Guest guest Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 Jana, Well, I guess it's better to know what exactly is going on, than not. Your injection was at your SI joints/joint or in your lumbar part of your spine? All of us wonder going into this if the whole revision process will be worth it. I guess the blessing of being here, is seeing just how it worked for others, real patients, and their recovery timeline. For me, it was totally worth it. It took three surgeries to get me to where I am, but when I look back ten years to when I was devastated by Flatback and where I am now, I'm thankful I had the courage to go through with it, and ever thankful for my surgeons skills. You are right, it's probably easier physically at a younger age, and with age comes more factors that makes healing from this slower, and brings more complications to the surgery such a other medical conditions. This is where you have to weigh things carefully, especially given your other medical condition. Keeping ones self comfortable is everyones ideal, and I hope the injections give you relief. For me, it didn't. Cam got enough relief from hers that she had time to visit surgeons and get her ducks in a row. Flatback unfortunately isn't fixable with a shot, it will hopefully make you more comfortable, but in time progression happens, and then decisions beyond masking the pain has to happen for a great deal of us. It's structrual problem, that needs surgical intervention to restore lordosis, and fix the wear and tear done to our spines given our long fusion masses. I know all this is hard to wrap your head around, was for me too, but for me surgery was my only hope of getting a functioning like back besides sitting on a bench and watching my kids lives roll by without me there, or only there sitting and not being a active participant. I wanted a shot at getting back to my life and got it through revision. I guess it comes down to what you'll accept, for me I was willing to take the shot at getting better, but that is your choice, and no one can make it but you. I hope the relief the shot gives you hopefully will help you, and let us know your decisions beyond that, we are here to support you. Colorado Springs On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 9:47 AM, Jana <oceantbear@...> wrote: Had some new xrays done the first of this month. Doc had tons of X-rays done since I hadn't really been checked out for 30 yrs. She wanted to make sure that my spine was not " shifting " .The x-rays showed that I now have 2 curves in my back. I use to only have one when they put the rod in back in " 79. Thoracolumbar scoliosis details,curvature apex to the right measures 22 degrees. Levoscoliosis in the lumbar region is 45 degrees from the superior endplate T11 to the inferior endplate L5. Advanced lower lumbar facet hypertorophy is present. This stuff is still Greek to me. Doc is gonna give me a shot in the SI today. Cortizone stuff I guess. She said if this doesn't work then we are looking at a total major massive surgery, as I am " UNIQUE " , had to laugh at that because it wasn't the first time that I had heard that. I'm really afaid to do the revision. Having the Ehlers Danlos makes everything different from the " normal " procedures. It sounded like they were not going to do this in steps but all at once. I just don't know about this! My pain keeps me from doing stuff but since I can sit at will I survive just fine. I have noticed that shopping trips are best kept at 30 min. Is the surgery worth all the pain, hassle, and emotions? If I can keep pain doable maybe that is enough. Then I think I'm 47, 48 in March I will heal and handle surgery much better at this age than at an older age. I guess I'll have to see how this shot works. Oh yeah. They put me on Morphine sulfate er 15mg 2 times a day.(Doesn't sound like much), I also get Percocet 10mg (I take 3 daily)Still have tramadol but it really doesn't touch the back, it does help my knee. More later... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 29, 2010 Report Share Posted September 29, 2010 I don't remember where I read this or if I heard it from the surgeon at Hopkins I saw but isn't there a worry that flatback puts extra and unusual pressure on the Hip and knee joints causing them to wear out prematurely? This is a big factor to me in considering revision. From: Kirkaldie Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 11:46 AM Subject: Re: [ ] Shot in SI today Jana, Well, I guess it's better to know what exactly is going on, than not. Your injection was at your SI joints/joint or in your lumbar part of your spine? All of us wonder going into this if the whole revision process will be worth it. I guess the blessing of being here, is seeing just how it worked for others, real patients, and their recovery timeline. For me, it was totally worth it. It took three surgeries to get me to where I am, but when I look back ten years to when I was devastated by Flatback and where I am now, I'm thankful I had the courage to go through with it, and ever thankful for my surgeons skills. You are right, it's probably easier physically at a younger age, and with age comes more factors that makes healing from this slower, and brings more complications to the surgery such a other medical conditions. This is where you have to weigh things carefully, especially given your other medical condition. Keeping ones self comfortable is everyones ideal, and I hope the injections give you relief. For me, it didn't. Cam got enough relief from hers that she had time to visit surgeons and get her ducks in a row. Flatback unfortunately isn't fixable with a shot, it will hopefully make you more comfortable, but in time progression happens, and then decisions beyond masking the pain has to happen for a great deal of us. It's structrual problem, that needs surgical intervention to restore lordosis, and fix the wear and tear done to our spines given our long fusion masses. I know all this is hard to wrap your head around, was for me too, but for me surgery was my only hope of getting a functioning like back besides sitting on a bench and watching my kids lives roll by without me there, or only there sitting and not being a active participant. I wanted a shot at getting back to my life and got it through revision. I guess it comes down to what you'll accept, for me I was willing to take the shot at getting better, but that is your choice, and no one can make it but you. I hope the relief the shot gives you hopefully will help you, and let us know your decisions beyond that, we are here to support you. Colorado Springs On Tue, Sep 28, 2010 at 9:47 AM, Jana <oceantbear@...> wrote: Had some new xrays done the first of this month. Doc had tons of X-rays done since I hadn't really been checked out for 30 yrs. She wanted to make sure that my spine was not "shifting".The x-rays showed that I now have 2 curves in my back. I use to only have one when they put the rod in back in "79. Thoracolumbar scoliosis details,curvature apex to the right measures 22 degrees. Levoscoliosis in the lumbar region is 45 degrees from the superior endplate T11 to the inferior endplate L5. Advanced lower lumbar facet hypertorophy is present.This stuff is still Greek to me. Doc is gonna give me a shot in the SI today. Cortizone stuff I guess. She said if this doesn't work then we are looking at a total major massive surgery, as I am "UNIQUE", had to laugh at that because it wasn't the first time that I had heard that.I'm really afaid to do the revision. Having the Ehlers Danlos makes everything different from the "normal" procedures. It sounded like they were not going to do this in steps but all at once. I just don't know about this! My pain keeps me from doing stuff but since I can sit at will I survive just fine. I have noticed that shopping trips are best kept at 30 min. Is the surgery worth all the pain, hassle, and emotions?If I can keep pain doable maybe that is enough. Then I think I'm 47, 48 in March I will heal and handle surgery much better at this age than at an older age. I guess I'll have to see how this shot works.Oh yeah. They put me on Morphine sulfate er 15mg 2 times a day.(Doesn't sound like much), I also get Percocet 10mg (I take 3 daily)Still have tramadol but it really doesn't touch the back, it does help my knee. More later... No virus found in this incoming message.Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 9.0.856 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3166 - Release Date: 09/29/10 01:37:00 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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