Guest guest Posted December 17, 2003 Report Share Posted December 17, 2003 I've gathered that when Dr.'s say this, they are really talking about a Symptomatic Retether. Remember, that just because you Retether again doesn't mean you will have Symptoms. I don't think, just my Opinion here, that one should shy away from having the Surgery if they need it just because there is a good chance they will Retether, to some extent. The reason I feel this way is because just because that happens that doesn't mean you will start to have problems again.........or it may be Years before you may have problems again. I personally would have the Surgery again, even though I know I would Retether..........the reason I am trying my hardest not to have Surgery again is because of the Complications I have with the Surgery, non-Retethering related. You may not need to have another Surgery. Not everybody does. Hope this made sense. Me Nebraska, USA mymocha@... > Wow, I'm really surprised to hear this, as my neurosurgeon told me > that depending on the sucess of the surgery, retethering was highly > unlikely. In my case I was told that there's minimal chance of > retethering. > > When I went into surgery, I felt so confident w/my docs and all the > research I had done. If someone would have told me that it was VERY > LIKELY that I would Retether, I would be extremely discouraged. > Every person is different. If this is the case, why have the surgery > only to have more? > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted December 17, 2003 Report Share Posted December 17, 2003 said this well. Thank you, . Me Nebraska, USA mymocha@... > When talking about retethering - you have to distinguish between the > physical re-tethering, and the symptomatic re-tethering (re-tethered > cord syndrome, if you will). > > Everyone will have some scar tissue from the cord release surgery. It > is physically impossible not to have scars in the dura from healing. > If you are lucky, it will be just a little scaring and the cord will > have gained enough freedom to move. But you still have a physical > tether. You may NEVER have the symptoms again once you see how much > you get back post-op, tho. So you aren't re-tethered symptomatically. > (Wish they had different names for all this - it would make it sooo > much easier to explain!) > > Why do people have surgery? Because the symptoms become intolerable. > And for most, the surgery does help - even if not permenantly. We are > likely to see improvement in problems that have recently developed, > and not with symptoms that have been there for a while. > > > I had a surgery that I considered a success because after a > disasterous time healing, I improved and held steady for two years. > Now remember, I had no surgery on my back for 45 years and grew up > with neurological problems with walking, bowel and bladder. Between > aging and physical retether, at age 58 I'm almost as bad as I was > before my surgery. Only my neurosurgeon won't recommend surgery again > due to all my scars and troubles I had the first time around. I still > consider my surgery in '97 a success. It gave me more years. > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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