those who commented on this. Though I do not feel it is time

for a 2nd surgery yet, it does seem an inevitability with my lateral

listhesis slowly increasing & the stenosis getting worse. Right now I

am dealing quite well... IF I could just remember not to bend over!

Good heavens that is a hard habit to break. It will come in time.

The thing is that right now I know I shouldn't bend. It either sends

shooting pains down my leg or all the bending builds up & attacks me

later in the day. Yet if I can only accomplish something by bending

then I can still choose to do it. That might go away with a fusion. So

when surgery comes I would be facing the do I or don't I let them fuse

L5-S1.

Do you think there would be enough range of motion to turn & look at

things if I am only fused from T10-S1? Right now I am congenitally

fused at L4-L5 & autofused T10-L3. That leaves L3-L4 unfused where the

listhesis is & L5-S1 which is the only normal part of my lower spine.

For me reducing the curves is impossible since it is already fused in

place.

[Guest guest]

And one more thing that I think is very important: my physical therapist bases

his therapy on strengthening the core by way of kegel exercises. Start from the

inside out. I have a feeling alot of therapy is not addressed that way. If my

in-hospital therapists had only stressed this, the first few weeks when it was

too early for physical therapy(my surgeon waits up to 3 months to start PT) I

could have been lying in bed doing kegels to beat the band. NOthing else to do.

But I wasn't taught this until my first PT session, maybe 5-6 weeks after

surgery. A strong core is the most important thing. And the goal is to tighten

with a kegel type contraction whenever you do any activity, to protect the back.

It's been really hard to learn that. I wish I could have started a few weeks

earlier.

Debbie

Patti <pattijohnson@...> wrote:

,

I am fused from T-4 to S-1. When there are vertebrae fused in the spine, the

vertebrae that are not fused take all the stress. You probably already know

this. I just want to assure you that your range of motion will not be severely

restricted because of the S-1 L-5 fusion. Your hips will still bend and your

upper back and neck will still bend and rotate. You will learn how to tie your

shoes and put socks on as your flexibility in the hips and knees increases.

I would not want to go back into surgery to have the sacrum fusion at a later

date if they could have taken care of it during an earlier time. My surgery

involved an anterior and posterior approach. My L-5 vertebrae was precariously

tipped off the sacrum and the next several vertebrae seemed to cascade and

rotate to the right from there. I also had to have a rib removed for bone

grafting material. It was not an easy surgery. Actually the anterior and

posterior approach were done at two different times spaced one week apart, for a

total of 21 hours of surgery. I had this done at age 66. If I could have had it

done before I turned 50 years old, my recovery would been easier on me.

I have tried in a recent post to indicate how I get " things " accomplished now

that I have a fusion to S-1. I was glad to see that " Moonbeam " supported my

views that strong legs are the answer to our mobility problems. Bending at the

sacrum is hard on everyone, even those who are not fused. That is why we are

told to bend and lift with our knees. There is a price to pay when we don't.

One more thing...my curve was somewhat improved by the surgery. By putting in

the rods and other hardware, my cob angle went from 94 degrees to 59 degrees.

The goal was to STOP the progression. They were able to eliminate most of the

rotation, so the hump in my right side was significantly reduced. Now I am not

going to face my old age with a rib cage sitting on my hip bones, decreased lung

capacity, and unbearable pain. I celebrate each pain-free day.

I hope you will make an educated decision about your own prospects for surgery,

and certainly pray that you will see your level of pain greatly reduced should

you go ahead with it.

Patti

Re: Sacrum fusion

Thanks to those who commented on this. Though I do not feel it is time

for a 2nd surgery yet, it does seem an inevitability with my lateral

listhesis slowly increasing & the stenosis getting worse. Right now I

am dealing quite well... IF I could just remember not to bend over!

Good heavens that is a hard habit to break. It will come in time.

