Questions about decompression and fusion surgery

February 25, 2008

I was in the hospital for 7 days and had the invasive cervical

traction the day before my 2 part surgery. The surgery took 8 hrs

instead of 5 hrs because as my mom told me later, when I regained

consciousness(HA)that Dr. milhorat came out and told her that there

was more to be done then expected. Mind you, I had a history of

scoliois, which was really bad by the time the Dr's opened me up in

May. They had to reconstruct, realign and fuse my head to the spine.

The first part was the decompression from c1-c6 and then my head was

fused to the spine.

The first three months after surgery were at times very trying as you

will probably not be able to do much but allow your body to heal.

Not being able to drive or get out for a long period, at some point

got to me, so one day I walked a few steps out of the house with a

cane (VERY RECOMMENDED) and just sat in the car for a little bit.

Do yourself a favor, get in touch with and try to line yourself up

with a pain management dr. in your area so you have a dr. to go to

after your surgery during your recovery who can regulate your meds,

monitor your progress and handle the pain and symptoms you may

encounter when you are out off commission for a while. What I found

EXTREMELY HELPFUL, is to put a memory foam mattress pad on your bed

and use alot of pillows to cushion yourself. You are going to need

it.

I was out of work from April until sept. when I slowly regained my

strength back.

Hope this tidbit helps.

I completely understand your anxiousness with everything going on.

In fact, the waiting of what was to be and what was going to happen

was the worsed nerve racking time for me.

Prayers are with all members who are awaiting and will be undergoing

their surgery in the next few weeks.

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