The thing is that right now I know I shouldn't bend. It either sends

shooting pains down my leg or all the bending builds up & attacks me

later in the day. Yet if I can only accomplish something by bending

then I can still choose to do it. That might go away with a fusion. So

when surgery comes I would be facing the do I or don't I let them fuse

L5-S1.

Do you think there would be enough range of motion to turn & look at

things if I am only fused from T10-S1? Right now I am congenitally

fused at L4-L5 & autofused T10-L3. That leaves L3-L4 unfused where the

listhesis is & L5-S1 which is the only normal part of my lower spine.

For me reducing the curves is impossible since it is already fused in

place.

[Guest guest]

I wonder how it's decided about the sacrum fusion. I wasn't fused to S1 and I've

had problems with pain in my right hip and leg. So now that I have to go back

for another surgery due to broken rods and unfused L2-L4 area, I'm thinking I

should just have them fuse the last disc so as to not risk having to have it

done in a few years. I'm 50, and like you, I know the older I get the harder it

is to bounce back. This will be my 3rd surgery in 4 years. First I just had the

L4-L5 done. But I continued having terrible muscle spasms- my curves were 55 t

and 45 l. I'm now about 20 t and the lumbar is still pretty crooked. Does the

fusion to the sacrum help the lower curve?

Re: Sacrum fusion

Thanks to those who commented on this. Though I do not feel it is time

for a 2nd surgery yet, it does seem an inevitability with my lateral

listhesis slowly increasing & the stenosis getting worse. Right now I

am dealing quite well... IF I could just remember not to bend over!

Good heavens that is a hard habit to break. It will come in time.

The thing is that right now I know I shouldn't bend. It either sends

shooting pains down my leg or all the bending builds up & attacks me

later in the day. Yet if I can only accomplish something by bending

then I can still choose to do it. That might go away with a fusion. So

when surgery comes I would be facing the do I or don't I let them fuse

L5-S1.

Do you think there would be enough range of motion to turn & look at

things if I am only fused from T10-S1? Right now I am congenitally

fused at L4-L5 & autofused T10-L3. That leaves L3-L4 unfused where the

listhesis is & L5-S1 which is the only normal part of my lower spine.

For me reducing the curves is impossible since it is already fused in

place.

[Guest guest]

Well my fusion to the sacrum supposedly straightened out the lower curve. It had

been about 40%. So now when I feel it back there I wonder, is it really

straight? It feels like it kind of goes in and out, not a straight line. It will

be interesting to see how the next Xray looks and will my body maintain the

straightness or will it pull back some what? What I'm feeling now I think is the

vertebraes around L1 T12 that are twisting as they go into my thoracic

curvature. That was bothering me more for the first time yesterday. The muscles

and ligaments are all pulling and pushing in my lower back because what was a

40% curve is now straight.

Debbie

Randie Meyer <taknitlite@...> wrote:

I wonder how it's decided about the sacrum fusion. I wasn't fused to

S1 and I've had problems with pain in my right hip and leg. So now that I have

to go back for another surgery due to broken rods and unfused L2-L4 area, I'm

thinking I should just have them fuse the last disc so as to not risk having to

have it done in a few years. I'm 50, and like you, I know the older I get the

harder it is to bounce back. This will be my 3rd surgery in 4 years. First I

just had the L4-L5 done. But I continued having terrible muscle spasms- my

curves were 55 t and 45 l. I'm now about 20 t and the lumbar is still pretty

crooked. Does the fusion to the sacrum help the lower curve?

Re: Sacrum fusion

Thanks to those who commented on this. Though I do not feel it is time

for a 2nd surgery yet, it does seem an inevitability with my lateral

listhesis slowly increasing & the stenosis getting worse. Right now I

am dealing quite well... IF I could just remember not to bend over!

Good heavens that is a hard habit to break. It will come in time.

The thing is that right now I know I shouldn't bend. It either sends

shooting pains down my leg or all the bending builds up & attacks me

later in the day. Yet if I can only accomplish something by bending

then I can still choose to do it. That might go away with a fusion. So

when surgery comes I would be facing the do I or don't I let them fuse

L5-S1.

Do you think there would be enough range of motion to turn & look at

things if I am only fused from T10-S1? Right now I am congenitally

fused at L4-L5 & autofused T10-L3. That leaves L3-L4 unfused where the

listhesis is & L5-S1 which is the only normal part of my lower spine.

For me reducing the curves is impossible since it is already fused in

place.

[Guest guest]

I was told by two ortho surgeons that they never fuse to S1 unless they

absolutely have to. Because, the next area down is the sacroiliac joint and

that's not good. So they say they always leave as much unfused as possible to

give more areas to take the brunt of all the movement. So, I had an mri to

determine the condition of my last disc before my next surgery. If it's worn,

he'll fuse, but hopefully it's ok for now. I'm having the revision done Jan 30

in sdale AZ. I hear it's a wonderful hospital. Only problem is, the

Superbowl is that weekend and there are no hotel rooms available for my friend

who is coming to keep my company. Oh well.

Re: Sacrum fusion

Thanks to those who commented on this. Though I do not feel it is time

for a 2nd surgery yet, it does seem an inevitability with my lateral

listhesis slowly increasing & the stenosis getting worse. Right now I

am dealing quite well... IF I could just remember not to bend over!

Good heavens that is a hard habit to break. It will come in time.

The thing is that right now I know I shouldn't bend. It either sends

shooting pains down my leg or all the bending builds up & attacks me

later in the day. Yet if I can only accomplish something by bending

then I can still choose to do it. That might go away with a fusion. So

when surgery comes I would be facing the do I or don't I let them fuse

L5-S1.

Do you think there would be enough range of motion to turn & look at

things if I am only fused from T10-S1? Right now I am congenitally

fused at L4-L5 & autofused T10-L3. That leaves L3-L4 unfused where the

listhesis is & L5-S1 which is the only normal part of my lower spine.

For me reducing the curves is impossible since it is already fused in

place.

[Guest guest]

That's good to know. Never thought they'd let a guest use the shower. Thanks for

the info.

Re: Sacrum fusion

Dear Randie,

Many hospitals have chair/beds in the room for overnight arrangements during

scoliosis surgery stays. Ask your surgeon. It's not the most comfortable

bed but it will do. My husband stayed with me that week and took showers in

the adjoining bathroom. He also got the staff from flipping on the lights at

2:00 a.m. to change the garbage can liner. Worked for me!

Jolene

************ ********* ********* ********See AOL's top rated recipes

(http://food. aol.com/top- rated-recipes? NCID=aoltop00030 000000004)

[Guest guest]

Hi Jolene,

Were you not in ICU? I was in the ICU for 5 days, then in the post-ICU for a

day or 2, then in a 2 bed unit for a total of 9 days. There was never a place

for my husband to stay, which led to some really really bad nights. Actually

just one horrific night, when the ICU specialist discontinued my morphine pump,

which was supposed to be managed by the pain specialist. I didn't have any

coverage for my pain for 12 hours. My husband would've been able to get me some

help. When you can't even turn over by yourself you are kind of at their mercy.

I didn't have a merciful nurse that night. If I have to have fusion to the

sacrum, which is probably my next surgery, I will have a lot more of my care

specified before hand. Actually, my fusion was almost 12 years ago. I think

things have evolved a lot since then. I sure hope so. Bea

Buttonjo@... wrote:

Dear Randie,

Many hospitals have chair/beds in the room for overnight arrangements during

scoliosis surgery stays. Ask your surgeon. It's not the most comfortable

bed but it will do. My husband stayed with me that week and took showers in

the adjoining bathroom. He also got the staff from flipping on the lights at

2:00 a.m. to change the garbage can liner. Worked for me!

Jolene

**************************************See AOL's top rated recipes

(http://food.aol.com/top-rated-recipes?NCID=aoltop00030000000004)